New Year's Eve 2012

Another year has gone by. Get ready to welcome in January 1, 2013! It is time to review 2012. What did you do right? What did you do wrong? How can you do better in 2013? Now it’s time to sit and plan the New Year, where do you want to be by 2014? How are you going to get there?

We always make resolutions for the New Year. The most popular resolutions seem to be dieting, saving money, and self-improvement. Then on New Year’s morning, you add another resolution when you wake up with a headache: “I’m never going to drink again.”

Make your plans attainable, don’t set them so high you can’t possibly reach them or you’ll have to work so hard to get there it won’t seem worth it and you’ll give up. Lower your goals to a level you can reach. When you reach that level, you can then raise the bar and keep working on it.

New Year’s Eve is also a time for celebrating. Restaurants and bars offer a variety of special dinners with music, dancing and Champaign served at midnight. Snacks, coffee after midnight (to sober you up) and they keep the doors open until 2 AM. There is also a number of house parties. I always attended a house party, lots of fun, always good friends, great food and inexpensive. If you drank too much, you could spend the night.

Naturally, the big concern is drinking and driving. You’ve had a great time celebrating, making wonderful memories during the night. You don’t want to remember the evening in a hospital or worse a morgue. Prepare for the ride home, call a taxi, or a buddy who stays sober and can drive.

I read about a guy on the internet, who went to a party and had too much to drink. Being a responsible person, he left his car at the party and took a taxi home. When he woke up the next morning and looked out the window, he saw the taxi still in the driveway. Now he is trying to find out who owns it, and where his car is.

My resolutions for 2013 are:

1. Diet, naturally, lose 10 pounds. I know it’s not a lot, however, if I say 30 pounds, I’ll never make it. So I will do 10 pounds at a time, and keep raising the bar until I get to that large number.

2. Learn how to say NO. I volunteer too much, and I’m asked for favors, which I always grant. I think I am still young and able to do everything, I forget I am not.

3. Volunteer more to help others better their lives. I know, totally contradicting #2, but, I haven’t started #2 yet.

4. Make more money to keep up with inflation. I don’t earn enough to live the way I want to or deserve to. Is counterfeiting still illegal?

5. Continue my award-winning TV show “Books & Things with Tom” on Comcast Public TV. Sorry, I had to put a plug-in for my TV show.

Don’t forget if those resolutions aren’t working you can restart them at the beginning of each month, give yourself 12 tries. By the end of the year you will be more proficient at attaining your goals. One of the months should work.

I wish everyone a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year, may all your dreams come true.