New Year Thoughts

Okay, it's hackneyed, filled with cliche pitfalls, but useful nonetheless. So here are my New Year's Resolutions. In bullet list form with a salute to Dean, aka Hubert Ice, aka Brendan Benedictus.

• I will keep blogging. Thanks to shout-outs (strike that - that cliche is so 2004) -- thanks to votes of confidence and motivation from folks like Charlie Quimby and Dean and Drew. This has turned out to be fun and good exercise for the writing muscles.
• I will lose weight (a perennial favorite). I trained for a marathon last year and ended up with a stress fracture and a stress-induced ten extra pounds. They shall come off. Stay tuned - I'm sure it will weigh heavily in my posts for the next 14 weeks while I join a weight-loss challenge at my gym. Good-bye, chocolate chip cookies.
• I will paint more. Even though I spent a lot of time not painting last year, I did paint enough to show some progress. People are even starting to question my choice of subjects and ask me what I am trying to say, which is a big improvement over people just impressed that they can tell what the subject is supposed to be. I intend to continue to look for subjects that inspire me and confound others in 2005.
• I will watch TV less. Man, is it a motivation-sucking time-waster. So little good comes from TV watching. I shall resist the temptation to veg.
• And finally, I will finish that damn sweater I've been putting off knitting since last summer. If I can't figure out the neckline by myself I will ask (gulp) for help at the knitting shop.