My New Year’s “To Do” List

My one and only resolution of the New Year was to not write a magazine article about New Year’s Resolutions. I’m one for one so far and feeling good. As I near my 50th birthday, I’ve determined that New Year’s Resolutions aren’t for me anymore. I find resolutions too be daunting and cumbersome, almost a sad car trip to failureville. However, there are a few things I would like to accomplish in the calendar year 2012. My intentions are to tackle them as a “To Do” list for the coming twelve months so I can check off my completed tasks as I go along, much like my weekend “Honey do” lists. Unlike the weekend list of chores and errands, my New Year’s To Do list won’t start with pick-up dog poop in the backyard.

To Do

• Make More Money. Currently I’m experimenting with a highnd Canon Laserjet copier, but if that doesn’t work I’m thinking there’s got to be a counterfeiters website. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Then again, I could simply work harder at my day job or supplement my income with a paper route.
•   Get Out and Vote – It’s our responsibility to vote as United States citizens. The question isn’t should I vote, but who do I vote for? Do I give President Obama another four years or should I back the yet to be named (Newt or Mitt) Republican candidate? Decisions, decisions, decisions.
• Read More – I’m currently reading The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I previously finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy by Stieg Larsson. I must like trilogies. Reading is good. It makes me smarter. I’ll likely mix in the occasional biography, autobiography or book about our national geography. Again with the trilogies.
• Write Another Screenplay – Sadly my first screenplay, entitled Allen and Allen, about two brothers who are dysfunctional partners in a San Francisco law firm forced to work together in a desperate attempt to rescue their mother from a vengeful psychopath, didn’t sell. Obviously, I need to spend another 1000 hours coming up with a new storyline that has more commercial box office appeal. Maybe I’ll go indie and write a script that could be made on a shoestring budget by a couple of theater arts majors from Cal State East Bay instead of one needing a major motion studio budget complete with a killer Craft Services catering spread.
• Commune with Nature – With Mt. Diablo right here in our own backyard, seriously … a few of our friends have homes that abut to Mt. Diablo. In their case that oversized hill is “right in their own backyard”. We’re also a short drive from Lake Tahoe, the Pacific Ocean, Yosemite and even Pinnacles National Monument. With so many outdoor options, why do I spend so much time in front of the television and computer?
• Appreciate the Arts – By “arts” I mean mostly music. With the worldwide music domination by Apple and all things “i”, we purchase music a song at a time. I do miss buying CDs, and before that record albums, cassettes and eight track tapes. Granted, it did seem a little wasteful to listen to 9 or 10 mediocre tracks just to hear the one or two songs you really wanted. This year I’m going to learn out to navigate iTunes all by myself and expand my playlist. Don’t get me wrong, I might go to a museum too. I do like looking at pretty pictures.
• Be More Romantic – I’m pretty sure I’m about as romantic as any Alamo/Danville/San Ramon husband. I bring home flowers, I write love notes, I cuddle, we listen to Kenny G music, but I know I could do more. At least that’s what my wife tells me. Starting with Valentine’s Day, it’s going to be an ongoing Tunnel of Love at my house.
• Get in Shape – Last year I lost 20 pounds and ran a marathon. It would now appear that I found what was lost. My annual holiday triathlon training (eating, drinking and napping) now has me ready to hibernation. With my over abundance of back hair, I actually do resemble a grizzly bear. If I ever want to regain my championship belt in the Suburban Dad Fight Club I’m going to have to start training. Wasn’t it Brad Pitt in the movie Fight Club who said, “The first rule of Fight Club is to never talk about Fight Club?” Darn it! Does that mean I’m out? Nonetheless, I’m going to start my training right away.
• Do Not Die – I don’t know if I believe in this whole Mayan Calendar thingy, where they say the Earth will be ravaged by a variety of cataclysmic astronomical events on December 21, 2012, but I for one will be doing my best to not die this year.

I’m sure I could think of many more motivating and achievable tasks, but I’m getting tired. I need to add, Take Regularly Scheduled Naps, to my list. Oddly, my “To Do” list looks a lot like a list of New Year’s Resolutions. Oh well, at least I didn’t try and start it on January 1st like all the other knuckleheads. They’ve probably flamed out and give up already. I’m feeling real good right now.