In the second half of 2006, I somehow learned to become more relaxed than I've ever been in my life. The philosophy behind this is easy to understand, but for some reason, most people including my former self have a seriously difficult time understanding and making use of it.

The idea is as follows: There are two halves of my life -- work and play. The very instant I stop doing one, I start doing the other. It is as simple as that.

This is the time of year when people make resolutions for the future, and I've been thinking about mine and laughing for a couple of months now. My resolutions are borderline ridiculous.

I want to watch more TV. Seriously.
Currently, TiVo is helping me do this and I'm having lots of mini-marathons throughout the week. As a person who's worked during the prime-time hours for years now, it's nice to watch all the stuff that everyone else is watching.

I want to get a kitchen table, so that I can sit at it and read while I'm drinking coffee.
It would also serve as a better place to eat grapefruit, which is important.

I want to find at least one magazine that I really like.
This is kind of a tall order, because I don't think there are any magazines I'd want to subscribe to. I like the idea of magazines, and I like the magazine aesthetic. But I can't seem to find a magazine whose content I genuinely like.

I want to take more photos and post them on Flickr.
This is kind of tricky, because it involves leaving my apartment.

And really, that's it. Sure, I have other ways I'd like to improve myself, such as keep a cleaner apartment and eat more vegetables, but I'm not going to resolve to do those things because they aren't fun. TV, table, coffee, grapefruit, magazines, photography.

[ also: I don't know if it's gauche to mention, but I got some attention from mnartists.org yesterday, and while I was reading it, the Duluth Budgeteer called me for an interview. It was a good way to start the year. ]