my easiest new year’s resolution i think will be to post my list of last year’s favorites by next week. for real. i imagine sunday afternoon would be perfect for that sort of thing, and since this week i’m on the ‘be gentle on the checking account after beating it senseless with christmas shopping’ budget, some nice stay-at-home writing and html coding might be just the ticket.

but since that’s not really a resolution in the make-myself-better, try-new-things, improve-my-life-and-the-lives-of-others tradition of most resolutions, i figured i’d better share the other real ones. especially since having them officially recorded might make me stick to them better. this way i can check back and say, ‘oh yeah, i don’t want to chicken out on all those great ideas or 2004 will be the year of failure’.

so, some things i will make a serious and dedicated effort to do this year:

— read an average of 2 or more books a month.

for the third year running, since i started keeping track. shouldn’t be hard, i reckon.

— write here regularly, become better writer, try writing something that isn’t a weblog post.

yeah, like that isn’t on everyone’s list in the blog world.

— talk to more people who aren’t already my friends.

i’m sick of avoiding eye contact or exchanges with strangers. of course, if they avoid me, at least i did my part. i just feel like i’m missing out on a lot of interesting stuff by minding my own business all the time.

— much more importantly: actually talk to girls instead of just looking.

this is key. rejection is better than inaction. stop assuming or inventing obstacles (better known as excuses).

— more quantifiably: get at least one number per month.

to be voided of course in months following the successful follow-up of getting a number, the seemingly inconceivable ‘becoming involved with someone’. i’d love to just find someone worth sticking with and not have to collect any numbers at all, but either way — this should be the year of the ladies.

— a sub-goal of the previous: get at least one number from someone i meet at a concert.

my friend/ex-girlfriend in orlando went out on a limb and gave her number to some guy on her way out the door of a show last month; now they’re all in love and i’m so happy for her. and bitter, of course, because i’ve always, always wanted that to happen to me and so far, no luck. well, someone needs to put their money where their mouth is or just quit his whining.

other piddly things i should do but won’t necessarily be sad if i don’t:

— ride my bike more, and more regularly

— learn to cook more real food

things that i won’t necessarily go out of my way to do but could very well happen and would be fun, don’t you think?:

— cross an ocean.

— sleep with someone who works at my office.

(but not the same department, that would be tacky.)

— visit new american cities i’ve never seen.

top picks: new york city, seattle, or austin for SXSW maybe?

— have an affair with an older woman.

i’ve never been older by even a month than any girls i’ve dated, but that’s not really what i meant by ‘older’. if any 27-35 year-old foxy professional women read this and were waiting for the time to speak up, here it is.

that ought to do it, right? aside from the whole ‘be a good person, tell my friends and family i love them, hug a puppy blah blah’ kind of stuff, which goes without saying. i say lofty goals make for lofty achievements. aim for the stars to reach the moon, right? should be a good year.

[now hearing this: some beatles cd’s i got for christmas, filling in the gaping hole in my music background. did you guys know this band is really good? nuts, huh?]