y Prospero Año Nuevo! [Long. Rambling.]

Journal Red Warrior's Journal: y Prospero Año Nuevo! [Long. Rambling.] 10

Journal by Red Warrior on Tuesday January 02, 2007 @03:34PM

(despite the fact that Miss Bethanie beat me to the punch. Hopefully not foreshadowing, as those who read to the end shall see.)

I hope 2006 will be remembered fondly by one and all. Except that 2007 rocked so much more. I expect that will be the case for me.

In 2006: I dropped 25 pounds. And kept it off (more later). Started a new job (well, technically, started it towards the end of 2005) that I like a lot better, with a better manager. Left the National Guard (W00T!) and a unit I had come to cordially despise. Joined the Army Reserve and a unit that I cannot say enough great things about. (No, it's not perfect, but it's a whole lot closer, and the organizational culture is right). Saw the end of my relationship with AL (in that weird twilight where we are friends. Doubt it will work, but I figure that it is worth a good faith effort.). Earned both my blue and green belts in karate. Watched my son compete in one karate tournament, missed seeing him compete in another. No, he didn't win, place, or show. But he showed up and gave it his all. Which is the point. Went to my son's basketball practices (just found out: the season was cancelled - they decided it didn't make sense to field a middle-school team with EXACTLY 5 boys on it. But they still get to practice with the older kids, so that's good). Went to a few local MMA tournaments with Talinom. (more later). Went to a couple schools for my Reserve unit, one to learn to be an Army instructor, one to get me some book larnin on the subject(s) I will be teaching. Watched my son perform a few times (dance festival, school play, magic tricks at talent show), did a couple Weblows events and one Boy Scout one. Took two APFT (military fitness) tests. Each showing better numbers/fitness. Was offered a couple of jobs, which I didn't take. And wasn't offered a few, which I likewise did not take.:-)

[breath]

AND. Went to my HS reunion, and got a chance to spend time with some people that I hadn't seen in years and wanted to. And learned some stuff about the difference between reality as it is/was and how you may have chosen to filter and perceive it. Heard from my first real girlfriend (freshman year of college). Odd, that. Put in a sprinkler system and hyrdoseeded the lawn (for values of "gave someone else money to do it for me"). Put in a new patio next to the rose garden. By hand. one brick at a time. (just made my back hurt again, thinking about it!) Tore all the old roses out of said garden, so that I can start over in the spring. Got a RAZR phone, which I like very much. Saw the death of "Army of One" :-). And another. Learned how to fix a gas stove. Have started the move from programming into project management.

And one or one thing that I'm just not going to mention here. :-P Well, other than by the reference in the last sentence, and this one. I like being all mysterious like that.

But the biggest things aren't things. I noticed at some point during the year (I'm not sure exactly when), that I had finally let go of my bitterness about my marriage & divorce. as well as my animosity towards the X. (for the record, still all her fault! ;->). We've had a civil/pleasant/cordial relationship ever since the divorce, due to the need for one for the sake of my son. And that is what we continue to have. And will have in the future. But there was a big shift in my internal/emotional state about it. Which had a large impact in the amount of stress that is no longer involved in maintaining that civil relationship. I doubt we will ever be friends, but I find it easy, rather than work, to be friendly towards her.

Also, at some point this year (and I CAN almost pinpoint the exact day of this), I noticed that I was generally, genuinely happy. (this being a change of default state) Which isn't to say to I don't still get pissed off, grumble, complain, bitch, whine & moan. 'cuz I do. :-) But the default state is happy, or at least content. Interesting thing. When you are mostly happy, things go better. Period. Full Stop. When you are generally pleasant to be around, others tend to be more pleasant and helpful. When you are normally smiling, strangers (especially hot chick strangers) are more likely to pass the time of day with you. Etc, etc, etc.

[breath]

And some things went other than I would have liked. Never did make it back to Boston. :-( yo-yo'ed on the effort put into martial arts. The diet was inconsistent - never going up much, but spending LOOOONNGGG times not moving down (especially once my default state changed to "happy". Much too willing to cut myself slack.). I would have liked the breakup with AL to have gone more smoothly/less drama. Washing machine died --> $$ fled my pockets. I never got around to learning morse code, even though I tried to trick myself into it. I didn't win the lottery. Bastards.
And my time management has sucked.

I think that towards the end of the year, I may have inadvertently given serious offense to a friend of mine. Friend said not, but their behavior has been different since (or I'm being oversensitive), so I donno. I hope that I didn't give offense. Or that it is soon forgiven.

