Wow, long time no write. But I'm enjoying the recently-released Saint Arnold's Winter Stout, so I'm in the mood to opine and pontificate. Life has been busy lately. I'm helping out a sister property, which means I'm commuting. Amazing that a 20 minute drive can affect your whole life so much. I have to get up earlier, I get home later, and I'm more tired because I'm not as busy. Does that make any sense? And in the interim I think I'm falling for a man who may or may not feel the same way and the mixed signals are exhausting as well. On the other hand, the holidays are upon us. Oh, wait, that makes me exhausted too! Nonetheless, I have started thinking about New Year's resolutions. None of this dieting, exercising, quitting smoking and getting healthy bs for me, though. No, I resolve to: 1) Learn to play the violin; 2) Read books about economics and public policy, just in case; 3) Brush up on my Italian; 4) Fully commit to my job or get a new one; 5) Cook - something I enjoy, but never seem to want to do because it means I have to plan, buy groceries, and do dishes; 6) Purge my apartment of sentimental crap!; and 7) Stop waiting for friends to decide they want to do things. I've spent a lot of time lately trying to decide if I'm really a happy person who has been miserable for stupid reasons for a long time, or if I always have and always will be a cynical old codger, who has just learned to fake it really well. I can't decide. It's almost an is-the-glass-half-full question, in more ways than one, because ultimately it doesn't matter. Either I have half a beer left, or I need more beer, right? Anyway, most of my friends are married with children, always complaining about not having time to do things, and my philosophy is, you MAKE time for what is important, and if you don't have the time, it's not that important. So I have plenty of time to read, play around on the computer, and watch tv, but not enough time to bike or take classes or clean my apartment. So as a test for my newfound "chipper" personality, I'm challenging myself to better prioritize my life. We'll just have to see how it goes!