Are you making a New Year's resolution? Here are some people who are
The year 2011 will be remembered for everything from the http://www.npr.org/2011/12/17/143897126/the-arab-spring-a-year-of-revolutionand the protests that swept the world to the royal wedding in the spring between Prince William and Kate Middleton in London. It will be remembered for the Penn State sex abuse scandal and here in Ann Arbor for the hiring of a new football coach at the University of Michigan.
For many people, New Year's Eve means one last celebration of 2011 while making resolutions for an even better 2012.
Here are some resolutions from the Ann Arbor area:
For Cathy Cieglo of Ann Arbor, New Year's Eve is about getting together with good friends, seeing a movie and trying to stay up until midnight. Her New Year's resolution is to purge her belongings by 50 percent.
Dexter resident Ellen Bunting says, "Tonight I plan to win at euchre for once." She says that her favorite moment of 2011 was "when Herman Cain had to re-evaluate his campaign in front of all Christendom."
For Suzanne Murray of Scio Township, her favorite moment of 2011 was more personal. The morning of her scheduled visit to the Office of Retirement Services in Lansing, she was awakened early by a profound dream, which she calls an omen that may have led to her other favorite moment of the year- retiring earlier than planned from her job as a high school teacher.
Kevin Hlavaty of Dexter Township will be smoking a big tenderloin while his wife makes a big pot of bouillabaisse Saturday evening for friends. He has three favorite memories from 2011- snorkeling in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, watching Jim Thome of the California Angels hit is 600th home run while at a Tigers game in Detroit, and getting his college degree in nuclear engineering.
For Sue Williams of Dexter, an outstanding memory of the year was when her daughter left for college. "I'm happy she had the opportunity but it was hard to let her go."
Williams plans to enjoy dinner and a movie Saturday night, and her resolution is to lose 20 pounds.
Marie Knoerl of Dexter Township is planning to hang out and play games with friends and neighbors and resolves to get her house in better order in 2012.
Barbara Bowman of Scio Township is spending New Year's Eve on the couch, and offers an alternative way to look at making resolutions.
"My best New Year's resolution was when I gave up guilt, so I've had no need for further resolutions," she said.
Her New Year's Day toast: "May the best day of your past, be the worst day of your future."
Comments
Bob Bethune
Sun, Jan 1, 2012 : 2:23 p.m.
One reason why so many New Year's resolutions fail is precisely because they are New Year's resolutions. They are made at an arbitrary time, thoughtlessly, particularly without thought about the real nature of the problems they should address. Due to the simple fact that they are taken at only one point in a whole year, and a purely arbitrary point at that, they are certain to address problems that should have been addressed long before, and therefore are now harder to deal with than they would have been if addressed in a timely manner. Again, due to the arbitrary and infrequent nature of them, they address whatever is on one's mind at the moment, rather than whatever long-term issues really need to be addressed. People looking for effective self-improvement would be much better served to think carefully about the issues that bother them on a frequent and regular basis, and implement a systematic way to track their progress on those issues, again, on a frequent and regular basis. That would be a far more effective approach than joining the meaningless, ineffective and ill-thought annual ritual of making New Year's resolutions doomed from the start.
DBH
Sat, Dec 31, 2011 : 8:09 p.m.
Here is a useful website from the government on resources to achieve common resolutions: <a href="http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/New-Years-Resolutions.shtml" rel='nofollow'>http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/New-Years-Resolutions.shtml</a> . One of the links leads to what appears to be an excellent online assistant for improving nutrition and fitness: <a href="https://www.choosemyplate.gov/SuperTracker/default.aspx" rel='nofollow'>https://www.choosemyplate.gov/SuperTracker/default.aspx</a> .
smokeblwr
Sat, Dec 31, 2011 : 7:03 p.m.
I want to gain 100 lbs. And get the first comment of 2012 on AA.com.