Resolutions?

It was an interesting New Years.

One of the things you’ll notice during some holidays in Texas is a certain amount of happy fire. In Plano, that sound would be far off. You’d hear a distinct series of reports, all clipped, in an evenly spaced 6, 7, or 15 pattern. Clearly not firecrackers. So you’d think…mmmh..that sounded like a gun.

Where I lived in Richardson, it was closer and easier to pinpoint. Same cadence, but louder. Clearly coming from the apartments on the other side of WalMart, about 1/2 mile away. At one point, I thought for sure a stray round would come in through my bedroom window. Never found any bullet holes though.

This year, I was with the Girl in Venus. Venus is a small rural town off of Hwy 67 to the south. The rest of it is new developments on the other side of the hwy. It’s the quintessential Texas thing. Build a ton of new houses in the middle of nowhere, with zero services other than maybe a dollar store, a Whataburger, and a gas station or two. It’s a place where those that want a new house, but don’t have much money or prefer to spend their money on cars, buy. Even now they are pimping new construction out at no money down. So, guess who moves in?

As I walked the pups the other day, I realized how close to an inner city neighborhood the design is. The houses have tiny yards and are very close together. The streets are narrow. So much so that if there are cars on both sides of the street, only one car can pass at a time.

As midnight approached, the happy fire started. So close I could guess the caliber. I’m guessing from the house behind. Winston didn’t care. But Aria doesn’t like that or thunder. I spent most of the night with her pressed up next to me.

Luckily, the celebrations tapered off soon after midnight. I guess. I was asleep.

Not a big fan of waiting for the new year to happen.

I’m not also not big on New Years resolutions.

I’ve done them in the past; quit drinking, start exercising, go on a diet. Most failed. The only resolutions that work for me is resolving to change, and that happens nearly anytime. No reason to wait until new years.

Hell, I started a few months ago.

This coming year I’ll be much more circumspect with relationships.

This time last year, every part of my brain told me to move to where I live now. But, I had obligations that had to be fulfilled, and I reasoned it wouldn’t be a bad move to get a place close as I could to where I lived to have things shake out.

And shook out they did.

I’ll give you an example. I have an old friend, one I met a month or two after moving here back in 2001. He’s a great guy. Shirt-off-his-back friend. Both times I’ve met him since the divorce, he skittered away like I had leprosy. I’ve had other sad and disturbing interactions as well.

So I’m done. There’s a new regime around here, as my mom would say.

First is, I’m not making any plans involving those I don’t know well, and even some I do. It really sucks to allocate vacation only to find that plans not only fell through, they were forgotten, leaving me moping around the house on a day off I didn’t need. I’ll be using my vacation on myself this year.

Second is that I’m not inviting myself anywhere. That smacks of desperation. Caught myself doing that a couple times last year and instantly regretted it.

The last is that I’m not accepting consolation prizes. Ever have someone tell you about a big get together they are having, then invite you to dessert? You get there, many left, the rest are winding down. You sit around wondering why you drove the hour to get there and thinking about when the best time to beat feet outta there would be. This has literally happened to me over the holidays four years now. I’m invited to the main event or not at all. I’m good with that binary choice.

I don’t mean to have a “Debbie Downer” tone. I’m not down whatsoever. I’m happy to get on with life.

Happy to have 2024 behind me.