Be better, or Like Candide.

Business as usual around here….

– My holidays went well. Christmas went pretty great, but granted, the bar wasn’t really that high after my entire family was super sick for it last year.

All of my gifts thus far are huge successes, thankfully. My brother loved the Wacom Tablet. My mom adored her gifts, though interestingly she was just as pleased with the "Little House on the Prairie" collection leatherbound classic I got for her as she was with the giant DVD boxset I got her. Oh well, live and learn.

And Dad? I think he’s sort of afraid of the kindle. But that’s okay. I’ll drag him into this century, kicking and screaming if need be.

What did I get?

Short and simple:

– A new suit. Believe it or not, I didn’t actually own a full suit until now. I have blazers, yes. Nice dress pants, yes. But a blazer and pants that are obviously designed to go together? Nope, didn’t have any. My parents asked me what I wanted for Christmas, and really, this was the only useful thing I could think of that I didn’t really have.

I don’t think I didn’t get the nice jobs I interviewed for recently because I wasn’t wearing a suit, but I think it could’ve helped. And you never know when an occaision pops up that you need to look really nice for. A good friend of mine is getting married this year, for example, and I’m definitely wearing it for that.

And besides, I’m of the opinion that it’s awfully hard to not look good in a suit. And this one fits like a glove. And feels so good. It’s plain black, but that’s what I wanted.

– A 3DS. Even though I play games as a hobby, oddly I’ve never been much for portable systems. On top of that, I’m not a fan of 3D effects. Not in my movies, and not really here either. But you know? I still love it. It’s a window into a set of games I’ve not delved into for a while. And I can see myself using this and my kindle in bed quite a bit on cold nights.

Besides, it has Fire Emblem coming out for it next month. And I really wanted to play that, if nothing else.

 

So, yeah. Didn’t get much, but I didn’t really care. The real fun of christmas for me comes in the form of GIVING awesome stuff, and seeing people’s reactions. And I got that in spades this year. So this Christmas was a success.

 

And of course, now a new year is upon us. And for once, I’m glad to see one. 2012, while not a bad year, was to me defined by one word:

Almost.

Almost got the job I really wanted (Happened more than once). Almost got the literary agent I wanted to rep my work and get my truly desired career started in earnest (Also happened more than once). Almost got into the best shape of my life. Almost met my reading goals. Almost was excellent to everyone who’s important to me in my life.

It’d be easy for me to go back and look at last year as being full of fails.

But you know what? I can only focus on what I can control. And I can’t control the past. I can’t change that I was within a hair’s breadth of some REALLY good things happening in my life last year. Even when things seemed darkest, there were still chances for everything to turn around with one or two really simple swings of fate.

Still, the fact remains that those things didn’t swing my way in the end. I’m just saying that, despite everything, I have reasons to be optimistic.

I’m of the belief that if I keep doing what I’m doing, but do it just a bit better, along with some actual, honest to god luck… that this year will turn out nicely. So, my main mantra to myself is simple.

Be better.

But, looking at myself objectively, I can see where it’d be easy to compare my mindset to one of my favorite literary characters, which is the title hero and protagonist of Voltaire’s Candide. Of course, in that book, the hero is eventually cured of his optimism, whereas I still have mine in spades. And course, nothing that’s happened to me is half as terrible as what happened to him.

If this is all a huge test to see if I can keep my chin up through all sorts of problems… I hope I’m passing so far.

Resolutions? I’m typically not very good with resolutions, in all honesty. After all, I don’t like making goals that are meant to be broken, and all that.

But I do have some goals here and there, besides my large overarching ones that I’ve already discussed ad nauseum.

Stick with my yoga routines, and get to the second tier of workouts by the end of the year. I slacked off the last two months of the year, for varying reasons. And since I got back into it yesterday, I feel wrecked. I just need to be more consistent.

Read at least a book a month. I have to give myself one that I know I can do easily, right? Kind of like how in college, it’s typically wise to take a super easy course in a semester that’s otherwise stacked with challenges.

Make one new dish a month. Cooking is one of my hobbies, and I’d like to think I’m quite good at it. Many who have had my creations think I could easily start a restaurant if I wanted to. I don’t really want to do that, but I do feel like I’ve been stuck in a rut on making things. Therefore, something new every month. I hope.

Write every day. Doesn’t matter if it’s here, or a short story, or novel, or anything else. I just need to do 1,000 words a day. And on that note…

Be better. Just… be focused. No excuses. Do better in everything, because obviously right now doesn’t cut it in any way.