YO BRO IT’S ME LITTY

I’m not really the new year’s resolution type of guy. It’s not that I don’t seek self-improvement. I guess I just don’t think a reset of the christian calendar is the motivation I need for me to change my life. My biggest worry each new year is remembering to write the correct year on checks, forms, etc. I usually louse this up a good dozen times in the first few months of a new year. The best/worst part occurs when somebody gets all excited to correct my mistake and then makes a lame joke in the process thereby giving me an opportunity for some lame rebuttal like “jeez, time flies when you’re not getting laid”.

I’ve been cooped up in my very own fish tank of an apartment for the last few days with some kind of nasty stomach virus. I drank a Sparks Energy Drink on Saturday night during the Giants game and haven’t eaten or left my bed since then. The can actually lists the ingredients as a premium malt beverage with caffeine-citric acid blend, taurine, guarana-ginsing blend, natural flavor, certified colors, FD&C Yellow Number Five & artificial sweetners. Said can is also decorated like a battery and I’m not certain that the concoction doesn’t contain alkaline. (My last encounter with Sparks was when lil guy came to visit me in SD and wouldn’t shut up about Sparks and Empanadas as we walked down Garnet street late at night.) Anyway, after this weekend I’m replacing St. Ides with Sparks for beverage most likely to give you the flu.

Anyways, the bedridden weekend has allowed me to watch every episode of Californication and the last season of Weeds as well as a bunch of random bowl games. It also gave me some time to think up some resolutions for the new year.

If I write about it on the blog, perhaps it becomes a bit more real and maybe I’ll have a better chance of following through on them.

My Book Club
I’ve been saying for years that I want to start a book club. One of those geeky shin digs where a group of interesting people meet once a month to discuss a novel and munch on exotic cheeses. Ideally, I’ll start off as the moderator/leader person but others will take charge once the group finds its rhythm. I’ve always been a big reader but I’ve never had a forum to discuss the thought-provoking books that I’ve read. Last year I started LittyBooks — a blog to review books — but it feels like I am just talking to myself. Hopefully, this book club will lead to an interesting monthly conversation and keep me motivated to keep on reading. I’m pumped. This could be the nerdiest thing I’ve done since I captained the math team in high school!

My Charity
I already wrote about my interest in getting involved in charitable causes. You can read the post here if you missed it. I still would like to get something going and I’m looking for people to partner with on some kind of project that can start small but have room to grow. It seems like there are so many great ways to get active. Check out this website called Free Rice that is a simple vocabulary game that donates rice to starving people the more you play! Improve your vocab, study for the SAT’s and help the world eat. Brillient! Or check out Kiva.org – a way to connect and loan money to unique small businesses in third world nation’s. The first activity I hope to work on is to host an “Entrepreneur For A Day” program at [212] Media in partnership with Boys Speak Out, an Atlanta charity that gives opportunities to underprivileged youths (thanks Weino!).

Athlete/Training
Working at Sportsvite I’ve heard so many incredible stories of how sports has positively influenced people’s lives. I would like to get back into competitive sports in 2008. Do something where I test myself and push my own physical and mental boundaries through training and competition. I’m not sure if this is competing in some kind of swimming event, improving my golf game or playing a team sport in a more competitive league. Need to figure it out.

To go along with this I would like to get into better physical shape. Right now I tip the scales at something like 194 lbs (doesn’t include not eating the last three days). It would be awesome to get below 180 lbs. At the same time I’d like to continue to hit the gym to the point where I can bench a set at 185 lbs. I’m not sure what would happen. From what I hear I’ll be invigorated with new life, have superior self-confidence, get any chick that I want and smirk at the obese lowlifes eating their Big Mac’s as I pass Mcdonald’s munching on my Fiber one bar each morning. Sounds like I’ll be staring at myself in the mirror wall a lot once all this happens!

Family Guy
I want to be a better brother, son, grandson, cousin, friend, etc. This one is kind of sappy and obvious, but I often regret that I don’t always put the best “me” forward in front of my friends and family. Sometimes I feel like I act like the impatient, grumpy, sarcastic, too busy to be bothered guy. In my ideal world I would be the biggest cheerleader, trusted friend, moral supporter and encourager for each member of my family. Heck, If I didn’t have such a great family and friends there is a good chance I’d still be relaxing in the California sun. It should be easy to let them know how much I appreciate them.

So that’s that. A few solstices from now when I’m a fat, movie-watching, ungrateful Republican we can both look back to this post and laugh.