Friday 4 January 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR


[For all those that just stopped receiving the blog to their email inbox, my apologies. Hopefully we have rectified the problem!]

Well 2013 has arrived. We survived as a planet (world, society etc.), guess the Mayans had their own interpretation of the phrase ‘end of the world,’ and thank god for that; and we also did not plunge over a fiscal cliff – but apparently that is only a question of time as our (and all) government(s) likes the use of Band-Aids to heal open wounds the size of the Grand Canyon as opposed to using anything more substantial, like say, real solutions.

Ah yes, we once again are heading into a new year in grand ignorant style - and I like it damn it. Can’t you just hear the collective delusion around the world? “This year we are going to lose weight (really we are), not spend money on our credit cards and delay spending cuts a whole two months until we are forced to reexamine ourselves at a later date!” In fact, shouldn’t that be the new motto for the American capitalist society in which we all function: “Buy/do/eat/drink/gamble/hedge/embezzle, NOW, and worry about the consequences later!...I suppose they couldn’t fit that little gem on the Statue of Liberty.

This year my husband and I ushered in New Years in grand mellow style. Illness had hit all of us like a ton of bricks and we spent most of the holiday coughing, sputtering, wiping noses and tag teaming who would chase the King around in between coughing fits and shoveling in fistfuls of chocolate (sickness does not for some reason deter my need for dark chocolate). So we ordered food (why cook on the last day of the year), sat on the sofa and watched fireworks on television. I of course also made my husband write a list of goals/intentions for the year so we could laugh about them next New Years Eve. Of course half of his goals were spurred on by me, ‘yeah fix the light bulb in the bathroom, that’s a great goal, and clean more, didn’t you say you wanted to clean more?!’ He made number one on my list be ‘stop annoying my husband.’ I plan to break that by the end of the week.

My (real) list was full of the usual suspects, deciding to keep it simple this year. Simple always seems less daunting than say, climb Mt. Everest or find the cure for a significant disease (wouldn’t you love to see Warren Buffet’s list? ‘Get Richer. Eat more nuts and grains.’ Then again, I’m thinking he’s not the resolution kind of guy). You know the ol’ standbys: be more patient, be kind to the fray, find a rewarding job that won’t make me want to put my head in the oven…potty train the King, teach him how to drive, clean, bathe himself and do the laundry by the time he’s three. You see, the simple surmountables in life.

Isn’t it funny how our resolutions always seem designed for someone other than ourselves? I mean, if we haven’t lost those 20 pounds by this point, is one ever going to? Suddenly people appear to have lobotomies and their lists include things they think sound good, or other people have done and one figures, why the hell not, throw it on there. ‘If Frank can learn how to dismantle a car engine in ten seconds then I can definitely do that by spring.’ It’s the usual human impulse to either reach too high to then feel badly about ourselves, or shoot so low so that we can give ourselves a huge pat on the back for accomplishing something (Breathe in and out for a full 24 hour period; Check! God I'm GOOD).

That’s why I am taking the lead from the King this year. He promised to do nothing. He resolved to attempt everything (without making the resolution). And he intends to turn the world on its ear without even meaning to. You have to love the kid.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL. 




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