It’s pretty bad when you actually have to read up on your last post just to figure out where you left off, isn’t it???
So let’s see – it’s sooooo good to finally be back in Tampa! Not that Atlanta isn’t a nice place to visit or anything, but after living out of a hotel room and eating out for every single meal – and eating out being pretty much the only thing that we did – let’s just say that it got old real quick and I wasn’t the least bit disappointed when my name wasn’t called off for the Ivan relief group. With the new track shooting the thing west of us, I’m not even sure if they ended up going or not, but even if they did, I’m happy to say that I’ll be fending off this hurricane in front of my television instead… 😛
It’s hard to believe that it’s already September – it won’t be long now before I’ll have been here in Florida officially for a full year. Just looking around my apartment, I realize that I’ve come a long way since then, what with moving away from home and living on my own and paying off a huge chunk of the credit card debt that I managed to amass over the past five years. I’ve made new friends and tried my best to keep up with the old; I’ve began my climb up the corporate ladder and learned that raises with damn near any job are few and far between; I’ve purchased a High Definition TV – if those aren’t signs of the times, I don’t know what is!
I’m curious to look up and see what my New Years resolutions were for 2004 – I know off the bat that I’m still not doing great, but at least the finances are getting taken care of and that was my number one priority. My writing has fallen to the wayside and even when I can find the motivation to create, I simply can’t find the time – I know that this isn’t going to ease up at least for a little while longer, however I still consider myself fortunate merely to even have a job that pays me for my creative talents, so at least that’s something. Besides, I can deal with not putting out a book this year, I’ve decided – the collection book has more or less lost my interest because most of the columns that were going into it are at least two years old now and I’ve since then written much better pieces; Leaving Miami, on the other hand, is something that I do want to push at least a little farther this fall because I still like the concept and it’s a fairly personal story…which then again is why I’m in no hurry to rush its completion. I did write / finish a few random columns while I was in Atlanta that I’d like to put online sometime soon – maybe they’ll encourage me to start the weekly humor thing up again – I don’t know…
As for my other goals, well, I guess it all boils down to how I’m able to manage my time here until Christmas. Considering the sight-seeing aspect – this might end up being a matter of physically pencilling in places and times on my calendar and forcing myself to stick to them, which is hard when you’ve got a job that you actually enjoy and that still pays you for overtime…at least for the time being! 😉 Exercise is another one that I believe simply requires discipline…note that I’ve yet to go swimming once since my last diatribe…but many wise folks have told me that you really have to want to lose the weight if it’s ever going to happen. I believe these people whole-heartedly, but nonetheless I can also be incredibly stubborn and that, therein, is my weakness when it comes to exercise.
And last but not least, I’d still like to find a lady to occupy what little free time I have left. I think that having one would actually help keep me in line with my other goals listed above, plus additionally I’ve heard that women are great in bed and I’d love for the opportunity to test that theory out before the holiday season rolls around again! Who knows – when it all comes down to it, I’m definitely happy with where I sit in my life right now – there are always improvements that we would like to make, from adding or changing routines to simply figuring out why the toilet suddenly isn’t flushing the way it used to anymore – but at the end of the day, I think a lot can be said for those who can truly say that they are pleased with how far they’ve progressed thus far.
It seems to have worked for me this far, anyways…