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1.01.2009

new year's resolutions: STOP!

1. Stop losing my parking lot tickets. I am constantly dropping them while I shop (a twist to shopping until I drop) or slipping them between old Amtrak/Metro North ticket stubs in my wallet and the time between the moment I realize I can't find my parking lot ticket and the moment I do is a stretch of frustration and profanities. I activated this resolution several weeks ago and so far, so good.

2. Stop buying Christmas ornaments. I love Christmas ornaments and am, I confess, rather proud of my eclectic collection. Mexico, Guatemala, the Phillipines, India, Arizona (miniature dream catchers), and so on. This year for the first time I bought an artificial tree (I still can't believe it), a short one at that, and I thought I'd left my Christmas ornament fixation behind. Then one day I came upon these miniature creches from Palestine, and the other day I succumbed to eBay, and bought straw ornaments from Sweden, and then today I fell in love with these exquisite ornaments from Austria, red-painted eggshells with gold decorations. That's a total of 69 new ornaments! Next year, I will need a bigger tree, probably a real one.

3. Stop buying tickets to out-of-town shows. This is sheer fantasy. I bought tickets to see the Beastie Boys in Richmond in October, it was a get-out-the-vote fundraiser, but it was a school night and I knew we probably would not go. Then I bought tickets to see Craig Ferguson, last evening, New Year's Eve, in Atlantic City, even though I knew I might bag the idea. Which I did.

More to come.