Today the U.K. celebrates your failure to destroy the government but today the USofA celebrates the birth of a Very Special Individual.

Hint: Me.

Yep, it's that day again. Peculiar how those keep rolling around every year, whether I want to get older or not.

Some people do it on January 1 (no doubt while suffering the year's worst hangover), but I do it on my birthday. Recoup and regroup. Contemplate the state of my existence and consider changes.

This year, I'm considering a number of things.

#1 - Blogging. Not this one, but another blog I keep regularly. For several months (okay, for about a year) I've been aware that it's inconsiderate, not to mention essentially a kind of theft to spend an hour or two of company time every day maintaining that blog. It may be time to make a change there.

Having just volunteered (gulp) to defer a substantial portion of my salary for the next six months, I think it behooves me to begin to focus more of my time and intelligence (so to speak) on the job of getting this company off the ground and flying. (Okay, after this blog entry.)

#2 - The Diet. (You thought you were going to get by without an update didn't you? Sucker.) To-date I've clocked 13 pounds and while most of me (the part that lives for potato chips) thinks enough is enough, other large parts of me (my butt, my thighs) think that going ahead and losing the other 10 pounds is probably a good idea. So, that's on the schedule for the next two months.

#3 - The Familial Visit. As I'm sure I've mentioned already, I have an upcoming familial visit. This year I vow not to make myself insane, in advance, by imagining worst-case scenarios of all the things that might happen to aggravate me.

One aunt has just been pronounced clean of the cancer that was infesting her. One uncle has just been given the news that, yes, it's cancer and it's terminal and it's too late for them to do anything. My mother just turned 70 and has been sounding sort of vague and 'lost' on the phone occasionally in the past few months.

It's time I sucked it up and accepted that it's not only a duty, but should be a pleasure for me to spend a few days a year with the older generation of my family, many of whom made significant sacrifices to get me where I am today.

#4 - Writing. What happened to writing? (I've driveled on about this one multiple times already. Sue me.) Over the next year, I intend to start writing again. Maybe fanfic. Maybe not. But there's no good reason not to write except that there are so many less stressful ways to spend my spare time.

Still, some part of me thinks it's time I quite enjoying life and got serious again. For what it's worth, I really doubt it will be fanfic, though.

And, on that note, it occurs to me that there are two hours left in this work day, so there's still time for me to adhere to my new resolution and actually do some work.

(And, you know, happy birthday to me! again.)