June 1: Resolution Day

Beginning June 1st, I resolve to:

• Stop Smoking - (Quit laughing, one of these times it's gonna work for good and this time is the one!)
• Budget and Prioritize my Finances - Maybe I should hold off on the motorcycle riding lessons until the bass guitar and laminate flooring are paid off. Maybe I should have more money in my account than just enough to get me to the next payday. Ok, maybe I should just delete the 'maybe's.
• Start Working Out (again) - Sigh. My portliness has reached an all-time high. My treadmill has reached the maximum amount of alternate uses (e.g. hanger, dust collector, object d'art, etc). Time for this boy to make some lifestyle changes.
• Set Goals - Goal #1: Make a list of goals...check!

Bonus June activities/efforts:

• June will be The Month of No Dining Out!

• I will track EVERY expenditure from June the First until June the Last, even the pack of ciga...(crap)...even the drive through McDo...(sh!t)...well, I'm sure I'll find SOME way to waste my money, and when I do, I'll track it!

Anything I've missed?

Time for a change

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The Third Epiphany: Simplify

This one’s been thrust into my brain time and again, but I never seem to take it to heart:

Simplify

To that end, having had to shove everything into the bedroom and out of the way to allow for the new flooring to be installed in the living room, dining room and kitchen (photos to follow in the future), I’m going to take the opportunity to chuck all the things I can to create a less ‘stuff dependent’ environment and life.

Now, this is not to say that I’m the sort to acquire things willy-nilly. No, much more the opposite these days. I can hardly justify getting anything new just for the sake of it, though I will confess to a good deal of virtual window shopping.

And speaking of window shopping, I need to start saving to get new windows.

I’m also toying with the idea of getting rid of my television sets (I have two, one in the living room and one in the (GASP) bedroom, though, to tell you the truth, the one in the bedroom doesn’t get used much at all anyway). I have no idea what I will do with the time but it HAS to be better than staring at that box for hours on end, doesn’t it?

I don't really think my life is all that complicated as it is, but I have more stuff than I need, which only leads to more problems than I need.

So I ask you, dear reader: What would you do without to simplify?

The Second Epiphany

The Second Epiphany: Charity

I couldn’t tell you why I was even looking, but I came across the dictionary definition of Charity the other day and noticed that the etymology includes the Late Latin (whatever that is) caritat –, caritas, meaning Christian love. (if the writers of the entry in question are to be believed)

Suddenly (don’t judge, I’ve been busy thinking about other things up until now) the whole “Faith, Hope and Charity”¹ thing made much more sense.

Yes, yes, I know that I’m probably well behind the curve on this most un-earth-shattering revelation, but to me, charity had always meant something akin to alms giving or organized, non-profit type things.

It never occurred to me that in the Christian sense, charity and love were fungible commodities.

I blame the King James Version and the Illinois Public School system for this gross miscarriage of linguistic justice!

* * * * *

I’ve never done much of anything in the way of volunteer work. I was Santa one year for an animal shelter. People brought their dog or cat (or whatever, but mostly dogs or cats) to the local PetsMart and for a donation had a photo of the animal with Santa Claus. That pretty much covers my philanthropic experience.

I think I WOULD do more volunteer work, but there’s no cause that I feel passionate about.

I liked working with the doggies. That was kind of fun, but mostly pointless. And I always think that if I were going to be giving my time to something, while I love dogs, people should probably take precedence.

And of people, I would think that children are the least able to help themselves, but I imagine most people think that and I would bet that there’s a significantly larger proportion of volunteers for children’s causes than there are for other causes. Purely conjecture, mind you.

So, then I’m left with adult humans. I don’t really buy into the (insert disease, disorder or disability) cure thing. Anything done for such organizations is to fund research which doesn’t help anybody except the researchers (assuming that no cures will be forthcoming soon).

I’m open to suggestions.

1. 1. “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”