Fare thee well, 2011. I'm pleased to meet you, 2012!

Happy New Year!


The end of the world!

Hrm, probably not the best of images to use, but its all I could pull off on short notice. Besides it is somewhat relevant with the Mayan December 2012 prediction, right?

I considered what to write about for the final entry of the year. I could write about all the things I want to accomplish in the upcoming year. I could write about all the New Years resolutions for 2011 that I did not accomplish. I could summarize world news events in a few paragraphs. However, I ultimately am choosing to do none of those in a grand sweeping end-of-the-year gesture. Or rather, I am choosing -to- do one of those, but in a very limited and narrow fashion.

For 2012, I do have a list of accomplishments that I wish to complete. I suppose you could call them New Year's Resolutions, but they are really more than that. They are objectives which I want to reach. Not resolutions, per say, but goals which I want to accomplish. I'm not going to list them here, some are private, some are silly, and yet others will be covered in other entries. This entry, however, is about one of them. Specifically, the number one entry on my list of New Year's Goals...

#1 : Think positively.

That's it. Simple, direct, to the point. It is, however, something much harder than I realized when I started trying it earlier this year. You see, I have had negative influences forced upon me for most of the time I have been on this planet. Yes, forced. Either directly (people beating me up, bullying me, or being assholes) or indirectly (apartment broken into, car accidents, or losing friends). Somehow, someway the universe always found a way to make me feel like shit.

I'm not going to delve into specifics of the various sources (perhaps I may touch upon a few in later entries, but not now), but the final major one removed was my last job, working for a major electronics retailer. The General Manager was a jerk and my direct supervisor and manager were lazy as hell. Combined with the low pay, the stupidest customers in the world, and screwed up retail hours, it made working there pretty bad. My coworkers, for the most part were pretty cool, and made it -just- bearable. I left there earlier this year for a new job, one without negativity. I have great co-workers, the hours are regular, and the pay and benefits are great

Now that I am in a good place in my life, and pretty much all the negativity has been removed, I was left with a void in my life. The void being the absence of all the negative pressure/events in my life. I was unsure of what to do with the absence of the oppressive weight of negative energy. I started filling myself with negativity, feeling negative about myself. FOR NO REASON OTHER THAN TO FILL THE VOID. This is probably one of the stupidest things I could have done. I was finally rid of the negativity and what did I do? I went and created some for myself!

I recognized this a few months ago, and realized that the absence of these negativities in my life is a good thing. This void I have needs to be filled up, yes, but not refilled with more negativity. I need to fill it up with other things. Things like rainbows, glitter, smiles, children's laughter...

Yeah right, like that will happen. I do need to fill it up, and I have a few things to toss in there. Hobbies - I used to have numerous hobbies when I was younger, now I have none. I need to get a hobby. Schoolwork - I need to secure good grades to earn and maintain scholarships. Thinking positively - I need to start thinking more positively and have a better attitude about life and myself in particular. Since the first two things to help fill the void are just activities, while the third item is a change in my way of life, I selected thinking positively to be number one on my list of accomplishments to accomplish for 2012.

I have to start with a better attitude about myself. I deserve this great job. I deserve my house. I deserve this fantastic wife. I deserve a pizza. I deserve a Dr. Pepper. I deserve good things. I am entitled to my share of happiness. I refuse to beat myself up. I am an attractive person. I am fun to be with.



Thanks Stuart Smalley!

So, thinking positively is hard. After all these years of being cynical and waxing poetic about the evils of life, I realize I need to change my ways. Its like I've been driving in reverse my whole life and suddenly I find myself going forward and I have all four gears (or five depending on what type of car you are driving, some cars also have overdrive, you could also have all-wheel drive, or four-wheel drive, or even two-wheel part-time dr... oh wait..) at my beck and call. I need to start moving forward and have a more positive outlook on life.

It will be hard, but I know I can do it. I have an amazing support structure starting with my amazing wife. I read, somewhere, this amazing quote, "Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right." That just about sums up the path I am on. In the words of The Little Engine That Could, "I think I can."

So, at the start of this article I noted the type of lists that I was NOT going to have in this article. However, I never said what list I WAS going to have in this article. I needed to lay some groundwork for the reasoning behind my list, and with that done, I can unveil my list:

Things that were awesome in my life in 2011
(in no particular order)

• My wife
• A in my Calculus class
• Doctor Who
• Getting my new job
• Thanksgiving with my family
• Dr Pepper
• My wife's smile
• Jack Reacher novels
• Pizza
• Pandora music app
• Seeing my niece Kaitlin at Christmas and hearing her sing!
• My parents
• Going to a Redskins game
• Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
• Relaxing while reading a book (or watching TV)
• My wife
• Seeing the second-to-last Space Shuttle Launch - live in Florida
• Losing weight
• New couch
• Reconnecting with an old friend from High School
• New dining-room light fixture
• Sleeping in
• Christmas decorations
• Meeting my niece-in-law Zoe
• New coffee table
• My parents-in-law
• Game of Thrones (TV show and books)
• Kelloggs Frosted Flakes
• My wife
• Weekends off
• ALL my brothers and sisters (nuclear and in-law varieties)
• Quitting my old job
• Transformers 3
• Maintaining my 4.0
• Pizza
• Christmas Music
• Dr Pepper
• The Muppet Movie
• The Kingkiller Chronicles
• Smiles
• My wife

Hmm? What's that you say? I have repeated items on the list? Nay. I have listed each item on the list exactly as many times as it needs to be there.

So with that out of the way, I hope your past year has had as much awesomeness as mine. And I can only hope that 2012 is even better than 2011, for all of us!



Better picture this time?



Lastly, I apologize, I have been really busy with school and the holidays. No time to write a second entry this month. I will make up for that. Because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggonit, people like me!