Archive for the ‘new year resolutions’ Tag

12/30/2021 New Year’s Rant   Leave a comment

Another year of pandemic, bad economy, fake news from the media, bad this and bad that. I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted by it all. We can’t seem to trust anyone anymore about anything. I hope we don’t follow in the footsteps of our European allies. If the pandemic doesn’t kill them fast enough, they may start killing each other as they’ve done so often in the past. We don’t want to be dragged down that rabbit-hole again for any reason.

I’ve been hearing about how terrible the economy is all year and how those whiny retailers just never seem to have a good Christmas shopping season. Headlines like “Christmas Sales Fail to Meet Expectations” are the same every year it seems. Fortunately, this year a lot of that Black Friday nonsense before Thanksgiving didn’t happen and probably saved many people from being injured trying to get a big-screen TV into their shopping cart at Walmart.

It’s no wonder the people in this country are depressed after more than two years of the pandemic, mainstream media ranting and raving about every little thing, and presidential doom and gloom from Trump to Biden. We been beaten to our knees with a constant barrage of misinformation, innuendo, and outright lies.

I normally have a great deal of optimism for the future but that’s only true if the up-and-coming younger voters start looking and listening carefully at what they’re being told in the schools, universities, and everywhere else. They must learn the hard way how to teach themselves to recognize the truth when they see it and the lies when they hear them. Politics is an ugly game and has little or no mercy on the uninformed.

Things may not be great but it’s not the end of the world. It’s politicians attempting to propagandize the populace with crisis after crisis so we’ll throw the bums out and vote the other bums in. The pandemic is just one more thing in a long list of topics where we can’t rely on anyone to give us the whole truth. It’s an old and vicious game and we the voters continue to stick our heads in the sand and condone it year after year. Shame on us and shame on those responsible.

So much for the end of 2021. Good-bye and good riddance. I can only hope that things improve this coming year but don’t expect those irresponsible politicians, reporters, pundits, professors, and high school teachers to keep you and yours up to date with true facts. Read, research, ask the questions that need to be asked, and remain skeptical. It’s your duty as an American citizen to question your government, don’t hesitate. We can only hope 2022 will show some improvement and I think it will, if we don’t spend all of our time fighting amongst ourselves. If that continues, we’re all screwed.

Every Useless Thing will return on January 2, 2022.

GOODBYE 2021, WELCOME 2022

12/22/2021 New Year’s Resolutions   Leave a comment

It’s time for me to switch from my Christmas preparations since it’s almost here, to my annual prep for New Year’s. Since I’m planning to abandon the blog for a few days over each holiday, (24-26 Dec & 31-02 Jan), I thought getting my New Year’s resolutions posted early made a lot of sense. I enjoy making them every year but almost never live up to my own expectations. The important thing is to keep trying. There’s the challenge for you.

“New Year’s Day now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” —Mark Twain

  • Read a minimum of 50 books this year.
  • Spend more quality time with the grandchildren.
  • For the third year in a row (failed three times), I won’t walk naked near the front picture window. It freaks out the bicyclists, joggers and neighbors.
  • Drink less than last year but more than next year.
  • Complete the Recipe/Photo book I’ve been working on for years.

“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.” —Bill Vaughn

  • Keep the F-bombs to less than ten per day.
  • Spend less than $50.00 a month at Dunkin Donuts.
  • Lose 20 pounds of ugly fat.
  • Complete at least five new paintings.
  • Be a kinder and gentler pet owner. The cat requested this one.

“New Year’s Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time.” —James Agate

Those are my ten official resolutions for 2022. Although as I was surfing the net earlier today, I discovered two more which I’m unofficially adding to my list. 

11. I will not act my age.

12. I will not sit in my living room all day in my pajamas. Instead, I will move my computer into the bedroom.

“I’m a little bit older, a little bit wiser, a little bit rounder, but still none the wiser.” —Robert Paul

WISH ME LUCK

2 SHOPPING DAYS LEFT

07-08-2015 Mid-Year Review, 2015 Resolutions!   3 comments

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I’m writing this mid-year review of my New Year’s resolutions and it seems I’m doing a little better than I’ve done in the past.  Just as an FYI, here’s a copy of the disclaimer I used after completing  my review of 2014’s resolutions.

“Four completed out of seven seems pretty good to me but I need to improve that next year. I’d really like just once to complete all of them but I always seem to get sidetracked with other stuff.  I may need a few easy ones for 2015 that won’t require me to work so hard. With that thought in mind here is my new list.”

Here we go with this year’s results, so far.

  • I vow to exercise for forty-one minutes every other day for the entire year.

A: COMPLETED, I actually increased my time to forty-three minutes per session.

  • I vow to call President Obama nasty names only during months with an "R" in them.

A: COMPLETED, This one was easy.

  • I further vow to never say anything good about President Obama in months without an "R".

A: COMPLETED: This one was even easier.

  • I vow to never blurt out any F-Bombs in front of the grandson now that he’s started repeating damn near everything.

A: COMPLETED, Believe it or not I’ve been extra good with this. With the birth of a second grandson I will now remain F-Bomb free for at least another year and a half.

  • I vow to say many more F-Bombs around those people (except the grandsons) who irritate, annoy or piss me off.

A: COMPLETED, and still going strong.

  • I vow to stop flirting with just anyone.  There are times when I feel like such a slut and that’s not a good thing for my self esteem.

A: INCOMPLETE, It’s hard to break this one semi-bad habit but I’m trying.

  • For the third year in a row I vow not to prance naked anywhere near the front picture window.  It creeps out the neighbors and one or two of our regular joggers.

A: INCOMPLETE BUT IMPROVED, I no longer feel the least bit tempted to prance even after receiving a number of rather nice emails from my anonymous admirers.

  • I also vow not to screw with my cat as much this year due to his advanced age and sharp claws.

A: INCOMPLETE, I have a few new scars but he really deserves being messed with.

  • I vow to take at least 500 really good photographs a month.

a: INCOMPLETE, I’m averaging just over 400 and I hope to make up some ground this summer.

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So far this year I’m well on my way to accomplishing five resolutions out of nine. I’ll be working hard for the next six months to get my numbers up and in line with my predictions (eternal optimism is not my strong suit).

If I ever complete all of my resolutions in a given year it will be an effing miracle and the world will come to an end.

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