Not Exactly New Year’s Resolutions

We’re a few weeks into 2015 now; I imagine most of those New Year’s Resolutions are either in full effect or completely forgotten about by now, at least for those that actually make New Year’s Resolutions. According to usa.gov, some popular New Year’s Resolutions are lose weight, get in shape, quit smoking, find a better job, manage debt, etc. Statistically, only around 8% of people who make New Year’s Resolutions actually achieve them. As for myself, I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. Why? Because I know I’m lazy, to be honest.

That being said, there are things that I know I need to improve upon. I really do need to quit smoking; it makes my clothes stink, I’m always coughing up phlegm, I’m short of breath, it’s expensive. However, back in November I finally purchased a good e-cigarette. “Vaping”, as it’s called, has helped quite a bit. I was smoking about a pack a day; now it’s closer to half a pack or less. I’ve attempted to use an e-cigarette before, but this time around (probably because I bought one that uses liquid instead of cartridges) seems to be working out better.

Weight loss has always been a struggle for me (again, I fully admit I’m lazy). When I first moved to the Metro-Atlanta area in 2010, my pant size was a 48” waist. Within a year, I was down to a 40” waist. Admittedly, in the last couple of years, I’ve put weight back on and I’m probably closer to a 42” waist now. While I’m proud that I’ve managed to not have to pull my “fat-ass pants” out of the back of the closet, I do acknowledge that I really do need to get back into a routine of at least being active again instead of plopping down on the couch or in front of my computer when I get home from work. I’ve been making a better effort to lay off the junk food lately and I’ve also made it a point to drink water instead of reaching for a soda-pop.

As for money and career, I’m doing ok. Actually, career-wise, the last three years have been the best of my life. A few months ago I got a promotion and a significant raise and see no reason why I shouldn’t be able to continue to advance at my current company. I’m actually even starting to look into buying a house instead of continuing to rent, which is something that I considered an impossible dream a few years ago.

It’s all a work in progress; old habits die hard. The goal is make new habits that are more beneficial, not resolutions that set you up for failure.

~ JC

First Blog of 2015

I’ve obviously been pretty lackadaisical with blogging over the last several weeks. My last update was from November 16, 2014, titled WoW: Warlords of Draenor – First Impressions. I good bit of why I haven’t been blogging is due to playing the game on Sunday mornings instead of writing, to be perfectly honest. The other issue with not updating the blog as often is that the ideas I have for what I want to write about lately either fall into categories that I’d rather do a bit more research on before just throwing a blog together for the sake of it being Sunday and my normal blogging day or that I normally try to avoid, namely the topics of religion or politics, because all either one of those does is start arguments and flame wars.

Anyway, it is a new year, and while I’ve never been one to put stock in making New Year’s Resolutions, I do hope to accomplish some things in 2015, one of which, of course, is to blog more often. Topics may or may not include (in no particular order), vaping, gaming, religious/political commentary, book reviews, movie reviews, restaurant reviews, house hunting, or whatever the hell else strikes my fancy. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even get back to that short story/novella I started 10+ years ago and post it on here.

For now, I’m happy to report that 2014 was pretty good for me. Here’s to 2015, may it be a great year as well.

~ JC