"3:00 in the morning, and it looks like its gonna be another sleepless night ..."

That's the first line of a song, by the way. Crystal Gail I think. She had some stuff out on the country charts back in the 70s. But anyhoo, here I am at 3 in the morning wide awake. Just woke up and couldn't go back to sleep, so I'm putting it to good use here. Aren't you lucky?

Tomorrow (or I guess technically today) is New Year's Eve. That has nothing to do with why I'm awake, but its a place to start this blog. No this is not about resolutions, I don't do them. I do view the new year as a fresh start, though. I think everyone needs one of those about once a year so why not now?

Over at Jenny Crusie's blog she talks about having a list of indulgences rather than resolutions and I like that idea. We tend to think of indulging as a negative thing, but its not. An indulgence is a reward. Something to make getting up in the morning worthwhile. I mean if all you had to look forward to was another day of self improvement it would get old fast. But we all have responsibilities and obligations and things we have to do as responsible members of society. That's just part of regular life. An indulgence is the treat we give our souls for doing what's expected the rest of the time. Its like allowing yourself dessert once in a while even though you're on a diet. Its okay to set down the burden once in a while, to take a rest. It makes carrying that load a bit more bearable.

So, my indulgences ...

1. Spend more time with people who make me laugh and less time with people I have to bite my tongue around. Nobody likes a martyr so why let someone suck the life out of you if you have a choice?

2. Give myself more days off this year. Days when I don't need to speak to another person if I don't want to. Can't live like that all the time, of course. But as much as I enjoy the people in my life, I need some downtime, some alone time. Time with just some soft music and a book with no interruptions. My soul demands it. And I know that doing this will allow be to be more "there" for other people. So its good for everyone.

3. Find new authors that excite me. (Yep there's a definite theme going here with the books.) This means I'll have to be adventurous at the library which is not exactly a burden. The thing is there are a limited number of really good authors out there and most of them put out maybe one book a year if they are prolific. I need more books than that people! So I need to find more people writing them. I picked up 2 this past year and its been so much fun!

4. Get back to crocheting. Its something I enjoy and now that I have the iPod for listening to audiobooks I can enjoy both things at the same time so I'm not neglecting my love of books. The thing is, there's something therapeutic about crocheting. Like gardening except you can do it year 'round. Once you get into it you only need to use a small portion of your brain while your hands go about doing a repetitive task. This allows your conscious mind to drift, sorting itself out. You are just busy enough thinking about your stitches that you can't overthink other stuff. Basically its like a vacation for your conscious mind. For me its crocheting and gardening, but for you it might be refinishing furniture or tying flies. But I think everyone should have something like this to turn to.

5. Listen to more music. I like many kinds of music and listening makes me feel good. But in my house the tv is almost always on. I like tv as much as the next person but really most of the time its just noise. I have a handfull of shows I really look forward to, and the occasional movie, but mostly its stuff I don't care about. The thing with tv, though, is its addictive. It draws your attention against your will and you later discover you've completely wasted an hour or more when you could have been doing something you really enjoy, rather than spending that time watching ... something you can't even remember now. So I'm going to walk away from the tv, go to another room, and just listen. Maybe while I read a book.