Faded and Discarded, the Last Leaves Gone…
Gone. And let me tell you…
Last year sure did go by fast. Feels like just yesterday that it started! Before I look forward, let’s look back a bit. Every year of my life has had its milestones but this one really will be a year to remember. Backpacking in Europe was the best highlight for sure, and meeting André in Paris! First time I kissed a boy I was at the top of the Eiffel tower, that’s not bad! Now that he’s back in Germany it feels like time’s going to drag until I see him again (today went by so slowly), but at least I’ll be able to keep busy.
Anyways, all the cool kids were commenting on their goals for last year and this year so I want to, too. It took a while for me because I really wanted to reflect on what my ‘resolutions’ this year should be. In past years, some of my resolutions have been made up on a whim and forgotten just as quickly. I suppose I’m a little cynical about ‘New Year’s Resolutions’. People never seem to stick to them. My dad commented that the gym was more crowded than usual these days because of all the people working out based on their resolutions. But he said that the gym population is usually back to normal within three or four weeks. What’s the point? All the same, though, the fresh year seems like as good a time as any to make some changes.
The first is kind of a family goal in a way. We have a lot of junk in our house. Not total garbage in all cases, but stuff we just don’t need to hang on to forever. I’m guilty of this too, I keep a lot of things because I’m so nostalgic. I know a lot of people might say that of themselves, but I’m crazy sometimes. I mean like I’ll keep post-it notes saying ‘Meeting 9PM’ from clients at work that I liked, just to remember their handwriting. So you can imagine how many things from grade school and college that I’ve hung onto. Thing is, sometimes I forget why I kept something, but then I hang onto it still. That’s stupid. I have tons of notes from school. I kept them in case I ever needed to refer to them. Well, it’s been almost four years since I graduated and I haven’t felt a burning desire to refresh my memory about Russian czars or trig functions. I’ll do an inventory of the notes I worked really hard on and maybe if you know some people in grades 7-12 that could benefit from them, let me know! Anyways, in short, there’s a lot of stuff in my room that’s cramping my style. It’s always a mess because I don’t have space for new things I get. I hate getting rid of clothes (“I still wear that!”) but my closet is so packed right now. And I still have (and fit into) clothes from grade nine. It’s time for a little pruning. Also, my harddrive is a total mess of images and music too. So basically, my goal is to get rid of everything that has become meaningless to me. There’s no need to pack around worldly possessions. Of the stuff I keep, I want to have it all super-organized so that I can find it easily. Everything will have its place. This will probably mean getting lots of storage boxes and an external harddrive! It’s pretty sad how excited I am to organize things… but I’m strange that way. Hopefully this is the year we get rid of lots of junk! Soon my family will make a list of all the places in the house where junk piles have accumulated and we’ll attack them one by one. Maybe we’ll have a party afterwards!
This next one is a quick one, but I’ve read some articles lately on how bad pop is for you. I have some diabetic relatives and I don’t want to have an “I’m 21! I’m invincible!” attitude that will mess me up big time later on in life. So I want to drastically cut down the amount of pop I drink. This will be pretty easy to do in the sense that all I really need to do is stop putting cans of pop in my lunch bag, but I will miss it. I want to try out V8 to see if I can stand the taste of it because it’d be a healthier choice.
There’s one other area that’s slowly gotten out of control for me. I like it on those financial aid shows when the analyst slams down a portfolio onto the table in front of two clueless newlyweds and says, ‘You’re hemorrhaging money!!’ Well, I’m not hemorrhaging money so much as I’m hemorrhaging time. What do I mean by that? It occurred to me how much time I waste and how easy it is to do so. Back when all my shows were still running (but not sucking yet), I’d easily watch 7 hours of TV a week, not even counting weekends. Then, another big time-waster, WoW. And I want to specify something… I’ll bet few who play WoW would deny that it’s a waste of time, but it’s a waste they don’t mind because what people do for fun on their own time is really a personal choice. If playing a game really is fun for you, then it’s not such a waste because it’s making you happy. But I was playing WoW with my brother and friends who have far more dedication to the game, and as a result I was always five or ten levels behind and any playing was only to catch up. It felt more like a job, and that’s lame. I’ve realized I’ll never be able to keep up with them and I’m okay with it. I might level up my Tauren to level 70 so that I can experience Outlands a bit, but then I’ll be done, and I’m happy. I’m not going to buy the next expansion even though I might be tempted to. My last (and inevitable) time-waster is the bus/train. I’m in transit for roughly two hours every week-day. Allowing for some stat holidays, that adds up to being on the train for about twenty solid days every year. I really don’t know how I can reclaim that time in any truly useful manner (short of discovering something I can accomplish while being packed in like a sardine in the train), but at least I can do something about the other things. As far as TV is concerned, I’ll probably be able to cut it down to 24, Lost and The Office. (And Jeopardy when convenient.) I used to be a loyal viewer of House even though every episode followed the same exact same template. Now it’s just getting stupid. That show peaked with the 2-episode special ‘Euphoria’ at the end of season 2 and has been slowly getting worse ever since. I’m done with it. Grey’s Anatomy… I lost interest a bit after Addison left, I have to admit, though I have no interest in her spin-off, either. I don’t know. Maybe I OD’ed on medical dramas. Then the last thing, WoW, well that’s easy, I’ll just end my subscription. Done and done.
What to replace the TV and WoW time with then? Once the great clean-up of 2008 is finished (and I don’t know when that will be), I have a few ideas. I might work on that short story I started on last May. It won’t ever get published but if I wind up liking it I’ll print a few copies at Lulu. Also: painting. Yes, gonna paint pretty pictures this year, but I don’t know what. I’m going to draw a picture for one of my net friends, too. And I’m going to work alongside the elders and totally re-vamp the Bonavista Baptist site, too! I hope it’ll be sweet. So, hopefully 2008 will buzz with creative energy for me because I have quite a few outlets at the moment.
That’s about all I can think of. Happy New Year!
