As each year passes with the speed approaching that of a Twilight vampire, I get crankier and crankier. My patience for most things wane, forcing me to declare at the embarrassment of whoever accompanies me in public, “I don’t have time for this. Life’s too short! Is there anyone else around here who can change my diaper?”
And since the New Year is the clichéd time for everyone to make resolutions for self-improvement, please humor me with my out-loud, doomed-to-fail and pointless promise to myself.
I only have one, since last year’s more-or-less single doomed-to-fail resolution never came to pass. Perhaps I should just shoot for a half of a resolution, a “demi-resolution”, if you will.
I’ve come to realize that joy is a rare thing and therefore a coveted thing that should be pursued at all costs, even if it leads to murder. We spend a lot of wasted effort and time on things that, in the end, don’t matter. To this day, no one has been heard on their death bed to have said, “I wish I had spent more time on Facebook”, or “I wish so-and-so would have annoyed me more often”, or “What’s that metallic gray stuff you’re putting in my IV bag?”
This might seem trite to younger folks, but I love hanging out with people who I can genuinely connect with, beyond that superficial small talk. I feel good after a substantive (and mutual) conversation. One-way conversations suck the life out of me and I am too old to be wasting my time like that.
So, my New Year’s Resolution for 2011 is to spend more time with my real friends, the people who actually mean something to me. So if I don’t call you this year, don’t take it personally or anything, it’s probably just that I don’t like you.
However, if the success of this year’s resolution is anything like the success of last year’s resolution, I will probably spend less time with those about whom I care and continue to hang out with people who are a complete drain on my soul. And if that’s true, then if I do call you this year, don’t take that personally either, because I might not like you, or it’s because I really am sticking to my New Year’s resolution and you really do mean something to me. I imagine it might be difficult for you to figure out if I like you or not, so I wouldn’t put too much energy into such complex problem solving.
Okay?
Maybe I should just go with half friendship fulfillment, or “demi-friending”, if you will. Then I won’t exceed either one of our expectations and we’ll all be less miserable. Yeah, that’s what I really want this year, to be less miserable.
So to sum up, I resolve to be less miserable by attempting to half-assedly spend more or less time with the people in my life who may or may not squeeze out my entire desire for living.
And what about you?
Some "Best Of Sacramento" articles I wrote for CBS
