Another end, another beginning

2006 A.D. is nearly over. In about 13 hours, another gregorian calendar year will be upon us all.

I like endings, they mean new beginnings for me. There is always a chance, as long as you're alive. I forget who said that, but I'm taking not taking Alive as a for-granted status these days.

I do make resolutions, but realistic ones that I can achieve in a few months before the Resolution Blahs set in. For example, in 2006, I lost 80 pounds. Mostly from bronchitis, walking (and confining) pneumonia and a MALT lymphoma in my stomach, but I had lost 25 lbs. by June when I received my first (in a still-growing series) diagnosis.

I had resolved to lose at least a pound a month by walking an extra hour every week. Its really not hard to find a measly hour in a week. Everyone gets a 152 of them every seven days. Park your car at the back of the store lot and walk. Five to ten minutes every trip. Walk to deliver messages instead of emailing someone down the hall. Three minutes (of walking, chatting don't count even if you are standing) for each visit. When you do your laundry, walk the basket from bedroom to facilities twice. (Obviously this doesn't work too well if you don't have them in your residence.) For me, my basement stairs were an extra challenge given my furballs love of "Try to Trip the Human". And of course, walking the stairs instead of taking the elevator less than four floors adds mightily to the tally.

Today I'm making a list of Things I Want to Accomplish as part of my Resolutions.

Publication is at the top of course, but I have realistic mini-goals that I think I can resolve to implement. Hopefully Jason Sizemore will agree to be my first domino! (He's the owner/publisher/one of the editors of Apex Digest, a SF/Horror mag containing excellent short stories.) What plug? I see no plug, only a Clever Self-Made Opportunity. (Clean up your drink snorts, I run an unsticky-blog.)

I also want a Clean House. This means getting rid of the things my mother, owner of a four-level house (full attic and basement), has been storing in my itty-bitty 850 sq. ft. bungalow for Years. I love her, just not enough to keep her crap anymore. For this, I am enlisting Brothers. I bribed them good at Christmas.

I am figuring out just how much effort I want to put into my Online Life. Hence, the recent "what am I gonna do with this blog" questions. I've decided on a three-post-a-week limit with no minimum requirements other than Not Living Solely to Have Interesting Blog Material. I'm also going to reduce how much time and attention I spend on messageboards. We'll see how long that holds out!

As for the rest of the list, well, those items are a tad more personal and I'll be keeping 'em a bit closer to the vest for now.

Whether you're going, coming or trying to figure out what meaning of Aloha you want to use, have a good one--or at least figure a way to improve the one you got.