In 2006 I would like...

Sigh. Another year, another "not much positive to report".

On the business end things look promising; I'm in a new position in a new team with my employer and got my first ever overseas training recently. It promises to be action-packed. I'm scared stiff of the challenges that come but I need to take them on full-out. I promise to realy plug away here. Although I expect it will damage my sanity even further, heh.

Now the personal side. I've gained at least 20 pounds over the last six months. I'm well over 200 pounds now. It's disgusting. I chalk it up to remaining in the office job, eating not particularly healthy (I have reduced the KFC/Ice Queen runs but still), and not taking on any physical activity whatsoever. Which is unacceptable. I hope to at least do some walking early on in the new year, graduate to jogging or skipping, and try to do some stretches or crunches or dumbbell raises.

I still don't have the means to afford a place of my own, although I have looked at at least buying property in Barbados. I want to step up that search and need to contact some of my buddies as well as browse online for options.

There are personal issues on the family front that have bothered me greatly but I will not discuss them here, just consider it another key issue that has been on my mind.

And of course, relationship issues. This has been a year where potential options have arisen. Really. Yeah, I know. Honestly. Anyway, I'm in a situation where I cannot commit in a given direction because of some factor or another, or something bothers me about how the person behaves or reacts to things or something. I don't believe in the "One", and I think that I can deal with conflicts most times, but I don't want to settle. I really want to find someone good for me, and who I can be good for. I will be THIRTY next year. And I want to be able to chase after any children that I may eventually have.

Come on, 2006. Bring peace and happiness to us all.

Too much shopping

To me, it seems that Christmas in Bermuda is way too much about the buying of presents and less about what the time of year should represent. I haven't heard as much of the "spend time with loved ones" nearly as much as the "what are you getting for Christmas" bits.

Sure, the retailers are probably more than happy to point out the importance of gift-buying to this time of year, but the emphasis on material things appears to me to be far too great. This Slate article kind of sparked me to comment briefly on it. I mean, whining about not getting everything you wanted or the like? Woy.

And this quote from the article:
"Overwhelmingly today, we assume that the way to make people happy at Christmas is to give them what they have told us they want."
- I agree. This doesn't sit well with me.

Oh yeah. While I do like buying gifts for people, I'm not fond of the experience. It's mentally draining, to look for things that may or may not be appreciated by the recipient. This is why the gift certificate business has taken off, I think. Not as tacky as cash (despite my sister telling me cash is great), but heck. This is applicable especially to clothing, where you run the risks of seeing an item as nice in your eyes but possibly not so much to the recipient's. Especially if it's a colour he/she doesn't like, too small, too large.

Yes, I have bought clothes for people this Christmas. And I'm damn scared they won't be appreciated fully. So they're disappointed in your efforts, and you're disappointed that you couldn't please them. Sigh. Next year it'll definitely be the gift certificates.

Truly despicable taxi driver

Shame on the driver of T1342, a silver-coloured taxi. It so happened that I was outside of the Fairmont Hamilton Princess, when I heard some profane language uttered by him in the direction of another driver. Some pretty bad cussin', there. There was a four-year-old boy in the vicinity and when the mother of the child admonished him on this, the driver's response was a mere "So?". Absolutely disgusting.

His licence should be suspended. There is a law against using foul language on the island as well, I believe, and for someone in his position to be doing it on hotel grounds is just disgraceful.

The Annual Birthday Speech

Twenty-nine today. Wow. No wife, no house, still plugging away. Biological clock ticking. It's hard to stay positive sometimes, especially on days like these.

The good news: I have been able to restore the DAG Theory and Poetry Corner stuff on the website.

The bad news: I tried to Christmas-ize the site a bit and now it just looks wonky. I don't feel like doing much to fix it so it may stay like this for a short while. Apologies in advance, heh.

Been up to a lot since the last post. Travelled to Vancouver for training. Yes, I wish they could have sent us to Rio or Hawaii or the like, but I'll take what I can get while the getting's (relatively) good.

My bike has died. One day it just started failing when going up hills, the next it couldn't even start period. Will need to have someone look at it. In the meantime, welcome back, Pink & Blue.

I'll go into more detail later, I think, but heck it is my birthday. I'd rather not spend the whole day blogging, which is kind of a shame because I want to go into depth on what the hell has happened to Star Jones. Because, it looks like she took off way too much weight and her head looks like it belongs on someone else's body.