Back to Liiiife, Back to Reality

Happy New Year folks!

I hope you all had a great time over the holiday and enjoyed the people that mean the most to you - cuz after all the excitement is over, the gifts are unwrapped, the meals prepared and eaten, that’s what really matters most I reckon.

I had a pretty good Christmas break.

I got to visit family - both my own and my extended family (Sandy’s side), enjoyed some great home cooking, consumed a fair share of rum and eggnog, slept in everyday, and got some much needed rest.
It was nice to have the time off, even though the time absolutely flew by with catching up on chores and visits with friends we hadn’t seen in a long time.

I am most excited to report that I got a super sweet acoustic guitar from Sandy for Christmas - that was a surprise that had me speechless for at least a half an hour.
I haven’t had much time to play around with it yet, but plan to learn how to play this year. I’ve picked up some beginners guides to reading guitar tabs, but really get the feeling that I will learn mostly by listening and figuring out the chords by ear. I’ve never been able to read music, so that’s all rather confusing to me.
Yep - I think that a few local lessons and just strumming and practicing picking up notes by ear in my spare time will be the ticket.
I’m looking forward to it.

Anyways, like I said it’s back to the grind, and I’m actually kind of happy all of the excitement is over with for another year.
Don’t get me wrong - I love Christmas and New Year’s, but the more hectic it’s become over the years, the more it seems kind of…excessive?

No.

Stressful.

Yes, stressful.

So I’ve decided that next year, I’m going to spend my holiday break in Mexico.

Seriously.

It’s time to start doing these kinds of trips and actually getting away for a break.
Getting bogged down with the day to day obligations in life and the ever dwindling personal time we have after our work and social demands are taken care of, leaves what precious holiday time we do have packed full of the things we didn’t get done when we didn’t have the time.
Whoa.
Did that even make sense? The old noggin is a bit rusty after 10 days of little thinking, miniscule amounts of reading, zero writing, and zero painting.

I guess my point is we have to get Away to GET AWAY. Like to a place where we are forced to relax and enjoy ourselves simply because we’ve removed ourselves from our regular surroundings.
Well, it’s a theory at any rate.
Only way to find out if it’s true is to go and do it. So that’s the plan for next year kids.

In completely unrelated news, it’s Sandy’s birthday on Thursday.
I know right? Right after Christmas. What a jip for her. I feel sorry for all of the late December/early January babies out there - the last thing ppl usually want to do after Christmas is go shopping or party any more.
But a birthday is an important day in life, and therefore should be celebrated no matter what day of the year you were born.

As Sandy is quite into photography (or used to be I should say, in her younger days), I got her a 7.1 mega pixel Olympus digital SLR camera, 512mb Memory stick, and carrying case for her birthday.

I think she’ll like it. It’s more for photography than day to day shots, and can be accessorized with numerous conversion lenses for different types of image capture/effects.
I hope she'll like it. Actually, I think she will. I think she’ll love it.

Woot!

Her mother is coming into town on her birthday and I won't see much of her, so we’ll be celebrating together tomorrow night instead. I am ordering a shit load of sushi from Sakanna Grill for us, having a nice bottle of wine ready, and giving her her gift.
Quiet, simple, but I think it will be a nice evening.

Lastly - I am trying to quit smoking for good. Again. I’ve tried on many occasions before, and have always seemed to relapse at one point or another.
It’s not going too badly.
So far I am 18 hours, 9 minutes, 2 seconds smoke free, have NOT smoked 12 cigarettes, have saved 2 hours of my life, and saved $7.04 - according to quitnet.com.
I’ve had a few cravings today, but am seemingly okay managing them drinking lots of cold water.
We’ll see if it gets much worse. They say the first 3 days is the worst in terms of physical symptoms (it takes 72 hours for your body to be completely nicotine free). After that, it’s pure will power. I think everyone is individual though, and it will differ from person to person.

I hope all goes fairly easily this time, and I can kick this old habit for good!