New Year's Resolutions...

Well. It's been a busy week. First came Christmas, which this year included a fantabulous dinner with my Korean students, who had never tasted turkey before. My family has never really had guests for Christmas dinner, as our extended family lives elsewhere, so this made for a nice change. Four days later, it was my birthday: I am officially in my late 20's and as many of you know, I'm not entirely happy about that. But then, as my Grandpa used to say, it sure beats the alternative! Third, and finally, New Year's Eve is now upon us. Thus, this week has essentially been one long excuse for unimpeded imbibing of alcoholic substances, consuming of delicious goodies, and lazing about in general. It's been nice.

I am beginning to mourn the fact that in less than 48 short little hours I will be slogging my way back to work. Seriously- this week I have slept better than I have in the last two years, and I attribute it to the fact that I haven't been at work. Sad.

But I digress.

With tonight's festivities, comes the age old tradition of naming our New Year's resolutions. This is the one day of the year during which people are actually encouraged to be self-reflective- something some of us all too often forget to be. So what shall I resolve this year? In a sort of omnibus resolution (followed by a resounding 'DUH!' from the peanut gallery) I resolve to make 2007 a better year than 2006. True, it won't be hard to accomplish this, as 2006, in my experience, was a particular stinker, but there are a few points that I will concentrate on (in no particular order):

1. I will find a job that doesn't cause me undue stress and depression.
2. I will continue to work towards my latest goals.
3. I will continue to rid myself of poisonous relationships... I think I've already got most of them, but I also need to make sure I stay rid of them (I'm a bit of a doormat that way).
4. I will continue to work on fixing the emotional problems that have plagued me since my teenaged years.
5. I will learn to, if not love, at least like myself.
6. I will write more.
7. I will live more.

And no, I am not so naive to think that the clock will be reset and that my problems will evaporate simply because I am exchanging my Giverny calendar for one of Scottish landscapes. Nor have I waited for said changing of the guard to commence the changes I deem necessary (note the verb 'continue' in sub-resolutions 2, 3, and 4). But still, it appears that I've got my work cut out for me. Never fear, though. I've got some excellent friends, tons of sappy movies, good music, this blog, pretty toes, and gallons of coffee and wine to get me through ;)

What are your resolutions??

Oh, and-

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Riding in cars. With or without boys.

You know, it never ceases to blow me away: What people will do in their cars, while sitting in traffic. Now admittedly, there is not much 'real' traffic in my neck of the woods, but you do occasionally have to wait five to ten minutes to make it through an intersection or two, so there is some time for people watching. I like to watch the car behind me through my rear-view mirror. Somewhat voyeuristic, I know, but it's still a public place... I observed three cars yesterday.

The first is the one that prompted this post. When I glanced in the rear view mirror, the lone occupant was digging around in her nose. And I mean digging. Once she had finished with both nostrils (it was like a train wreck or one of those mosquito lights: I couldn't look away... I just had to know how deep she was gonna go. Was she going to nick a vessel? Would the paramedics be needed??), she commenced with her nails (I figure they would have needed a good cleaning after where they'd just been), and then she proceeded to use the rear view mirror to examine her eyebrows and how they reacted to every ridiculous expression she could think of. Alas, my entertainment was cut short by the change of the light, at which point she gunned the gas and nearly clipped my rear end as she made a sudden lane change and swerved around the corner.

The next car kind of freaked me out a bit. It was one of those ugly new Cadillacs, and the occupants, a man and woman who appeared to be in their early twenties, were obviously having words. They looked furious with one another, and as the woman kept talking, I really thought the man (who was driving) just might smack her. He didn't though. At least not that I saw. The light changed, and as I proceeded through the intersection, he made an illegal and high-speed turn, cutting off traffic in the turning lane.

The third and final car was a van with two occupants, ostensibly father and son. This pair was fun to watch. They quite obviously were having a blast, laughing and joking. The son looked to be about 10 years old, and at one point was demonstrating something that looked very little boy-ish. I imagine battleships and fighter jets were involved, complete with sound effects. The light changed, and I was forced to concentrate on what was in front of me.

So why do people act as though they're alone in their cars when, in reality, they are, more often than not, in the middle of a crowd? I suppose all this must have something to do with the fact that when in our cars, we feel relatively secure and isolated, never mind the fact that we're surrounded by clear glass... I must admit that I myself have been caught by this: More than once I have been rocking out to the stereo, singing to the masses at Woodstock, only to return to my senses and find that I have been serenading (potentially off-key) three lanes of traffic with my windows down. I got applause once, but I think that due more to my comedic value than singing abilities...

Hmmmm... just another day in the fascinating realm of people watching.