Resolutions?

So, another new year has come and gone… Happy New Year to everyone reading this…  Faith, this means you.  :) 

So, I'm never one to make big New Year resolutions because: 1) I believe every day is a perfect opportunity to start something that will work to the betterment of yourself and/or those around you.  2) My mind is so sporadic that today's resolution becomes little more to me the following day than a footnote of the day prior and 3) This is the most important, my years don’t officially become ‘new’ until July 31st.

 I can make a resolution at 9:34 AM and have totally forgotten it by 9:42.  I am working toward a better conclusion in this life and I guess every day I just brainstorm and think of the way to live in this day to yield the best result before I set off for bed -- some days its eat ice cream with my Granny, some its run for health, skip the fatty foods and go for a piece of fruit, while others it makes sense to eat bacon super late.  Ya know, some days the right answer is to consider my health and others it’s to go BIG -- finish the rest of everyone’s plates and sit down to watch the biggest loser.  But this cycle has to stop, seriously, I’m a stroke or heart attack waiting to happen… it’s a family thing.

But, I prayed this morning as I have drawn up a new workout plan for my weekdays.  I joined this biggest loser contest at the local YMCA (the winner gets 1,000 buckeroos!) and I'm hoping that it will seriously help jumpstart my overall desire to be healthy.  I have quit some seriously bad habits in the past year, I'd like to run a few 5K's this year and just be healthier in general.  To fit into jeans I've had to put on the shelf and so forth – yes, even boys worry about looking good in their jeans.  I have tried and tried to stick to a workout/diet plan.  I can’t do it, so I handed it over to the Lord, I asked him for the strength to stick with it.  To not become complacent, to remain accountable for my actions to as many people as I could… it really helps me when I think other people feel let down by my eating and non-exercising ways.  I never did like to let others down, you are truly only letting down yourself in the long run but still, just let me have my moments in thinking that I’m letting down the planet. 

I bought this little black journal book – my first – in which, I don’t plan to journal per se as much as I’m going to write down everything I eat, everything, and I will also record every single thing I do workout wise.  I don’t have resolutions, but I have goals:  run 2-3 5Ks this year, be able to do 100 push-ups fairly consistently, ride my bike to and from work, just work toward being healthier and more in tune physically every day.  Learn that I CAN put food in the fridge, it doesn’t have to be eaten right now – man, that’s a biggie. 

 So, without further a due, my list of new resolutions for today January 13^th, 2009:

•    Write.  Just write something, anything will do.  An amusing anecdote, a joke, a blog, a      something.  Maybe even a hilarious? haiku about this post.  You can check it if you'd like, it should be a haiku.  If not, let me know and I will add 'Learn addition' to my list of today's goals.  Thanks.  *Note* I do NOT find the below haiku hilarious or even funny, kinda sad really.
  

                                                My resolution

                                                For today is to write more

                                                Even silly stuff.                             

•    Save more money.  Quit spending needlessly on things that I just don’t ‘need’.  I don’t know why this is so hard.  I don’t like clutter YET I will buy the most useless stuff – paradox of my universe.  I’m going to be needing this money in the distant future for well, things… the only person reading this should know exactly what I mean.  Hi, you. :)
  

•       Be better.  In each moment of each day, just be better.  If I’m washing dishes, wash them better.  Reading - just read, quit spacing out.  Working out, take time and do it right, there is no real finish line other than death and well, why would I rush toward that?  Just be..  in this moment and the next as if it were my only moment. 
  

•      Spend time.  Sometimes I feel like I’m saving up time, as if God is going to refund my time… like tickets for ski-ball or something.  He isn’t going to be so impressed that I cut time short with a friend or family member that he is going to give me some Chinese finger cuffs or a pink elephant with one eye. 
  

•         Eat better & move more.  I want to quit feeling like I just have to finish those last five scoops of      mashed potatoes.  I want to be more fluid, to not ache when I run or lift weights.  To wake up every morning feeling fine for a change.  I’m so out of shape it seems endless, so I’m challenging myself to try and find some sort of end to this madness. 
  

