New year resolutions.

So happy birthday to me, as I bid adieu to the complete and utter awfulness that was my thirty-sixth year. It was a bad time, more or less from start to end, and now it's time for something better.

For my thirty-seventh year, I am making some demands of myself. These will require my time. So as far as I'm concerned, my time is up for grabs. I intend to spend it doing the things I find rewarding, and with the people who support me and hold me accountable.

Basically, what I'm saying is that it's my party, my life, my rules. Those are the rules I'll be playing by, and I'm going to be spending my time with people who want to help me achieve my goals - and you may find yourself on the outside looking in if you don't like my rules, or can't get on board and give me your no-BS-support, even when that support is telling me I'm making a huge mistake but it's my mistake to make.

So my resolutions, because January 1st is kind of arbitrary and is much less meaningful to me than my birthday are...

• I will learn Spanish
• I will start or join a band
• I will reclaim my week and not waste time
• I will be awesome in my job
• I will write more
• I will run a half-marathon
• I will participate in the Warrior Dash
• I will start some kind of self-defense classes
• I will see more live performances
• I will stop making abortive half-assed attempts at "moving on"
• I will love fiercely, honestly, and with openness and vulnerability
• I will do one thing I am afraid of every month (sorry Eleanor, that's all I can promise)
• I will join a volunteer program
• I will read one book each month
• I will medicate if I need to
• I will get some kind of education
• I will be the guy you can rely on
• I will cycle to work one day each week (weather permitting, in 2011)
• I will file for divorce
• I will learn enough CSS to get by

It's time to get busy living or die trying.

And sure, there are things I'd like to acquire, like a dog and a new place to live, but those things have dependencies I have no control over. So I can't put them on the list.

So this is my check-list. It will be the basis of a lot of my future updates. So...who's with me?

Addenda:
I will learn to shave with the straight razor Lyndsey gave me for my birthday.  :)
I will find out what I need to do to qualify to run in the NYC marathon in 2011, since I have been challenged to that, too.

My list of fears so far:

1. Rollercoasters
2. Singing in public
3. Dancing in general
4. Going to an event where I don't know anyone, and actually enjoying myself
5. Heights (like glass elevators in the outside of buildings, or tall buildings in general)