Since the last New Year Resolution I kept for any length of time was made in 1999, I think I need to catch up. And even though technically I have 12 years to catch up - I'm going to round it to 10. Metric system resolutions. Resolumeters.
And since there are 10 letters in RESOLUTION, my self imposed challenge is to base my good intentions around those letters. So...
R - Read everyday. Must be a a book. Slate articles and Huffington Post articles don't count. Uncle John's Bathroom Reader doesn't count. Even Vanity Fair doesn't count, though it is an excellent magazine. It has to be a book, either a classic, or non-fiction. No self-help books. And listening on a walk counts as reading. Which brings me to...
E - Exercise. Every day. 45 minutes. Either a walk, or yoga, or Tai Chi or - in the spring - running. Hell, I might even swim around the lake for 45 minutes in the summer.
S - Say nothing unless it is something nice. I think that is the converse of "If you don't have anything nice to say, shut up." I'll take it a step further, and vow to say something nice to everyone I encounter each day - or more realistically - at least 3 people.
O - This is a tough one. I might have to come back to this one. Crap - there's another O later, too. Wait - Organize. O is for organize. I'm pretty organized, but I must be able to do better, otherwise I'd have more time, right? So I will quantify this resolution as organizing my time better by limiting Facebook and Internet time to once a week - one hour total on weekends only. Really, did I have to see what everyone thought the whispering was about on the final episode of "The Walking Dead"? I can never get back the time I spent reading the very predictable reactions to Ricky Gervais' "Why I'm an Atheist" in the Wall Street Journal, or the just as predictable smug comments about the fat guy that wasn't allowed to fly a few months ago.
L - Lend a hand. Ok - I'm stretching to stick to this lettering scheme, but I will find a place to volunteer my time, let's say - 1 hour a week to start. That should be manageable without turning into - "what the hell was I thinking? I don't have enough time for the things I have to get done as it is!"
U - Undulate? Unbalanced? Ummm....Understanding. I will try to be more understanding. Of 13 year old boys, and 50 year old men, and 75 year old stepmothers, and people on too many meds. I will couple that with S above to make an extra good double resolution.
T - Talent. I'm going to try to find one. Failing that - I will practice piano every day - 30 minutes. Absolutely, no excuses. Including scales.
I - Intoxicated. Not any more.
O - Damn O again. Well so what - I'll just use organize again. I will organize a weekly or monthly something. Game night, movie night, poetry night, whatever, with whoever - lake friends, Buffalo family, work friends - wants to. Friday night Happy Hours at the beach don't count toward this.
N - Need. Each month - donate $100.00 to someone in need. Terry and I figured the best way to do this is to watch the Pennysaver, or the Batavian for current local fundraising efforts to which we could donate.
Finally - with no letter as a lead-in, one last resolution: BLOG. My resolutions will give me plenty of blog material. Blogging will force me to prove to the world I can adhere to my new found resolutions and it will give me some creative writing opportunities If their was a C or W in RESOLUTION - I would have resolved to do it anyway.
Of course, I can also very publicly fail. I am being nice by saving my brother the bother of reminding me of this.
OK - here goes my first day as New Debbie.
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