Yep, It's the New Year

Took a couple of days off for a couple of reasons.

First, New Year's -- hell yes! I spent the day helping out the hostess of the party I was hitting last (my former roomate, CDHSarah), and watching the first half of The Return of the King. Then I went to dinner with the high school friends, followed by Scrabble and a very serious discussion about mental health, what makes a person sane or not, and some very good ideas about ways I can personally get a better grip on my life. A lot to think about.

Of fucking course, my dreadlocked self got pulled over and sobriety checked on the way to the next party, but as I had set up my party-going schedule in order to make sure I didn't have to drive after imbibing any alcohol, they let me go. (That really did piss me off a lot; I know roadblocks reduce the number of drunk-driving accidents, but they're no excuse for profiling. Alcohol abuse is equal-opportunity.)

So I made it there, after midnight, and the Artist was drunk and pissy, and there was a disagreement going on about who could and could not leave (especially since I had called to warn about roadblocks, as that interstate is the one most of the party guests would have to take to get home.) Things calmed down after that, we all had a nice time, and I reiterated my vow to just never drink again, because even when I'm not on medication, all the medication I have taken over the course of time has apparently altered my physiology to the point that I cannot get drunk, just headachey. Sad, really, but that's OK, as I haven't really had much impetus to drink the past 5 years or so, and was only doing it that night because both of the parties I was attending were being held at alcohol-only houses.

There's one New Year's res it won't be hard to keep.

So New Year's Morning the Artist woke up (he had slept in his car for reasons known only to him) and came inside. I was cold and not all about the patch of floor I was sleeping on, so I took him back to my house and we passed out until the afternoon, when Mr. Turner called to invite us to the next showing of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. So we went, and along the way we found some mushrooms, so when we got back to the house we watched The Royal Tenenbaums and tripped very, very hard. Which was nice, as that's not something I get to do very often (or should do too often) but it was nice that it happened when it did. The Artist actually looked happy today after a night of watching the walls crawl, and I was proud that when I hit the one bad spot of the night, I managed to keep control of it and not get freaked out and ruin everything.

Anyone with a theory as to the reason they made all the creatures in TLAwSZ very obviously CGI is welcome to share it with me, as that and the empirical definition of hippiedom were the hot topics of conversation last night.

The only problem was, we ran out of soda and ended up having only one can of Pepsi between the two of us, which sucked a LOT as we are too responsible to try to drive or walk to the store in that condition. Go us. (According to the Artist, he also found a Skeksis in the van when he went up to retrieve the last Pepsi, but I think that was just retaliation for my insistence that he go out the garden door rather than the front door. And in all fairness, there could be a Skeksis in my van, and with all the other crap in there I could quite honestly not notice. Luckily the Artist has to move tomorrow and is cleaning out the van in exchange for getting to use it, as otherwise he'd have to take 3 or 4 sixty-mile round trips in two days to do it with his tiny car, so it works out mutually beneficially.)

So I've obviously been busy, or at least occupied, since last I was here. I have also made my New Year's Resolutions, which follow:

One: Never drink again (as I said) because it's utterly pointless and I don't like it that much.

Two: Try to keep a better handle on the state of my house. I'm not here a lot, and while it's mostly dry trash and clutter, it's annoying to come home and have the place always look like a whirlwind has recently been by. I can't control the tendency of cats to knock anything they can off every surface, but I can reorganize to make it less easy for them. It is usually cleaner when I work from home, and I start back to that soon.

Three: Try to keep a better handle on the state of the van. There it's the opposite. I'm in my car or out so much that things just...build up in there. Books, clothes, random stuff -- and it never all gets back down the stairs into the apartment. The car was spotless and empty eight or nine weeks ago. Now it's completely filled, and that's ridiculous.

Four: Continue my media limitations. I am not going to start watching TV again, nor am I going to abuse my VCR and DVD players. I have more important stuff to do.

Five: Pay off the credit card...it means some sacrifices, but if it gets let go for much longer it'll become unmanageable, and that's unacceptable.

Six: Be more consistent with my health. I need a primary care doctor, two years without a general M.D. is too long, and I need to get something done about my back before they have to do surgery on it. Fear is not an acceptable excuse.

Seven: Continue all the healthy stuff I've started this year, like group.

Eight: Winnow out my stuff some more. I've done it twice in 2004, but I still have SO MUCH STUFF, definitely more than I need.

Nine: Take more time to work on me and spend less time worrying about stuff.

Ten: Keep on writing something, every day.

And, in the spirit of #10, I have a short-term goal.

A lot of you are probably familiar with NaNoWriMo. Traditionally the "write a novel in a month" project is done in November, but November is a bad time for me because of my job...the last two months of the calendar year are the busiest. However, I bought No Plot? No Problem!, the NaNoWriMo user's guide, and have started the pre-work. I sign the contract next Monday (I know they advise a calendar month rather than an arbitrary 31-day period, but due to delays the book didn't get here when it was supposed to do so and I wasn't going to go into it without doing a bit of prep, as that's not advised either.) Like a diet, I'm working the program. Updates will be here, but if I'm a bit less prolific that's why. Nudges would be appreciated.

Piece of info for my non-blogger buddies: non-members can post comments! They just come up anonymous, so sign your name!

Well, I'm off to check for updates all the usual places...I want to know about Pamie's wedding! I also want to know about everyone's New Year. So e-mail or just post a comment, and tell me alllll about it.

Happy New Year! Much love from the Land of NashVegas.


Currently reading:
Reading Lolita In Tehran, which is amazing, but painful.

Currently re-reading:
The Nanny Diaries, which I recommend for anyone who's ever hated their job and/or the rich and self-absorbed people they have to deal with therein.

Still eagerly awaiting:
Principia Discordia;
The Book of the SubGenius : Being the Divine Wisdom, Guidance, and Prophecy of J.R. 'Bob' Dobbs, High Epopt of the Church of the SubGenius, Here Inscribed for the Salvation of Future Generations and in the Hope that Slack May Someday Reign on this Earth;
and my replacement Visa, which is the most important thing right now, since I can't access my bank account at all at the moment and it's obnoxious.