Looking forward to 2012

Every December I move the TV to make room for my Christmas tree. This year I wondered what life would be like if I never had to move that TV again. It was so heavy it warped the coffee table it was on.

My friends were puzzled. ("I have a small house. I have four TVs." "That wouldn't be so bad in the summer, but what are you going to do in the winter?" "Can't you just leave it there and not watch it? Or put it in the basement?") My parents offered to get me a new one. The current model was a Christmas gift from them in 2002, the year I bought my house.

I knew that nothing would give me more free time than giving away the TV.

Still.

No more Revenge, no more Packer games, no more episodes of The Cleveland Show that spoof Die Hard. (The year: 1988. The thieves were after a 27-inch TV. Just like mine.)

Instead, there is Hulu. And, I hope, more football parties at Chris' house.

I gave the TV away on Thursday. The house is so quiet!

But it helped to go out on New Year's Eve, where the party at Clyde and Sandra's proved to be a perfect distraction. Upstairs, we ate chicken and sandwiches and watched Pops, Sandra's 93-year-old dad, eat his jello shot with a spoon. Then we all played Sequence. It is oddly addictive in a Connect-Four-meets-Stratego kind of way.

After that, it was back to Clyde's man-cave for more wine.

A few minutes before midnight, Carol announced, "Well, it's been a rough year." We shared a laugh at her last-minute reflection on the disappointments of 2011. Ah, bygones.

It was a good night for a party — and for a TV.

We watched the ball drop in Times Square and toasted to 2012. Cheers to new habits! I wish you a year filled with friends, parties, and board games.

Resolution 2010 and Yukie's visit

While Yukie was home, we made chocolate cake with mocha frosting, chocolate-covered peanut butter crackers, and chocolate mint cookies. I also ate fudge, truffles, peppermint bark, and all of the cookies Cathy gave us. Lots of chocolate.

Yukie and I rang in the New Year playing Scrabble, watching Community, and eating Brie. But we didn’t spend her entire visit in robes and cozy socks (here she is putting a pair on Papa).

While I was out, she fixed my unbalanced washing machine, rearranged my Tupperware cabinet, and ran a 5K. Impressive, yes?

So despite my chocolate hangover, I find myself starting 2010 with a lot of energy. Tomorrow I'll be playing tennis at the crack of dawn (or 7:30, for you morning people). And even though it’s cold, the days are getting imperceptibly longer. That’s reassuring when the temps are in the teens.

Life is all about how you look at things. In my attempt to think positively — and by this, I don't mean being cheerful, but seeing possibilities — I want to find ways to get my writing out.

One of last year's resolutions was about publication. Though I met it, I didn't have control over acceptances and that made me nuts. So this year, no declarations about my intended results — only about my effort. I've been thinking about how huge changes can happen with just a little extra effort. It works in tennis, so why not in writing?

Peter Vidmar wrote an article about how a little extra effort can bring results. About how a fraction separates the best from the rest. The premise seems simple until you realize that the best put forth that effort even when they don't want to.

My resolution: I’ll send out my freelance writing at least 12 times this year. Even if I send a rejected piece to a new prospect, I'll still be focused on writing and submitting more. This may mean finding time to squeeze in a few extra minutes of writing. Who knows how that extra few minutes will pay off?

I wish you an exciting year of changes — and of seeing the possibilities in things.

Resolutions 2009

Happy New Year! I'm looking forward to an excellent 2009. I plan on it being a fulfilling year.

But first, a quick wrap-up of my 2008 resolutions:

1. Did not eat fruit every day. I may have eaten more fruit in '08 than '07, though. I'm not sure.

2. Did not develop a turnaround jumper. Unlike the fruit thing, I made no effort on this at all. Perhaps that's because Bonch got engaged and has been busier, and people are not exactly knocking down my door to teach me basic basketball skills.

3. Did not write a second book. I revisited the opportunity, then decided not to pursue it. Instead, I focused on my essay writing — with satisfying results.

4. Did successfully reconnect with many of my Greek friends. Including my freshman year college roommate, my first and last roommates at Gamma Phi Beta, my little sis, and the GPhiB house boy. Facebook is handy. Bonus: I also got in touch with some old friends from high school and grad school and my job at Tommy Nevin's.

Overall, I did not meet my resolutions. But I'm happy to say that #3 and #4 were the most meaningful to me, and I did a respectable job with each. (No, that's not an elaborate rationalization).

Now, on to 2009 resolutions. I started thinking about this, but haven't made any decisions yet.

Last year, even though I was busy, I enjoyed a quiet New Year's and was working on a vision board. Yesterday, I went to work, got a haircut, painted my bedroom, made cookies, and went to a party for five hours. (The party rocked, though I don't recommend playing competitive ping pong while drinking. I got woozy from constantly bending over to pick up the balls; they appeared to be getting smaller as the night wore on.) Today, I went to brunch and then had a tennis lesson and a couple hours of mixed doubles. All good things, but they made for a very active (read: non-contemplative) couple of days. Who's got time to make resolutions?

So I'll leave you with this: I'm setting three goals. One personal (relationship-related), one professional (publishing-related), and one about my daily life (a small thing I'll strive to do every day). Next year's check in won't be vague, though. I promise.

Resolutions 2008

When Michelle gave me a journal with a cover made from a Scrabble board, I decided to retire my old, uninspired blank book in favor of my new one. It seemed like a worthy start to the new year. I've been keeping an abundance journal, which may sound hokey, but doing it has made me appreciate my life. Sure, some days the best I can muster is "I didn't have a migraine," but there's a lot of good stuff going on in my career and my personal life. So I think a pretty journal is a fitting way to keep track of my progress toward my goals and resolutions. Incidentally, I have mixed feelings about resolutions: on one hand, I'm better able to meet the ones that I tell people about. Something about accountability makes me more likely to do stuff. (This is also why I like having a job with many deadlines.) On the other hand, I don't like to make grand pronouncements about what my goals are.

There's a feature on 43 Things where you can challenge yourself to meet a goal within a given timeframe and set up consequences if you don't. I'm pondering that. If I do it, I need to choose carefully. There's nothing worse than committing to something you don't really want.

So here are a few of my resolutions, in no particular order:

1. Eat fruit every day (if you knew what I ate, you'd see why this is a resolution).
2. Develop a turnaround jumper. (Bonch has been helping me with this, but I am not a natural when it comes to basketball.)
3. Write a second book. Maybe I won't complete it in 2008, but I'd like to at least have gotten the proposal passed.
4. Reconnect with my Greek friends. (Aren't you curious what your college pals are up to?)

This time next year, I'll either be blogging about the power of resolutions or providing an elaborate rationalization about how my priorities changed. How about you: have you made any resolutions? Are they big or small? One-offs or ongoing processes? I wish you luck with your goals. And thanks for supporting me by reading this.