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I have narrowed down my 2014 New Year resolutions to about a dozen. If I were to measure myself with Mary Poppin’s tape I would NOT be ‘Practically perfect in every way’, alas. There are so many ways in which I want to improve myself.
My resolutions fall into three categories –
1 – Nasty habits which need breaking
Example: using my iphone while Someone is talking to me.
2 – Fun things to do which won’t be done unless I make a conscious effort to do them.
Example: making a new soup every month.
and
3- Health goals
Example: regular stretching.
Alas, many of 2014’s resolutions are carried over from 2013, things I didn’t achieve. The failures were somewhat due to my lack of being on top of them. This time I will makes copies and stick them in auspicious places to remind me what I am striving to achieve.
Every year I ask Someone what he thinks I should improve or what he would like to see me do. He always balks as this request and he won’t give me any guidance. I don’t see why not; since he lives with me 24/7 it’s certain there are plenty of irksome and deficit behaviors he witnesses which want improving. In contrast he never asks me for my input on how he could improve himself. He doesn’t make new years resolutions.
Maybe I should list them as a blog page. Certainly I see my blog everyday. Perhaps if I posted them like Luther’s 95 Spo-fans will keep me on my toes and/or nag me into virtue.
So far ……
1 – “Be the change you want in the world” as the motto of 2014. Live it.
2 – Diminish Tics < shoulder shrugs eyes Squinting scalp scratching
3- Quit itching your nose in public
4 – is left intentionally blank lest my family be reading this.
5 – Slow Down when eating.
6 – Make better eye contact with patients. (it’s easy to just look at the computer screen and think as they talk)
7 – Lose some abdominal fat
8 – Every month < make one new shirt and read one book
9 – Every day < eat some oatmeal and do some yoga/stretches
10- achieve three ‘bucket list’ items.
I can never quite determine whether or not I make a good chum. This self-doubt is based on a lifetime of not being successful at keeping any. I make a lot, but I don’t keep them; the do not ‘stay’. For example, I’ve lived here in Phoenix since 2005 and I/we have several acquaintances but only one couple we count as ‘chums’.
This issue has always puzzled me. I’ve never been successful at improving the matter.
I suppose I should define my term here. My definition of “chum” for the context of this process goes as follows :
A person who lives nearby
Who does some of the initiating for a get together, and
Who wants to spend time doing pleasantries like going to a show, or having dinner followed by playing cards for instance.
Mind! I have plenty of friends by other definitions. They live far away. Many of them I know I could “call in the night” if I needed help. Some of them even reach out to me so I don’t do all the calling. They are legion, and I am most grateful for everyone of them.
Being my own analyst is not easy. It is very hard, nay impossible, to be objective about a subjective matter. I can think of a myriad of factors which maybe contributing to my difficulty at making and keeping local friends. One prosaic reason is Phoenix is so spread out it takes a lot of time to travel to see anyone. (The mentioned couple lives 35-40 miles away).
But I worry there is something about me. I talk too much; I blurt; I don’t listen; I get on people’s nerves; I am boring.
I hope I don’t sound ungrateful for not wanting one or two of the friendships I am missing. I wouldn’t change my network of faraway friends for gold. All the same, I would like to have one or two locals, who seem genuinely interested in me enough to call sometimes asking to join them this Friday night for a chummy beer or bite.
I am usually late to the party when it comes to Sean’s MEMEs. He writes some lovelies. Alas, by the time I get to them it seems everyone has done them. It is like getting late to the buffet to find all the shrimp were taken. However, I will do this one, regardless. I liked its call to contemplation. It asks about 2014.
Entertainment – In 2014 I would like to stay awake in live shows. You name it, I fall asleep in it! When it happens it feels both a deprivation and a waste of money.
Politically – I would like the politicians either to implode form their intransigent ways or start cooperating and get things done.
Globally – Alas, I don’t expect much. A year without lurid headlines of shootings would be good, but like politics I don’t have much hope.
Personally – I want to more adherent to stretching and exercise. It is time to get more serious with me health goals.
Friends – See as many as possible! What this means: it is too easy for me to cocoon and stay home lost in myself than to call chums and arrange a date. In 2014 I hope to see myself more assertive at invitations.
