NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS?

“This coming year I resolve to eat healthier, exercise and take better care of myself in general”, was the mantra of those “grazing” on all sorts of delicacies at the buffet table. It always amazes me how people are able to balance a plate in one hand all the while holding their Long Island Tea or Bloody Mary in the other and still manage to fill their plate to overflowing without allowing even one shrimp escape its fate. I especially like the lady who says that she never eats like this the rest of the year but cannot resist at year-end parties. She never leaves it at that, for some reason, and has to qualify her statement with the ever popular utterance that she only eats healthy foods and especially salads. This leaves me pondering the question; just how much salad must one eat to reach such an impressive girth. Any larger and she would be living in the ocean and dining on krill (also not a member of the plant family).

Since almost all resolutions are broken before the end of January I’m surprised that anyone makes them at all. Is it an overwhelming residual symptom of the Christmas season to want to be a better person? Or a matter of recognizing that there is room for improvement yet knowing there is no chance of achieving this goal one simply attempts to fool oneself, at least for a brief period of time, into believe this is attainable. I have taken some comfort in one thing I’ve read about making resolutions in that you should take small steps in reaching any self-improvement goals.

With this in mind I figure the smaller the steps the better and that being the case then it is only logical that the smallest step possible would be no step at all. Since I can’t argue with logic, albeit flawed, I am quite happy to take those measures to self-improvement; that being none. The way I see it is that if I were to be in top shape (pear is a shape but not what I am alluding to) and in excellent heath then I would have been born as someone else. Since I can’t, or couldn’t, have been born as someone else then I am content to remain as I am and save all of the hypocrisy of making resolutions concerning my person health or body shape. My goal in life is to not confuse people; if I were to exercise and be in top shape, and then died, my corpse would look great. People would say, “Look at him, he’s the picture of health, how could this have happened to someone who looks like that?” You can see how confused people might be. On the other hand when I go people will say, “Good God how did he live as long as he did? It’s no wonder he’s dead!” See? No one is confused and the world would be once again a logical and sane place in which to live; all because of me. Here’s a tip: as to a “six pack”, they are still available for purchase at the beer store.

So this brings me to the really important areas to consider making improvements. This coming year I intend to continue with improvements to the study (aka The Home Office) and the collections themselves. I’ve discussed eliminating my communications collection, which you would think would make my dear wife ecstatic at the prospect of me letting some items go. By now she has come to realize that not only does nature abhor a vacuum but so does a collector and any space left unfilled will only remain so until new collectables can be obtained. And that, my friend, is simply a matter of physics; I can’t be held to task for simply yielding to the laws of nature. I’m only human after all.

The other area for attention is concerning the GMIC and this may involve you as well. My intention for the coming year is to complete, or at least continue, some of the past posts I’ve started. As well, I would like to research and post much more in depth article-style submissions; some of these are already in the process, though far from compete. I would like to see more members at least going back through their past posts and reviving some of the better submissions. There has to be past posts that really interest you so add a small submission, a substantial addition would be even better, and breath life back into them. This will allow new members a chance to read some excellent posts from our past and perhaps encourage them to stay with us and even become a contributing member.

There is no hope for my own personal improvement, it’s a lost cause, but perhaps together we can make a great forum even better.

Here’s wishing you a happy, resolution free, New Year.

Regards
Brian