That time of year.

The cheese has never been too hip to the whole "new year's resolution" thing. He believes that if one wants to affect change in one's life, then any day of the year is the day to do so, rather than some arbitrarily decided upon date that "begins" a new calendar year (cause remember, a year is measured by the time it takes our planet to circle the sun, a circle as we all know, has no real beginning or end).

Nevertheless, it seems a particularly pertinent moment in the cheese' life to reassess and revalue certain things. As all loyal citizens of cheeselandia know Princess Isabella is growing by the minute (as the cheese writes this, in fact, she is rolling about on the living room floor with various plush friends).


And it is the princess, not surprisingly, that has spurred much of the cheese desire to change certain things in his life.

Resolution #1. Cultivate a more positive attitude

Look, by nature the cheese is sarcastic, cynical and generally annoyed with humanity. But it occurs to the cheese that he does not necessarily wish such an attitude on the princess. Truth be told, the cheese has often felt himself grudgingly admire people who are mostly positive. And perhaps there is some truth in the idea that to foster good things in one's life, one must start with himself. Sure it sounds a bit "new agey" but it is the underlying (though wholly simplified) principle of certain eastern philosophies. All in all, the cheese wants more than anything for his daughter to be happy and excited about life, as opposed to always being bitter and pessimistic.

Resolution #2. Change eating habits

It has now been four days since the cheese last had a soda. More than that, though, the cheese is on an overall diet. The cheese truly believes that there may be a place in his life for soda, though it should be a very small place. And while the days of consuming two gallons of Pepsi in a day are long gone, even two cans of soda a day is much too much. First off, the cheese metabolism is not what it once was, and secondly, no man who is barely 5'7" should weigh 185 lbs. Currently the cheese and mrs_cheese are on the "cleansing" portion off their diet which will last two weeks total. Then the cheese gets fruit again, thank god. And, in fact, the diet hasn't been that bad so far, though the craptacularness of it has been blunted by a head cold and minor back injury... But the cheese really doesn't want the princess growing up believing (like the cheese did) that it is perfectly fine if all one's liquid intake comes from aluminum cans.

Resolution #3. Take an active role in securing the family's future

Right now the cheese clan has two different retirement funds and life insurance policies on all three of us (yes, that includes the princess, but it's more about her children's future than about any money we might receive on the off chance she dies at a young age). And it recently occurred to the cheese he knows little to nothing about mutual funds, stocks, 401K's, or any other important component of this country's financial system. Now, in a perfect world there would be a fair and progressive tax system in this country that allowed for Social Security to continue on past next year or so, the real estate market would actually be affordable to middle income families and corporations would actually be taxed. But none of those things will probably ever happen in the cheese' lifetime. That being the case, the cheese needs to seriously increase his understanding of the major financial systems working in this country so that, on that sad day when the cheese passes onto the next phase, princess isabella will inherent a cheeselandia that is not a desolate wasteland peopled with illiterate peasants.

Resolution #4 Make a concerted effort to actually have a writing career

This might go without saying, but the Chronicles will be finished soon. This, though, is only the first step to becoming a published writer. As of this writing the cheese has already begun to formulate an actual plan of action on what to do once the novel is finished. In some ways luck plays a part in any artists attempt to make a living off of a craft, but the cheese believes that with the proper mental attitude and an actual blueprint for action, one might just be able to manufacture his own luck.

Well, that's the list. What about you, oh loyal citizens? Any resolutions out there?


P.S., the cheese went ahead and upgraded the blog to the new version, so in order to post you all might have to upgrade your accounts...