Plans for the New Year

In lieu of making a bunch of New Year's resolutions that I have little to no chance of keeping, I've given some thought as to what I can do at this site. I've been increasingly lax in posting here, partly due to being busy with other things (mostly work, but I do from time to time have something bearing a slight resemblance to a social life - shocking!).

The main problem, though, has been a lack of something to say. There has been more than one occasion when I've wanted to post, known I was long overdue for a post, and couldn't think of a single interesting thing to say. I've noticed that in other places where I write, I spend an inordinate amount of time whining incessantly about my crappy job and what a humongous loser I am. Honestly, I don't need any more places to do that.

There were a lot of things that went on last year that, frankly, amounted to a big ball of suck that I'm still trying to cope with and process. Sudden and unexpected family illness, and a few complications of my own. More than one friend who inexplicably disappeared from my life without saying a word, and one who exited with a word or two to say that made me doubt pretty much everything I believed to be true. Massive amounts of self loathing. People who, through their actions, constantly reminded me how worthless I am. Dealing with my past. Coming to terms with my place in the world. Yeah, 2005 kinda blew, but I don't feel comfortable writing about the details in such a public forum. (Ah, the paradox of blogging: what I sometimes need to get out of my system is stuff that is for the most part nobody's business.)

Of course, there were some bright spots: the New York trip, a second completed (but not yet edited) novel, the Cleveland abduction weekend, friends that reappeared from my past, new and wonderful friends, drunken nights at the Dubliner (R.I.P.), overcaffeinated plots hatched at the IHOP, and weekends filled with knitting and silliness courtesy of Zappagirl and Memnoch.

So anyway... 2006. So far it's been, as my buddy Gojiro so aptly put it, kind of a little bitch. But that's a whole 'nother blog.

In an effort to post here more than once a month, I have come up with a plan to post certain things on specific days. On Mondays, I will post a music mix of some sort or another. It may be a Rhapsody mix, it may be themed, it may be the first ten songs that played when I released the shufflemonkeys on Antoinette (my iPod). Fridays will be reserved for a lame online quiz or meme. And between those two scheduled posts... well, who knows? It could be a laundry list of what's going on in my life, a political rant, or the end product of a word-prompt exercise.

I'm not guaranteeing anything. You all know by now that I'm great with the planning, but awful on the follow-through. But I'm going to at least make an effort....