An entry the way I used to write

Dear Diary,

It's Jan. 2. I didn't write yesterday because I did what I always do on New Year's: I sat around the house watching TV and reading. In my pajamas. I also took a long nap. It was good.

Yesterday I had 2 1/2 eggs for breakfast with mayo, sushi roll and breaded fish and a potato cake for lunch, peanuts and diet coke for a snack, and grilled chicken salad for dinner.

I did well because a) I took my medication; b) I didn't have any alcohol; c) I only had 5 cigarettes; d) I washed and moisturized my face; e) I only had carbs at lunch and f) I brushed my teeth.

I did poorly because I didn't floss and I only brushed my teeth once. I probably could have skipped the rice in the sushi roll, too.

Today I open the store again, after the holiday. If I'm going to make my sales goal, I would have to sell as much as I did Friday, over $1700. I don't think this is going to happen, but we haven't opened yet.

Anyway, I have to worry more about getting the store clean, and taming down the holiday decorations. I don't have to take them all down, just the Christmas-specific stuff. We can leave the snowflakes on the window, for example.

I also plan to do the inventory again. I'm compulsive that way.

Right now, I'm going to Walgreen's to get some cash and breakfast. Cheese!

New Food Group

One of my New Year's resolutions is to keep a diet log, having read numerous times that doing so is key for weight loss. If you care about hearing my diet talk, you can be in this group. Otherwise, they'll just be private entries.

Meme: Effusive Praise and Pets

gafennec:
1. You are always sweet and cheerful to me.
2. You have really cute icons.
3. You are unfalteringly huggable, without being cutesy or apologetic for being affectionate.

I'm sorry I don't know more about you. I'm sure you are brave. I know you are kind. But I don't know a lot of details!

New Year's Resolutions, continued

I have spent a lot of time this year not doing anything. I was so surprised by the move to New Orleans and my grandmother's death, the sudden collapse of my delivery career and my life in Atlanta, that I just became very passive for a while, going along with what Robert or anyone else was doing and really trying not to make decisions. I felt like I was being directed and pushed every time I tried to take control.

1. Now, I feel like it's time to take control again. Which is why I'm trying to return to my low-carb diet. I promised to put dieting stuff in its own place, so I won't talk about the details, I'll just say that I indulged myself too much -- not having sugar or alcohol for a whole 48 hours was a long time. The dieting resolution includes drinking water, logging my food intake and eliminating sugar altogether.

2. The next resolution is limiting alcohol consumption. Although I don't think I'll ever be alcoholic, spending a year in the alcohol-heavy lifestyle of the Vieux Carre has resulted in my drinking more alcohol than all the previous years of my life combined. My tolerance is way up. I can drink an entire bottle of wine and still function, which I did on New Year's Eve. So, I decided to limit alcohol consumption to only special occasions at least until the diet thing is well-established and then no more than once a week. Specifically, that means I won't drink alcohol again until Mardi Gras in five weeks. At that point, I'll re-evaluate this resolution.

3. Of course, with all of this comes the usual promises to myself to exercise more -- really possible, I'm already stretching and walking more -- quit smoking, and get my house clean and organized. But I don't have a real plan for those yet.

4. I am trying to resolve to write every day, but I'm not sure what I want to write about. I'm going to start carrying around diaries and blank books again. I need a good daytimer, too, because I always find when I try to write that lists and details and things-to-do clutter up my brain instead of beautiful stories of trapped princesses being carried away by dragons. But I doubt I'm going to be writing here yet. I'm afraid of anyone reading what I write.

5. This comes with promises to spend less time with the noise, more time with the news. Less time with the clutter and more time with art and music. I don't have any real plan for that yet either.