The Better Half and I made an uneventful evening of New Year’s Eve, as is our wont. Our son is an early riser, so staying up too late lacks appeal, plus good luck getting a sitter for the night. My parents have been in town, so we had a bottle of inexpensive bubbly early in the evening, but after they left and the two of us were lounging around in PJs it no longer seemed like champagne was in order. (In keeping with a part of my heritage, I did have a couple of fingers of Lagavulin before heading off to bed.)
So, that was my New Year’s Eve. How was yours? Exciting, celebratory and debauched? Or similarly low-key?
And of course we’re all supposed to resolve to do something salubrious over the coming year, turn over a new leaf or shed some bad habit. I’ve never been one much for New Year’s resolutions myself, but I have a few goals. After consuming a glut of magical fiction over the past couple of months (if you’re reading, Lev Grossman, please get cracking on a sequel to “The Magician King“), tonight I’ll be diving into “The Guermantes Way” in hopes of getting at least one more volume of Proust read this year. And hopefully this will be my year to run a marathon.
What’s in the hopper for your 2012? Plans? Goals? Predictions?
Goals: So boring…My biggest goal in 2012 is simply to grow revenue at work; second might be to continue growing as a blogger here.
Predictions: Green Bay wins in February, Miami wins in June, Obama wins in November.
Wish: The Las Vegas League-Fest actually comes to fruition. (I’m kind of dying to meet everyone at this point.)
Useless Factoid: Robbie Burns is my 7x-Great Grandfather on my mother’s side.
Someone’s got to take the lead on Leaguefest 2012: Las Vegas. Is it as simple as picking a date, making a group dinner reservation, and buying a bowler hat? I can do that.
Probably ought to be a date reasonably far in the future so everyone can plan. And probably ought to be on a weekend so that it’s easier for those us with day jobs to get away.
How about May? Isn’t May a kind of do-nothing month? After Easter, before summer vacation plans?
I expect you and I are more flexible than others. Folks like Russell and Erik that have very young kidlets might be the ones that will have relatively small windows.
However far in advance I can start wheedling The Better Half, the better my chances of being able to attend. I would also really love to meet everyone, so it would be grand if this actually came to pass, and I could finagle a way to show up.
Okay. It’s going to happen, I can feel it. Watch the front page.
Oh, I’m giddy. Giddy!
As far as your second goal is concerned, I hope it comes to pass. I love reading what you write.
I have no idea what to make of your predictions for February and June. I hope you’re right about November.
I share your wish, with the added hope that I could actually come.
Your factoid is awesome.
The Wife and I met up with another couple and stayed up way too late playing Rockband — this may be enough to convince The Wife to finally let me buy a video gaming console in the near future to go along with our new-to-us television set.
As for the new year, I’m trying not to be specific but I want to improve the administrative side of my professional life with a hopeful improvement in finances, and to better my overall personal health. You may recall reading about my recent personal shame at getting winded after what should have been only a mildly challenging physical task, so I’d like to avoid that in the future. I figure that means working towards having more muscle moving less fat around.
That, in turn, will probably mean drinking less and exercising more. This is unfortunate from a hedonistic perspective. But I’ll just have to man up and say no to the drinks, and yes to walking the dogs, more often than I have been doing recently.
Well, as someone who enjoys both the occasional spirituous libation and distance running (the latter still somewhat shocking to me and those who have known me for any length of time), you can lift a glass from time to time while upping the quotient of physical activity. I am not wired for a life of strict asceticism.
Had some friends in from out of town, and hit the downtown bars. Their usual hangouts were too crowded, which was the perfect opportunity to drag them to the brew-pub where my brother is a brewer.
I went to bed at 4:30am, tanked, after losing a game of Clue.
Only the last was surprising.
My goal is to finally finish my dissertation and thereby become completely unemployed, instead of just under-employed.
Had our traditional NYE raw oysters, lobster boil and champagne with friends visiting from Tunisia. I was the only one still wide awake when the year turned over (but every one roused themselves to say “Happy New Year”) Then I went out on our deck as everyone collapsed again and listened to our local Great Horned Owl hooting in 2012.
This year – I’m in the same boat with Burt – it’s time to start running again. I’ve finally located a place where I can run that has sufficient light (it’s well past dark when I return home at night – what? run in the morning before work? Be serious) and where I will not get run over and which is also sufficiently non-hilly for me to get started again.
I’m also going to resume volunteering again in reading for the blind and dyslexic. It’s mostly text books so my law/science background is useful. And it’s the perfect volunteer gig for someone like me – I sit in a booth and read out loud. I don’t have to, you know, like deal with anyone.
Oh, I forgot to answer this!
Asleep by 9:30 PM.