Bandit

It’s the end of the year and time for lists.  Toss out the last 12 months, turn yourself over on your deaf ear, and make room for new nonsense intentions.  You know … all that.

But before I get on with the new year, I figured I could use a reality check.  Back in September, I made a list of things I wanted to start doing.  Here’s how that went:

________

1. Work on some part of my manuscript everyday.  Well shit.  I’m already off the rails at number one.  The good news is my butt is glued to the chair 3 or 4 afternoons a week, no weekends.  I’m making progress, and I like how it’s going (love it, in fact), but I still need to work more.  Period.

2. Jog.  I did very little with this until Halloween, when I committed to run in the Thanksgiving Day 10K with my friend Julee.  Julee hadn’t been jogging much either, but she’s 7 years younger than me and works out with a fitness trainer.  Thanks to her, the competitive wench in me kicked in and I got on with it.  Now if I could just stop eating like a stoned teenager ….

3. Stop and stare.  I get a big fat F.  Why am I always in such a hurry?

4. Do the things on my To Do list.  At this moment, I do not have a To Do List.

5. Curse less.  Yeah, well, fuck that.  Especially if I keep watching college and professional sports: the corruption, the money, the steroids, the cheating, the abuse!  I can turn out a hell of a fucking rant just by reading the sports page.  Not to mention what might happen once the 2012 presidential election kicks into full gear.

6. Watch less TV.  I can’t really give myself credit for this one since there’s never anything on TV worth watching.  So while the TV is often on, I’m usually doing something else, like reading the sports page or chasing my puppy around the kitchen, playing hide-and-seek.

7. Clean it out.  After 6 years, I finally cleaned out the garage and can park my car in there.  This was such a relief.  On the flip side, it’s almost January and summer clothes remain in my closet, so I’m not completely cured.

8. Read while sitting up.  I’m doing most of my reading on the couch and very little when I go to bed.  In the past couple of weeks, I’ve polished off four books and am powering through a fifth.  (more about this next week)

9. Cook fewer dinners.  I’m cooking less, but eating more.  Hmmmmmm….

10. Turn off the computer by 7 p.m.  HA!  This has actually gotten worse.  I’m checking e-mail, reading the blogs, and playing Words With Friends on my iPad until the minute I go to bed.   The actual minute.  This makes me ridiculous, and as that movie producer in THE GODFATHER says, I will not be made to look ridiculous!  

Bandit

11. Look forward to the holidays. For the first time in a few years, we put up the tree.  We used ALL of my decorations.  I went to Target and bought a few lights to string on the front stoop, which I plan to keep lit up through January.  Both of my kids were here!!  I made my grandmother’s Chicken and Dumplings, played Christmas music in the house, ate an entire box of Libb’s chocolate turtles, and didn’t bake a single cookie.  In honor of my mother, I donated my Christmas money to support this little guy at Animal Friends Rescue Project, the shelter where we adopted Lucy 3 years ago.  This morning, I see he’s already been adopted.

Happy New Year, Bandit.

23 thoughts on “Bandit”

  1. Laura

    Bandit! I’m not surprised at all he was already adopted. Look at those eyes. And that nose!

    I haven’t made a list — either for 2011 or 2012. I’m (uncharacteristically) kind to myself when it comes to New Year’s resolutions — meaning I don’t really make any or stress over them. I tend to let myself feel a low-grade stress all year round that I’m constantly failing to live how I should be living. 🙂 But sometimes it feels like I’m getting a little bit closer, so I guess that’s something.

    1. Teri

      I’m with you on the New Years resolutions. That would just be something to fail about. The list-thing keeps me accountable to myself, but it can come at any time of the year.

  2. Averil Dean

    Oh how I love you. This is exactly how my lists go, when I make them, which is almost never because of the guilt involved in not doing what I meant to do, or doing what I meant not to do, or forgetting where I put the fucking list in the first place.

    That Bandit is a good-looking guy. My son is begging for a puppy, which we’ve (okay, I’ve) promised to buy him once we move. I want one exactly like Bandit.

    1. Teri

      Daily lists usually end up in the bottom of my purse. I should maybe put, “clean out your purse” on my list. As for the puppy — coming from a woman with a 6 month old puppy — rescue a big, older dog who likes to nap. 😉

  3. Sarah W

    I wish we could have a Bandit . . . but it wouldn’t be fair to him. Someday.

    It was a learning year for me. I accomplished a few things I didn’t expect, but didn’t do so well on the things I did. . . I’m going to try for a daily or weekly schedule, instead of a list this year—with lots of family time factored in so the writing time isn’t so guilt-ridden!

    1. Teri

      Sarah, that’s one of the best things I can say about 2011: It was a learning year. But I also traveled a bunch, met a few of my favorite bloggers, got a beautiful new puppy!, and stayed healthy and uninjured. All good.

    1. Teri

      Once the presidential election really gets off the ground, I’m guessing the 2 of us will be screaming enough obscenities for the whole country.

      2. Teri

        It’s already painful and it hasn’t even started yet. To my neighbors, I apologize in advance for the mind-blowing-fucking-losing-my-mind screaming you’re about to endure.

        I’m glad you’re in it with me, Lisa.

  5. macdougalstreetbaby

    I’ve been sucked into DEXTER by my husband. The woman who plays his sister (also his real life ex-wife) curses so beautifully. There is nothing quite like a foxy woman with a rude tongue. I can’t wait for my kids to grow up so I can get back to my cussing roots.

  7. Lyra

    1. Stepping back to move forward. Brilliant.
    2. Excellent that you’ve begun now!
    3. Preaching to the choir…
    4. You not having a To-Do list is as close as I get to #3. Holy Shit.
    5. Come on. That was a filler anyway, right? Plus, if you want to feel better you should treat this one as a competitive sport. Put me in the control group and you speak like an angel…
    8. I can’t wait to hear more about this one, what the books were and your thoughts. Some of my favorite posts of yours.
    10. Whoops.
    11.Happy New Year, Bandit!

    1. Teri

      #4 — no worries. You know my To Do List will be up and running again very very soon. This is an anomaly — an enjoyable one.

  8. erikamarks

    Yay Bandit! I can think of no better gift.

    I’m not even going to bother writing a list after reading yours. I can’t top this one, lady. I won’t even try.

    I especially love that you revisit the resolutions you’d made–how often do we make them, forget them and make new ones?

    Here’s to 2012. (And by the way, I’m officially on to READING MY FATHER. Her writing is incredible–and his depths know no bounds. I’m gripped and only 50 pages in…)

  9. Bobbi

    I think you have made great progress on your list. Maybe it’s not the list you planned but it’s good all the same. To me it sounds like you had a good time this year and that’s what counts. Bandit is making my dogological clock tick really loud.

  10. Catherine

    I haven’t even thought about lists, but I am keen to get back to my working rhythm. Even my dogs! All I know is that I don’t want to go off the rails in any way, that I must concentrate and fight hard. Not easy in this messy world. Good luck with yours!

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