Family – Things are well here; may it continue.
Your suggestion – Strive to be the change I want to see in others; lead by example.
Sexually – Oh, I am all for it! And yes I said yes I will Yes
I haven’t had time to write a blog entry* what with traveling to MI and Christmas. I am working today; it’s been quiet for there have been a lot of ‘no-shows’. This bothers the bosses but these give me time to write and think about things in general.
Every year between Christmas and New Year’s Eve I go to a bookstore to purchase a blank journal for the new year. Despite active blogging I still keep paper journals. They have become more of a ‘ship’s log’ rather than a receptacle for reflections. In them I record event and daily doings. At years’ end I read it and recall the year’s events. I thought I would share some its lessons.
2013 was a stellar year for traveling. We went to the usual places and a few new ones: Mexico and Delaware (for the blogger jamboree). I attended a few medical conferences where I powwowed with my fellow wizards and I saw some friends as well (San Diego and Pennsylvania). Many of these wanderings were sans Someone, who was either indisposed, sick or didn’t care to go. I hope he will be more likely to travel in 2014.
Nearly every entry about attending the ballet, symphony, or play has ‘But I fell asleep’ attached to it. Falling asleep in live (and expensive) events is most vexacious and I hope to stop such nonsense. This means no eating and cocktails before shows.
Alas, I managed to keep only a few of my many 2013 resolutions; the recalcitrant ones will be continued into the new year and some new ones will be added. I am continually trying to improve myself; there is no lack of matters to improve
I made ten shirts.
I met many blogger buddies; that was one of the highlights of 2013 !
It was a good year, indeed.
*Worse, I haven’t had time to read any blogs. I have a lot of catching up to do this weekend.
Merry Christmas !
Every year I want to give Spo-fans and blogger buddies a virtual ‘prize’ for Christmas. I have the happy problem there are just too many now to list them all individually. Certainly I wish everyone a happy holiday, and health, love and peace in the new year.
I hope Santa was good to everyone – although I know a few of you were quite naughty and a lump of coal would be too good for you.
There is a lot going on here in the House of Spo (most of it cacophonous) I will try to post when I have time and things are more quiet – tomorrow I suppose, waiting for my flight home to AZ (Land of Sunshine).
Hugs to all !
It’s been a jolly good (if rather cacophonous ) day here in Grosse Pointe Woods MI, with Spo-relations all under one roof, bouncing off each other. Christmas Eve started with candlelight light service:
My parents attend the most Protestant of Churches. WASPs incarnate.
Despite her physical limitations, Mother did a fine job decorating the house and making a festive Christmas Eve dinner.
We always open ‘prizes’ on Christmas morning, but tonight we made a few exceptions given some of us have to travel tomorrow in different directions:
Here is Brother #2 getting the height of fashion in U of M stadium gear, for what is Christmas in the House of Spo without Wolverine prizes?
And I got a real fire, which is what I wanted for Christmas most of all.
It’s 16 degrees outside but the fire is toasty. With Christmas cake and tea consumed, I wish you all a good night.
After I close shop today, Someone is picking me up and taking me to the airport to catch the 130PM flight to Michigan (Land of perpetual snow and ice). I go from sunny/high of 70 to gray/high of 20. Ouch.
Alas, Someone is not coming along with me. His flu is quite active and he is too invalided to get on an airplane. As Dickens wrote “He’s breathing very queer, when he’s breathing at all”. It is a prudent but disappointing decision. I will miss him. We will have our own little compensatory Christmas this Saturday, when he is hopefully better. At least Harper won’t have to spend Christmas now in a kennel, as originally planned.
All the same I am looking forward to seeing my family. I have not been ‘Home for Christmas’ in many years. We will go to my parent’s church’s candlelight Christmas Eve service. Mother is providing all sorts of traditional Spo-foods such as gingerbread cookies and petit-feurs served with Constant Comment tea. Father promises me a real fireplace fire – oh the joy! I am looking forward to having a very good snort of scotch (provided by Brother #3) while sitting by the Christmas tree with the mentioned fire blazing nearby.
On Christmas day we will gather for the ritual of opening prizes and bouncing off each other. I have the pleasure of seeing Christmas through the eyes of two squealing 4yo girls. (Brother #3 better have a big bottle). I fly home Thursday.
