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What I Want to Do in 2021

1 Jan

Today may be the first day of a new year, but I’m happy to say that the end is already in sight.

Yes, with COVID vaccines starting to be injected into people’s arms around the world (slower than expected, but still), it’s clear we’re at the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic. Sure, it won’t be an easy next few months as we get through the winter and spring, and before the vaccine reaches general availability, but I’m hopeful that with the November and December 2020 holidays now in the rear-view, people will actually hunker down, and we won’t have to worry (as much) about people crowding together or congregating for special occasions. (Fingers crossed!)

With that hope comes reason to be optimistic that 2021 won’t be like 2020, and that, by some time this coming summer, we’ll be back to some degree of normal. Even Dr. Fauci says that if all goes well with the vaccination campaign, we could approach herd immunity by the end of the summer, and be back to a normal “that is close to where we were before” by the end of 2021. Continue reading →

After a Sucky 2016, I’m Ready to Work for a Better Year Ahead

30 Dec

Photo credit: Blake Richard Verdoorn/Unsplash.com

Photo credit: Blake Richard Verdoorn/Unsplash.com

What a year for a new year, right?

At this point it’s become a cliché, but that’s because, for the most part, 2016 really did suck.

There was the long, contentious, ugly, controversial election, which further divided an already highly partisan country, raised serious questions about Russian interference, and may have set us on a direction to a nuclear arms race, high anxiety, and worse. Included in this was all the fake news, the ignorance of facts and reality, and the many, many ridiculous twists and turns that were often unbelievable.

There was all that death. It hurt time and again to lose legends and those some of us grew up with, from music icons like Prince, David Bowie, George Michael, Sharon Jones, and Glen Frey; to TV and movie favorites like Florence Henderson, Gene Wilder, Garry Marshall, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, and Alan Thicke; to history-makers like Muhammad Ali, Elie Wiesel, and John Glenn. Can’t forget Harambe, of course. Or Jim Delligatti, the creator of the Big Mac. And that’s not even counting friends who’ve lost family members and other loved ones. Perhaps it’s appropriate, then, that at the end of December, we also lost Robert Leo Hulseman, the inventor of the Red Solo Cup. Continue reading →

In 2015, I Want To …

1 Jan

to-do-listHappy New Year!

Like it or not, the page has been turned and we’re now in a brand new year.

If you’re like most people, today will be a day of looking forward (after you get over your hangover, anyway). It’ll be a day of making resolutions and declaring all the things you know you should do this year that you probably won’t. (No joke: According to the University of Scranton, only 8% of people are actually successful in achieving their resolutions.)

I’ve long believed that the reason New Year’s Resolutions suck and never work is because they’re always things people don’t actually want to do. If there’s an inherent negativity in everything you list, and no one wants to stick to something negative, why would you even bother? (Case in point, when I took this BuzzFeed quiz, it told me I should resolve to stop wearing pants. Ha! Yeah, that ain’t gonna happen.)

I choose to take a more positive attitude when it comes to this kind of thing. Last year, I came up with a list of five resolutions I actually wanted to accomplish and knew I could, and I’d like to think I stuck to every one of them. And that was without the help of a “rememberlutions jar.” (Huzzah!)

This year, as a twist on that idea, I’ve decided to merge my “resolutions” list with a “to-do” list, and compile all the things I actually want to do this year.

I can do these things. And I know I’ll enjoy doing them too. For example, this year, I want to … Continue reading →

Five Resolutions for 2014 That I Can Actually Keep

2 Jan

New Year's Resolutions coastersEveryone makes fun of new year’s resolutions and never takes them seriously because no one ever seems to keep them.

It’s true: According to the University of Scranton, only 8% of people stick to their resolutions. That’s often because they aren’t realistic ones. They’re wishful thinking. Things people don’t actually want to do.

No wonder no one keeps them.

And yet, if you’re anything like me, resolving to not make new year’s resolutions is the first resolution you break every year.

Last year, the three resolutions I set for myself were more big picture. They were more along the lines of things I’d like to change about myself than actual resolutions. And I’d like to think I actually stuck to them. In the end, partly as a result of making those changes, 2013 was a better year than the year before it was.

2014 is going to be a big year for me, what with my turning 40 and all, so I want to make sure it’s another good one. So in the same spirit of my 2013 resolutions, I’ve come up with a list of five that I can keep, and that I hope will help me make this a good — no, a better year. Continue reading →

3 Resolutions That Will Make 2013 a Better Year

4 Jan

calvin-hobbes-new-years-resolutionsI’ve changed my mind.

On Tuesday, I said I wasn’t going to write down any resolutions this year, only things I was looking forward to.

But as the days passed, and I started to think even more about how I wanted 2013 to be a better year than 2012 was, I remembered the simplest but most important thing: Change begins with me.

This won’t be a better year if I don’t make it so. I need to cause positive change for me and others around me.

So I decided to write down some resolutions after all.

Of course, the usual ones (like eating better, working out more, not being quite so distracted by social media, trying new things, etc.) apply, just as they always have.

This year, the resolutions I have in mind are bigger, more important ones.

Here they are.

Continue reading →

I Resolve To …

1 Jan

Like it or not, January and 2010 are both here.

Among other things, that means it’s time to stop looking back and start to look forward.

In most cases, that also means coming up with some resolutions for things to change in the new year.

Generally, I don’t make New Year’s resolutions because I’m never able to keep them.

But this year I’m going to publish my list of resolutions here, and I’m hoping that the public declaration will help me stick to them.

So with that in mind, I resolve to … Continue reading →