I have no real New Year resolutions but I have New Year hopes.

Before I get into that, I had been breaking up my exercise routine into smaller segments where I’d run 5 minutes an hour. But that didn’t work out because I’d keep forgetting, so I decided to do a little of both. I’ll run 10-15 minutes, but since that wouldn’t be the 30 minutes I’d like to be running each day, and so as not to flare my joints up, I’ll run 3-4 more times for 5 minutes throughout the day after that.

Also, I was torn between losing more weight and just letting the weight return. After weeks of not being able to decide which one to do, I decided to do neither and just maintain the 135 pounds I’m usually at. I know it’s too much for me, but hey, it’s easy. I haven’t had to work much at maintaining it. It practically maintains itself, though I do have to run and not get too carried away with eating. I can get around easily enough at this weight and my body seems comfortable with it. If I were 50 or more pounds overweight, then I’d keep pushing along at losing more weight, but I don’t think being 25 pounds overweight is that big a deal.

The weather’s been clear lately and we haven’t needed heat during the daytime which helps save us money and makes up for the “propane food” I’m now cooking. Propane food is stuff I don’t like to cook in the microwave being that I like my food to be crispy. Right now I’ve got a TV dinner in the oven of chicken and cheesy potatoes.

So, looking back on 2008, what have we gained? Well, most importantly, we escaped that damn motel, alive and well! As an added bonus, we got a new car and some other things we needed as well as a few things we wanted. Plus, some cool wins, even though the year wasn’t too good for that overall.

What are our hopes for 2009? Well, I believe that out of the digits 1-9, 9 is the luckiest, and 4 is the unluckiest. I’ve also noticed that the ends of decades are usually better for me than the beginnings. So I’m hoping that we’ll relive certain things from a decade ago, only minus the sickos. In 1999 we were making plans to leave Phoenix and that’s just what we did on September 27th of that year, even though we couldn’t get fully moved into our new house till just after the new year of 2000. Not long afterward, the black bitch and her people resurfaced, thanks to my darling sister, and they tormented us for another few years. They just did it from a distance and in a much worse way.

Our biggest dream is to have this be the last New Year’s Eve being broke. If we could be making plans sometime this year to “go home,” that would be so wonderful! I don’t know where home will be, but I think it’d be in the desert somewhere or a tropical place.

I hope that Tom will have a job sometime in January and that I can finally, after nearly 5 years without insurance, be insured again and get my teeth taken care of.

Most importantly, I hope we can find security for once and for all and enjoy the peace of mind that would bring.

Whatever good or bad the new year may bring, I’m looking forward to watching the ball go down in Times Square, as always. New Year’s Eve was always my favorite holiday. It was the only time that as kids we had the freedom to do pretty much whatever we wanted. We stayed up late, we watched TV, played with our Chanukah gifts, listened to music, ate treats, and just had fun in general while our parents usually went to some party somewhere.

As an adult, I’ve pretty much preferred to stay home for the same reason Tom does. We don’t party, we don’t even drink occasionally, and we don’t socialize. So even today in my 40s I’m still enjoying watching the ball drop, eating junk food, and just kicking back and doing the things I like to do. Tom usually watches TV while I crank up the tunes.