2012: New Year, New Challenges

(Cheers, to the new year! Rafa's marching orders for 2012 are to live - and drink - responsibly.)

Okay, so getting those few first awards shows and sports shows out of the way, time to turn the spotlight/magnifying glass/microscope back on myself. 2012 feels like it's going to be a year of transition. Closing doors and opening wisdowm. Perhaps giant earthquakes and floods and volcanoes. Perhaps just a progressive increase of climate change. But it's definitely a time of stripping away that which is not needed and nurturing new ideas and opportunities so they can flourish.


What to challenge myself with after the Year Without Cookies? I must say I have enjoyed the opportunity to have a cookie and the occasional soda again these past two weeks. Amusingly, now that I CAN have them again I find I've developed a strange psychological aversion to them. Now that I can choose to have them, I find myself turning them down anyways, or consuming them in much smaller quantities. Which is where I really wanted to get to really, so I guess we can score last year as a success!

This year, I decided to give up my cable. I haven't completely given up TV. I wouldn't be happy doing that. I enjoy some of my programs. But I increasingly felt I was searching the upper reaches of the cable channels to watch things simply because they were on. I don't want to do that anymore. SO I've got my basic networks (yay parks and rec! yay wipeout!) and the other basics (yay downton abbey!) and that's fine but I also had to say goodbye to MSNBC (Chris Hayes! Rachel Maddow!) and ESPN (sports!) USA, TNT, AMC, Bravo and all the rest. It's better off this way. More time to write. That's the focus now. If I really need a fix of something new I can check out any of the many series that are available on Streaming Netflix I thought I never had time for in the past. For instance; Breaking Bad. I never watched it before New Year's Weekend and then floored through it's first three seasons. What a fantastic show!Seriously, y'all. If you haven't yet done so, check it out.

So the focus this year is on increased creativity, mobility and simplicity. Remove the clutter. Explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations. To Boldly Go Where No O Has Gone Before.

Also I need to take a yoga class and finish reading Name of The Wind because I've been telling myself I would do both those things for the longest time and still have not scratched them off the list. 2012, baby. 2012.