2009, wicked.

it’s the glorious future, people. every year, i have a few christmas traditions mike (by every year I mean two years so far), one of which is: i make mike a card that could pass for a vintage movie poster in homes for the insane.  here is mike’s card this year:

In case you are not familiar with the holiday wonder that is the Krampus, I recommend you check it out on the immediate, and count your lucky stars you have not already been Taken.

I’ve got shitloads of resolutions this year.  I’m really actually making a go of it.  My new years resolutions are usually more whimsical or easily achievable than this year’s, but somehow I feel like I need a good shakedown.  Moving to Boston was exactly what I needed, and I embraced lazy weekends and relaxed evenings, to the fault of not really learning or progressing enough in 2008 to feel alright about myself.  This is a subjective measure of course, but it’s also the first year I’ve felt that way.  Maybe it’s just the way it finished out.  A few of my 2009 goals are:

- stay on top of my investing.  check stocks twice weekly.

- pack my lunch 4/5 days a week

- get an ergonomic work setup so I can conceivably keep working 5 years from now

- write and release an Android app on the market

- take an illustration class

- be a better listener

there are about 20 more like that.  some of them are one-offs, some are things i’ll have to try at every day.  i want 2009 to be a year of shit-getting-together.  when i think back on college…i was so much more intense and involved with things.  i was an idiot, and self-absorbed, but i really did get shit done.  i like to consider myself less of a self-absorbed idiot these days, so now the next step is remembering that passion.

sometimes i’ll leave the house in the morning to walk to the bus, and the first breath of fresh air outside will summon the thought, “i never want to stop living.”  and then i will think of the impermanence of everything around us, those we hold close and dear, those who taught us profound lessons about life, those who we could not possibly pour enough love into.  and then i will try to remember a happy memory of someone lost to me now - ideally a rare, new memory i haven’t played back ever, but a well-worn one will do too - and try to carry it with me as i get to breath Boston’s cold morning air and admire my neighbor’s hilariously messy yard, the way the tree branches create a droopy corridor over the undulating brick sidewalk.  cause that’s all you can do.