Taking Another Spin Around The Sun

Well here we are! We made it through 2016, and are ready to take another spin around the sun, whether we want to or not. Like just about everyone, I am using this day as a marker of sorts, to look back on what I have done and to look forward on what I want to do in the year to come. So let’s look at what we have accomplished together this last year:

• It doesn’t really matter who you are or what you worship, we all took a spin around the sun. While that is the same thing Earth has done for like 4.543 billion years, and (hopefully) will continue to happen, it’s still a somewhat impressive feat. We all traveled 585,600,000 miles at a speed of 67,000 miles per hour to get here! Wow – look at us! Before you get all swell headed about that remember that we all did that. That includes that rather large woman in line in front of you at the fast food joint ordering 5 hamburgers, 4 fries, and a diet coke. Granted eating that way she might not go as far as the rest of us this year, but still she was with us last year! On the other hand, we could run into a stray asteroid this round and all life on earth could be wiped out and none of us will make another circuit. The important thing is we are all in this together.

• I realize this next point might twerk the ‘other’ people off, but we put a Republican in the White House. That also is not really a small feat. After all, it’s been like 8 years since we had a Republican there. As I have stated elsewhere, I am really hoping that Trump will be a real conservative. That remains to be seen. What I do see is that he is a major break from Obama, and even a break from what we had with Bush. On its own, that’s not really remarkable. When Obama came in 8 years ago, he too was a ‘major change’ from the status quo. Little did anyone know at that time just what kind of change he was going to be. It clearly wasn’t what people were looking for or they would have elected Hillary or Burnie this time around. It’s really hard to get perspective on this as I can’t easily project myself 8 years back to see how I was feeling then. The 8 year ago me is dead and gone. There has been too much that has happened to me personally and to our country for me to even know that guy anymore. Here’s hoping that Trump is a change we can all get behind.

• I really don’t have a third point here. I think the above really covers about everything that I wanted to say about the past year. Beyond that it was a hard year for me personally, but a lot of good stuff happened also. I continue to grow and change. Those two things are indicators of life and by their very nature mark us all as being alive. This too is a good thing.

Next, I’d like to look at what I want to happen in the New Year. I can only talk about my goals, as I am sure you all have things that you want to accomplish. Here’s my short list:

• I’d like to be more active on this blog. I have been experimenting over Christmas break about how I can go about doing that. To get an article up, it takes me on average about an hour of work. This is time that I need to set aside. I will try to keep this going, taking either one or both of the weekend days off. When I first started the blog, I tried to do too much, writing essays of 3000 words or more. Now I will try to keep it at less than 1000 and try to say something pithy in that span. Admittedly, that’s hard – much harder than I thought when I started. Editing continues to be a problem also, so you will have to forgive my occasional nonsense sentence that tend to wonder off track and end up being way to wordy for the concept that I am trying to get across in as few words as possible when I really should just say what I mean, yanno?

• I have started learning how to invest again. Years ago I did some trading in options that was near disastrous. I didn’t lose my shirt as I wasn’t really ‘playing’ with very much money, but I learned that investing is hard and it’s a skill that takes time to develop. I am now hooked up with a decent brokerage firm and I am trying to learn and apply knowledge that I obtained from the learning opportunities that they offer. Over this Christmas break I have started practicing some of the methods they teach and am hopeful that they will work as they seems to be based on solid principals. If they bear out, I will begin sharing my trades here for your amusement.

• Like most blog writers the blog is just a warm up for real writing. I’d like to get around to trying my hand at writing a real book. I have some ideals, and have been reading up on how this is done. That naturally will take its own time investment. Somehow, I will try to make time for that creative outlet.

• Finally, like about every other ‘older’ person, I am resolved that I will try to keep physically active and try to improve my body. As I may have noted earlier, I had something of a setback at the end of 2015 when my dog passed away. I have recovered, but I still am not down to weight I was or want to be or at the stamina and strength levels I desire. The older you get, the harder it gets to recover from these things. I am in a good place now, but I want to be much better than I am so I can keep doing the things that I love to do like hiking, mountain biking, and kayaking.

So, I wish you all successful year and I hope that we all get stronger in 2017!