Dale Miller

I’m not usually one for making New Years resolutions, possibly because I’m not very good at keeping them. This year, however, I think I should set some goals for myself. Herewith is my annotated set of resolutions:

Ask more women out.

This is the most important resolution, and also the most difficult. I’m sure I will receive a number of rejections. However, not asking is an automatic rejection.

Lose weight.

I know it’s a cliche, but it’s necessary.

Take more pictures.

I may not be a particularly good photographer, but occasionally I get things right. Mainly it’s good for me to just get out and look around.

Go to plays and concerts.

I’ve been resisting this because going alone isn’t as fun as going with someone. But staying home alone is even less fun, so I am going to spend more time entertaining myself. I actually started doing this a couple of months ago, so this is more a resolution to keep doing it.

Throw more parties, and don’t worry about them.

If people come, that’s great. If they don’t, that’s okay too. I have tentatively scheduled eight for 2009.

Cook meals at home.

I don’t mean throw something in the microwave or make a sandwich. I mean really cook. It seems like too much work for just me, but it’s good practice.

Watch television.

This seems like an odd one, but I at least need to start watching the news so I’ll have some idea what’s going on in the world. And maybe an occasional mindless show would be good for me.

Keep the house clean.

I tend to let the house become trashed and then spend a full day trying to get it clean. I need to do this incrementally. Throwing more parties should help this a bit, since I always clean up for them

Unclutter.

I’m a packrat. I always have been. There is stuff in this house that hasn’t seen the light of day in years. I need to start going through things and giving away/throwing away/selling things I’m never going to use again.

Spend less money.

This seems obvious, but I need to put conscious effort into it.

Don’t hide behind a camera, sound board, etc.

I have this tendancy when in social situations to make myself busy instead of talking to people. It’s my of coping with being nervous.

That’s a good start. There may be more.

Being a UALR employee, I have two weeks off for Christmas and New Years. Near the beginning of December, I was looking forward to getting away from work for a while. Of course, now that the vacation is here, I find myself at a loss for entertainment. I started off nicely by going to the Rep for “It’s a Wonderful Life”, and having Emilie over for dinner (which she cooked, even better). Since then I’ve been trying to not become overly depressed. I had several things that I wanted to do around the house, but haven’t convinced myself to work on them. Tonight I’m spending some of my time working on the email system at UALR. It’s not my favorite way to spend time off, but it must be done before tomorrow.

Now I just need to make it through another week…

Usually before a party I stress out and rush around trying to get the house in order. I also anticipate that lots of folk are going to arrive and I try to be ready for them. This time that didn’t happen. I started feeling bad on Thursday and got worse as time went on. I did a little cleaning on Friday, and the minimum to get the house presentable on Saturday. I was really hoping that no one would show up so I could just go back to bed. That is almost what occurred. Emilie came by mid-afternoon and stayed for a couple of hours. Just as she was getting ready to leave, Ann arrived with children in tow. They also stayed for a couple of hours and departed. That was everyone. For once I was glad that almost no one came.

I still don’t feel well, but I have my final test in pilates tomorrow, and Jury duty on Tuesday, so I guess I’ll just sniffle my way through the week.

While I was sitting around today, though, I decided on the cathouse parties for the next year. Here are the nearest ones, if you want to mark your calendars early: