January's baaaack

I started making New Years resolutions when I was probably like 8 years old.  I don't know.  I like lists and the idea was so romanticized that my little innocent brain didn't know any better.  I remember scribbling something on a napkin in a restaurant in San Diego and hiding it in the pocket of my denim Barbie jumper because if I told my family it wouldn't come true (that's how New Years resolutions work, right?)  Anyway, no one tells you how hard it gets to write them as an adult.  Teenage me had it the easiest.  I don't really remember my lists but here are some examples of things I imagine may have been included:

1.  Stay skinny!
2.  Don't fail algebra again
3.  Tell Jack Cooke from drama that you love him (now you know, Jack Cooke)
4.  See My Chemical Romance in concert (okay, this is still on my list as an adult, moving on)
5.  Become famous!

Really though.  That's what it was like.  Now things are so different.  For some adults the lists are probably really long and involve a lot of money spent.  I don't really know how I'm going to pay my rent next month, let alone go see a concert in Vegas or travel to France.  I can't afford a personal trainer or a new car.  "Becoming famous" is no longer this magnificent sugary dream where like a fiery limo chariot driven by Jesus of Nazareth and Johnny Cash just picks me up outside a Walmart and asks if I want to be a rockstar.  Now, now that things are a little hard and a little jaded and a little broken, reality is what drives my resolve.

So as I sit here eating my Easy-Mac and Dr. Pepper last supper, because would it KILL me to prepare a meal that requires more than ten minutes in the kitchen, I focus on just controlling and changing the little things I can.  It would probably be good if I resolved to always brush my teeth before falling asleep.  I could probably manage to not get a ticket this year, and not to intentionally crash my car.  I could probably not get addicted to heroin or resort to exotic dancing to pay the bills.  I could MAYBE go for a run every other week without dying (although the results haven't come back from the lab on that one yet.  Standby until swimsuit season).  There are a few others brewing in my brain but I think that's probably enough for this year.  Instead of wasting a ton of money, time and energy on goals we most likely will never reach, let us spend our time cultivating good karma, loving each other, singing Abba in the car and just holding out until tomorrow.  Tomorrow, be it the first of January or the 23rd of August, is where your new life starts.  Tomorrow will always be better.