 And that’s pretty much it.  Stay tuned for tomorrow, the list will be changed, I’m sure.  Something along the lines of… spend more money and less time, eat more & move less -- see how I switched the mores & lesses around, that is the first sign of a uniquely useless writer who has nothing else to say.  Such is life.  I will just enjoy today and work for betterment until bedtime.   But, I'm hoping the Lord will keep the fire stoking under my britches.  

 -Lewie

 

A gardening tale...

My Mom has been telling me for years -- trying to whisper it in my ear when she should just be yelling it in my face -- that time is crucial. It is crucial to your life and those around you. Most people, (those not completely absorbed with fine home furnishings, fancy cars, jewels, et al.) totally realize that time is the most valuable gift in the world. You can donate of your money to charities the world over, it definitely helps, please don't get me wrong. But to those around us: friends, family, co-workers and everyone we meet, there is but one thing we can give that they will truly know we care: time. I could give the dictionary definition here but let's avoid the lameness - can't be wasting my time with dictionaries as my time is important after all - I will instead tell you what I think time really means.

Time to me: it's everything you'll ever hold dear, as you are nearing death you most likely won't think back to that really spiffy motorboat you had, those knives direct from Japan that can cut through steel, you will think back to the times you spent with loved ones and how much those times meant to you. The things we surround ourselves with will only hold true value to the owner in the end.. if you don't believe me, check flea markets, yard sales, ebay, et cetera... but memories -- time-gifted memories will last forever to all involved: happy hunting to those trying to find these at shopping malls or amazon.

I bring all of this up, out of guilt of my own actions but so that I may be able to write it out and fix some of my own misuses of time -- exercise my personal time demons, if you will. So, I've been helping this very, very special lady in my life with a garden lately, we have transplanted flowers, moved things to and fro, even started an herb garden. All of these have recently given rise to what could best be described as one woman's exuberant joyfulness over the whole Wednesday's gardening moments we've been having -- this overflow of excitement is partly due to her extreme love of gardening but it is more importantly geared to her extreme love for me. As I give of my own time to my Granny, it makes her days. She isn't sitting around planning flowers that need to be moved, arranged and otherwise carted all over the yard because she is a gardening Nazi, she does it because I've expressed an interest in not only learning to garden with her but just being in these precious moments with her.

So, as no directive to anyone else but myself, I have got to get out there. Get out of my mind, my thinking that I have something much more valuable to do and just help. Help others and they'll help you help yourself. I've volunteered and know the joys that come with it... I need to make it happen today and every chance I get. Just be in the present and help those I see who are in need, make it happen.

Welcome, a Charlie Brown Story...

Welcome to my brand-spankin' new blog. I'm not wholly sure what the purpose of this is, perhaps, it is just a way for me to strike out the words & ideas floating around loose in my head or it could just be that work doesn't keep me busy enough. Either way, if you enjoy, come back. If not, take it easy on your way out.

The picture to the left of Charlie Brown holds quite dear to me, one of my greatest friends who is much older, 44 to be exact -- and to an only child has been more like a brother (than he could possibly imagine) has always told me I look like Charlie Brown. The big round head and now with my hair thinning, it is becoming more of a reality every single day. Anthony is his name -- Anthony has this amazing gift for drawing -- and his work with a pencil or pen is just stunning. He doesn't fancy himself an artist but he is a doodling wizard. Hand the man a pencil and a sticky note, notepad, poster board, you get the idea and he will make magic happen. Anthony put together this drawing one time, a perfect Charlie Brown body running through a field flying a kite with the head of yours truly, I couldn't have been more than 12, but his work with the pencil on that particular drawing looked closer to how I feel than most pictures ever capture. I'm not really going anywhere with this, just making known the fact that I kinda do resemble Charlie Brown... such a big & round head, I have.

So, to Anthony, even though you'll never see this... I love you and thank you for everything you've taught me, Bro.