In the days when Joey Barton complicates our perception of him with philosophical quotes from Friedrich Nietzsche, George Orwell and Joseph Barton, it is easy to overlook the teachings from the great Disney works of the past. For Timon, Pumba and Rafiki have already influenced where this little ramble will rumble.
2012 was an interesting one that started off in the usual fashion. The first three months were like every other year, then things started to unravel. By September it was as if I was back to square one. No job, back in the family home, relationships ended, sure what else could possibly go wrong?! Thankfully all this resulted in nothing more than an unfortunate change in circumstances and a resolve to start again and accept the challenge.
If 2012 taught me one thing it was that I need to take responsibility for my actions. It is too easy to go out on the tear and just lounge through the following day when I know all my pond dwelling birds of leisure are not perfectly aligned. While I did not lose my job through much fault of my own, I certainly did not do everything in my power to ensure I placed myself in the best possible position to fight back. Though I'm not sure I believe in karma etc I doubt I did a huge amount to bring the best of this mysterious aura my way. On the 31st of December 2012, I am left with an overriding feeling that I just let 2012 happen.
So in 2013, let me see if I can take the hull by the borns and do things differently. There will not be any major changes but a few small ones that might make things more exciting and push the envelope as they say in the world of the X Games, winter and summer. I don't think I am a bad person, but I wonder how good I could be.
Starting with the dreaded drink, I am going to cut it down to one night out a month, and by night out, I mean hell for leather night out. There is nothing better than being on the complete tear, letting what is left of my hair down and doing what I do best, saying the wrong thing to the right person. Complete abstinence, while unbelievable for the body and soul would be detrimental to the craic, and as they say craic is central to our being (*WARNING* this may never have been said). A couple of times during 2012 I went to the theater and then went for a few drinks or dinner, it was glorious, I want more of that.
Movies, I have not seen enough movies. I am sick of not recognising film references while only being able to provide the Lion King's many incredible scenes as my own reference points. Ironically, I have become quite a good actor when it comes to pretending I know what scene has just been referred to by a seemingly movie laden friend of mine. I have never watched Jaws, but I do however know, that "We need a bigger boat". 2013 will be the year I catch up on all the films I should have been watching in my previous incarnation as the exact same person with limited film knowledge.
One thing I despised about 2012 was my complete inability to get fit, every time I thought I was on the verge of getting my Olympic place something would get in the way. That something was normally a pint or burger or several pints and a Supermacs meal. I'm not going to cut them out, that would be detrimental to the Irish food and beverage industry and I for one take my responsibilities seriously. Instead I will continue my Trojan efforts with the aforementioned industry while combining it with a burning desire to improve the wares of the health and fitness clubs of my locality. Yes, I am going to go for 3 visits to the gym a week.
I need to read more books. I have read some really god books, books that are not just page turners, what book isn't?! What I want from a book is that feeling of being stuck to the book. Kind of like when I am looking at a box of chocolates and I say this is my last one and then ten chocolates later I still have not stopped eating, that's what I want in a book. That feeling of guilty pleasure you get from reading on but knowing it is ok because for years we have been told that there is knowledge in them there pages. One thing I will not be doing is quoting any books I read in great detail, by holy figures of the religious realms that annoys me. "Such and such a person said such and such a thing and therefore I am repeating it to you", get your own opinions, and before you start, quoting the Lion King is completely different, it's not a book of course.
I want to take up a good cause. I want to volunteer at a soup kitchen or help a charity in someway. Once a year at Christmas I leave the leafy suburbs to deliver hampers with my family to those in much need. Every year I am struck by the grateful faces that open the doors, by the freezing, bare houses and the scantily clothed children. Every year I resolve to do more to help, every year I don't. It is not because I want to feel better about myself, or that I think I can change the world. I think the world is pretty much now the way it is going to be for the rest of my lifetime, so why not help when I can.
We spend a lot of our time wishing it away, in 2013 I am going to try and wish it back into my hands and do something with it. If there is a movie I should see or a charity I could help, or an event that could fill the other nights of my life that are not occupied by the hell for leather night out, then get in touch. 2013 could be quite good craic, I'm looking forward to it already!
Happy New Year!