I don’t know if I will have any time to blog in all this hohohoing so I will bid you all a Happy Christmas now, just in case. If I can, I will post so drop by on Wednesday.
As I sit fireside I will be thinking of you, sending out prayers and karma to Spo-fans and blogger buddies far and wide, for a happy holiday. OOXX
We have a living room, which consists of the best furniture. The sofa, chairs and lamps are ‘like new’, for we never use them; we never really use this room. There is nothing utilitarian about the area; one merely ‘sits’ there – and Spo-fans know I don’t sit very well or often.
I am sitting in the living room corner now. From this position in front of me stands the lit Christmas tree and reindeer candelabra. Traditionally I only light the latter on Christmas Eve and Day. Although it is only The Winter Solstice, I’ve decided to light it now – and sit and look at the glow of the christmas spectacle before me.
I remember a couple of wine collectors who eventually married. As they packed their car for their out of town wedding, he observed his fiancé putting in a crate of wine containing some of their best bottles. He said, out of habit “Hey, I thought we were going to save those for a special occasion!” She turned back until nonsense of it dawned on them. They laughed and put the bottles (and then some) back into the wedding car.
I am guilty at times doing the same thing. Delaying gratification and ‘saving it for a special occasion” are things I have done all my life. Of course these special enough occasions never arrive, or when they do I decide they are not good enough and I put the best things away again. I sometimes wonder if I will arrive at the end my life with all the best things untouched and intact.
Which is why I am lighting my Christmas candelabra now and throughout the holidays. One of my new year’s resolutions will be to ‘always use the good silverware’ as it were. The best bottles of wine will be consumed – and shared – for what better ‘special occasion’ is there than a mundane gathering of usual friends and family? The furniture and possessions will become worn down and dog-eared but they won’t have sat on a shelf, gathering dust until death.
The Winter Solstice is here. I am quite fond of the holiday. There is nothing spectacular about the day; I don’t anything extravagant. In the dark of the longest evening I light some candles and sit quietly within my thoughts.“To Drive the Cold Winter Away” with its quiet seasonal songs plays in the background. It is soothing and comforting and so unlike the cheesy stuff day that blasts forth from daytime radio.
I have the quiet satisfaction my Christmas shopping is done. I think Someone will like his ‘prizes’. Every year I fret a bit about what to get him; I want his Christmas to be pleasant. Poor Someone. It’s his turn to have the awful flu I’ve had for the past fortnight. His seems to be more virulent, and he breathes queer, when he is breathes at all. He’s asleep in the other room, so the house is silent other than Lorreena singing “Snow”. There is a cozy serenity to the place, which only comes on the eve of winter.
The Winter solstice is simultaneously the darkest day and the one with the most hope. The light will return as Mother Earth continues on her spin around the sun. Many people get depressed at this time of year, but I feel cocooned and at peace. I wish I could hibernate as bears do, asleep in my winter thoughts until spring. I suspect I will sleep well tonight, deep into the dark of the winter solstice.
Another Spo-fan request: show us your ornaments! I can’t deny this Spo-fan anything; what he asks I do….
Our christmas ornaments are a sundry of lovelies, precious and kitsch, plastic, wood, and glass; a hodgepodge of different types accumulated over the years. There is nothing ‘thematic’ about our ornaments .I try to get a new trinket whenever we travel. It is a work in progress without any long term vision.
If you live in Michigan then it is obligatory to have a Bronner’s bulb with your name on it.
I have several Pacific Northwest ornaments, made of cedar wood.
My christmas teapot.
There several bears of various sizes and shapes.
I have the entire Rudolf series; Yukon C. is my favorite (go figure)
Somebody didn’t do their research. Only male cardinals are red. This made in Korea ornament has two male birds making a nest together. Naturally it was a must-have-or-perish item.
Out of whimsy several years ago I got the Teletubbies. I think they are sort of stupid now, but every year they go up on the tree nevertheless
I have several glass ornaments in the shape of aloha-style shirts. Lovely!
Harper has a few of her own.
When all the ornaments are up, we hang the icicles and wrap the tree in ribbons.
Ta da!
Spo-Reflections 