LoL#44: Happy New Monkey Year!

Before I say anything, it's time for some shoutouts!!!! First to Chriskapher and Skirv Dog - I figure I'd go ahead and add y'all to my list of monthly lisa updates (LoL = Lisa on Life or Life of Lisa or Lisa Online or something like that). Be warned that it's as random as I am but if you like what you read check out the archive - ****edit: http://bloggerarrow.blogspot.com ***** - and see what you missed. On the other hand, if you find this to be an annoyance to your daily life and consider it to be one more piece of meaningless spam, let me know that too and you can get off the list. Next shoutouts go to the January birthday people and while I'm at it I'll go ahead and mention the Feb's too so that if I've forgotten anyone (and I'm sure I have - DOH!) you can let me know and you'll get a s.o. in February. So let's see that's James L, Igor K, Heidi E, Katie B, Danny S, and my sweetie Tony G (who'll be blushing now that I called him "my sweetie" - hee hee).

So......Happy New Year because this is the first LoL of 2004 (yes it really is already 2004!!) and Happy New Monkey Year because a week ago was Chinese New Year and it's the Year of the Monkey!! Like many of you other soon to be 24-year olds I was born in 1980 also a Year of the Monkey and supposedly it's a good luck thing to be born under that sign. Am I lucky? Sure. Am I any luckier than the myriad of people I know also born in that same year? Nah. But I figure monkeys usually sybolize fun, silly, clever creativty so let's just say heck with any horoscope superstitions and we can all just have a Monkey kind of year. Besides, my year was off to a rather chaotic start (got mono, missed two weeks of work, my dog got killed by a hit and run driver...) so hopefully now that it's the New MONKEY Year things will be a little more "normal".

But back to the subject of the new year, I was looking back at last January and I realized that I actually was fairly successful at all three of my New Year's Resolutions. I figured that after a year like that I deserved a break so I immediately resolved not to make any New Year's resolutions and then got mad at myself for failing already. But seriously, what is it about the new year that makes people so anxious for change? Is it the whole "turning over a new leaf" deal? I cringe everytime I hear people invoke that analogy. There's something inherently foolish about believing that a new day week or year can simply erase the previous. The difference between 2003 and 2004 is a simple case of 24 hours. There really is no magic in the ball dropping over Times Square (although there is something decidedly suspicious about Mr Fountain of Youth, Dick Clark...). Perhaps the whole resolution mess can be attributed to the curse of saying "there's always next year". Aside from the Cubs fans that still want a price on Steve Bartman's head, is this really something anyone should say? Don't try again next year, do something NOW! Life's too short. Maybe the audition, the game, the test, is next year, but ask yourself, what can I do for it now? New Year's Resolutions have to be about an attitude change and you'd better believe that the dead of winter could be one of the most challenging times to initiate changes within ourselves. Why not have Mid-Year resolutions? The summer sun would be a much more encouraging time to decide to start a new hobby and what better motivator for breaking a bad habit than the increasing hours of daylight in May and June?

As for me, I'm not really resolving to change anything about myself right now. Yeah I could go down the same list as everyone - healthier food, more excercise, less caffeine, saner thinking - but with the exception of actually eliminating my entire caffeine consumption (which, trust me, AIN'T gonna happen!), none of these goals can ever be actualized. There will always be a healthier diet, there will always be a few more pounds to shed, there will always be saner thoughts than those that I think. Is it all fruitless? Meaningless? Nah. Goals have purpose but they're so much easier to grasp daily or even weekly. Monthly, maybe, if you're really ambitious - but a yearly thing? Are we in that much of hurry to get through life???

So, you ask, what IS lisa looking for this year??

In a word, ADVENTURE!!!! Not adventure as in lisa's life as a Jerry Bruckheimer film (although Pirates of the Carribbean would be cool... YARR!!), I mean adventure as in new experiences. I'm not planning any world traveling. I'm not even planning any in the country traveling. But there resides inside me a desperate fear of the static and mundane. In my book "routine" should be a four letter word! I'm looking back at 2003 and the year held a lot of firsts. Meeting new people, doing new things, learning new skills, reading new books, hearing new bands, trying new foods, going new places - a whole hodgepodge of experiences that I had previously never experienced! Some of you may read this and be further convinced of my mental instability. You see nothing pleasurable about The New and The Different and may attribute this whole rant to the fact that I've been cooped up with mono for too long. But I'm the kind who never orders the same menu item twice (unless it's coconut shrimp....) - I thrive on the chaos of unpredicability. I'm hoping that 2004 will be as thrilling as 03 and I fully intend to do everything in my power to make it so!

Here's hoping that this year's adventures will include you and if not, may you have plenty of your own!


Adventurefully Yours,

lisa :)


p.s. To S.P. who's right there with me - and encouraging me - to try anything once!! You really are the kind of friend that makes life more fun!!