Resolutions

It's the beginning of a new year; a chance to start fresh. All of the bad habits from last year can stay in the past. Whatever. There's actually only been one year in my entire life that I actually followed through with all of my resolutions. My friend and I set some very specific, achievable goals and held each other accountable for them. At first I wasn't even going to bother with any, I usually don't, but as I thought about what I would want to achieve this year, I managed to come up with a few that I could deal with. So here they are, in no particulat order:

1. Develop a thicker skin - I resolve not to let people get to me and make my life miserable, even (especially) the stupid people.
2. 100 pushups - My wife and I have tried this program a couple of times, but somethings kills our momentum and we stop. Not this time, this time I resolve to trudge through the arms feeling like jelly phase and eventually reach 100.
3. Second tattoo - I already have the designs of the next two chosen, I just have to get someone to draw the third one. I resolve to finally get my second tattoo.

That's it for now. They're nothing big, but they are very specific and definitely achievable.

Twittering

I've been neglecting my blog lately and I had been doing so well! I got sort of addicted to Twitter and it seems all my writing juices have been filtered into it. I promise I'll try to do better, but I've also begun studying to become Leopard certified. Not a monumental task, but the tests are very detailed - like stuff I'd never need to know in the real world.

As for the Twitter thing, I'm not going to explain why. If you think it's a dumb idea, don't do it. If you're mildly interested, give it a try and either find yourself totally addicted or drop it like the dumb idea you initially thought it was.

I like it because it's like a constantly updated IM blog. There are a ton of interesting people, some even saying interesting things!

Old Friends

It's amazing how talking to old friends, especially ones you haven't seen in a while, can put everything in your life into a new perspective.

I don't know if it was the weather or maybe I was sending out some kind of homing signal. Last Wednesday within one hour of each other two people who I haven't talked to in over a year called me. Both good friends from the past - one I worked with a few years ago when I lived in central Missouri - Nicole, and the other I went to college with -Ryan. We met Nicole for dinner last thursday - it was great to see her and catch up. She and her family kept me sane through a somewhat dark time in my life. Ryan has been in school since he was five. He's now an anesthesiologist in search of work - he interviewed at a local hospital and should know within two weeks!

I'm typically very bad at keeping in touch with people. Friendships are a two way thing, I realize - it's not just me, but I should probably be more proactive. Even friends that live near - a good friend who lives north of the river just had his second child and I haven't even met the first yet! As in introvert, I don't tend to seek out a lot of people and yet the friendships I make tend to last. I lose touch with people and when we find each other again, it's like nothing happened.

In visiting with Nicole, she commented that it was great to see me so happy. I know that I'm much happier now than I've ever been in my life (all due to my awesome wife), but hearing her say it made it even truer somehow. It gave me a basis for comparison I guess - this is how far I've come. It's also good to hear that she and her family are doing well, as well as the other people in Columbia that I do a terrible job of keeping in touch with.

I guess my point in writing all of this is that I need to quit being quite so solitary. I need people; I need to stay in touch with those that are not near and I need to actually hang out with those that are.