2007 looks to be a bumper year. I don't normally do new year's resolutions. and I'm not really, per se, technically, doing so here. It's just that a lot of things have been decided and/or set in motion over the last few months. And there's this here new year...

I am finally getting around to learning some Spanish. (thanks to the two dotters who have offered assistance at various times), something that I have been wanting to do for quite a while. As well as starting on two other languages, to be named later. Will be starting on another degree soon (BA in Psych - application and transcripts already submitted, should start around the end of Jan, to be followed by MA in same, most likely). Will complete most of ILE (military master's degree - or close enough). Will teach at least one course for my reserve unit (February). Will go through the UW certificate in tech project management program on the employer's dime and time. New roses for the rose garden. And shrubberies. Will do a some other small household improvements - wood flooring in laundry/mud room, baseboards in computer/workout room, redo workshop, etc. Probably with copious help from RedHeadedKitten and BBB. I will be picking up my general class ham radio license in Feb/Mar, and the Extra class in April/May. Playing with the idea of getting a PI license. Just 'cuz.

Knock on wood, going to get back to Boston, and a few other "fun" trips. I will also take an actual vacation this summer.

Getting back on course with my time management. It IS a skill I have, and am good at. I just haven't been USING it much since I got back from Iraq. Partly because I didn't have any real NEED to do so. Partly because of a natural laziness. Anyway, this is probably one of my two "actual" new year's resolutions. Because it will be necessary for all the other things I want to get done.

The other is to express myself more positively more of the time. As I said, my "default" state is now happy (and has been for a while). But it would seem that years of habit, as well as my sense of humor can lead others to think I am (significantly) more negative than I am. Doesn't mean I plan to go all Pollyanna, but perhaps take a second to review and judge whether what I am about to say will accurately CONVEY what I mean. For instance, when someone asked my how my APFT run was the other day (see below), I replied "cold, wet, long. Feet hurt." (or words to that effect) This was all true. But rather accentuated the negative and didn't convey the core fact that I was VERY happy with the results of the test, and glad that I had done it.

Drumroll....

I will be getting into the ring for a MMA fight in late spring/early summer. In the 185lb (+/- 5lbs for amateurs. a drop of approx 15-20 lbs) division. :-) Which gives me a nice external motivator and timeline for getting in shape (strength & cardio - wise), focusing on my martial arts training, and getting back on the glide path for weighing what I want to (about 1.5-2 lb a week). I'm not sure if it will be the right kick in the pants to hit my black belt timeline (40th birthday - August 2008). It might be, but that's a lot of ground to cover (red, brown, black). In any case, it has been a goal in it's own right ever since I joined the school. I was just too focused on negative crap to pursue with any regularity. Went to the cardio kickboxing class Saturday (which is going to be added to my regimen 2-3 times a week, over the next month or so), and talked to the school owner after, so I am committed. Should hopefully know the date within a month or so. W00T!!

Spent the 31st watching UFC & rebuilding my PC from the ground up & a little time with my son.

(Oh, and it has been definitively proven that my computer problems are actually Comcast's problems. Download speeds between 5-15meg, upload less than 1K. Significantly less than. Good for chat, a HTTP request, and that's about it.) However, a number of things on my system that have never been "quite right" now are, so it wasn't a useless exercise. AND I now have a good backup script.)

A good closing to a good year.

Monday, an APFT. (267 points, up from 258 in July, and 230 in April). Picked the wrong start point, and ran an extra quarter mile, which makes me feel a little bit better that my run time increased by just under a minute (though that was more due to the jog/walk routine I did for the last quarter mile). It WAS cold, wet, and long. and the wind was nasty on the mile out. AND I got a blister on one of my feet (RW needs new shoes badly). I think I'm going to start doing them quarterly as a progress check.

Then watched Rocky (it rocked. Best line? "Fighters fight." For the record, I came up with "Warriors war" prior to seeing the movie). Went home and continued to rebuild my PC. Much better system performance. Need to add some more ram. Hopefully, it'll be easily accessible. Comcast should be at my house this afternoon, and hopefully they'll fix quickly.

Got to bed fairly early. Made it to work on time this morning.

A good start to a good year? Only time will tell, but I think so. :-)

I hope each and every one of the circle had a great 2006, with a nice closing, and has an even better 2007.

This discussion was created by Red Warrior (637634) for no Foes, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.