It's time...it's time...it's...2009?!?

Whoa, zomg, it totallllly is! Well almost anyways, it's actually December 30th as I start writing this, let's see how long it takes to finish...

2009 New Years Resolutions.

1 | APPLY YOURSELF! DO WORK!!!
This applies to every, single facet of my life. I've always been the guy that skated by giving the smallest amount of effort possible. I've done just enough to get by which really does not require much from me. I know I'm a pretty smart fellow, but I also know that it is really stupid of me to not use my gifts(?) to their fullest ability. I've spent 25.5 years on this earth and really never applied myself to much of anything. I got by using a fraction of my intelligence and my silver tongue...who knows what could happen if I actually applied myself?! This could be fun....
2 | Use Public Transportation
This is important to me since I have changed jobs and drive to work. The company will reimburse me for a bus pass so I just need to buy one, then I can take the bus all over the city! There's three bus stops right across the street from my apartment, one that heads to Fremont, one that heads downtown and one that heads to Capitol Hill. I can get pretty much anywhere in the city from right in front of my apartment!
3 | Buy a New Pair of Shoes, Every Month
Yeah motherfucker I said it! New shoes...every month. 12 pairs, at least. If you know me, then you know this is completely serious. In fact I think I have picked out the pair I want to buy first. Perhaps I can turn this into another blog and take votes on what shoes I should buy for the month. If you have suggestions (and they come in a size 13) then please leave them. I will be sure to post pictures of the shoes I buy each month too!
4 | Shop @ Pike Place Market
I don't know why I don't shop here more. I've been in Seattle for almost two years and can count the number of times I've been to Pike Place on one hand. Every time I've gone it's only because people were in town. It's a pretty cool place, and very cheap for fruits, veggies and fish. Eventually it would be awesome to be able to buy foods at Pike Place and use my new-found cooking skills (see 8) to prepare the meal. Oooh, it's like a combo resolution! Hot damn!
5 | Do Well In School, Educate Yourself
This is huge to me, and it ties in with number one a lot. You'll see this is a common trend, specific resolutions that tie into resolution number one. I was kind of low on resolutions this year, so I figured it would be nice to be super specific so it would be easier to grade myself. This one is pretty straight forward, do well in school. Apply yourself Justin, there's a first time for everything!
6 | Learn a Foreign Language
UGH! You again. Fuck. C'est FUCK! (It's Fuck.) Anyways...excuse the language. I had this on here last year, and totally sucked at it. I mean seriously sucked at it. I gave myself a "D" last year because I downloaded software. What a fuggin cop out. Horrible. Hopefully I actually put in the effort to start doing something this year, and hopefully I start it early in the year. Procastination has been the death of me. I have stuff to re-teach me French, so there's no excuse for me to wait to get started on this!
7 | Quit Smoking
Really? Yeah, really. I've been smoking (not cigs) since I was like 14, it's probably time to stop, or at least cut back...drastically. That and smoking has become too trendy now-a-days. Everybody is doing it. People who never smoked before are now all-of-a-sudden Cheech and Chong. WTF IS UP WITH THAT? I like doing things because other people don't do them! I dunno, I enjoy smoking, it's a lot of fun, but I also know that it cripples me. I get way more lazy, eat way more junk food (damn candy barzzzzz) and if I am going to really apply and educate myself I am going to need all the energy and motivation I can muster! This one is going to be tough, probably the toughest next to 1. [Note: This isn't to say I want to stop smoking entirely, just cut back a lot, until I know I can handle my real responsibilities...and smoking.]
8 | Learn to Cook
I cook a fair amount at home, but usually it's stuff from Whole Foods or Safeway that comes prepared and I just have to bake it. I'm not interested in becoming the next Mario Bataglia but I would like to learn more about cooking, and food in general. With this comes a desire to learn more about wine as well. I'm growing up, this is part of the maturization process. Right? Drink wine? Play golf? Can I retire yet?
9 | Buy a New Laptop
This one is pretty simple, I've had my Macbook for a while and I really want a new one! I don't know if I want one of the new uni-body macbooks or if I want a macbook air. I kind of (see: really) want the Air, but it's quite a bit more money. It's okay, this will probably not be met until the middle of the year at the earliest. Maybe I'll make this my birthday present to myself. As a result of this not being something I can grade very easily, my grade will be based on how much money I save each month towards purchasing this laptop. I'm shooting for $100 a month. Obviously I won't have enough to buy a MB Air in August at that rate, but I'd be about half-way there, which will come in handy when I hustle up the remaining money!
10 | Create More Stuff
I really want to create more things, be it musically, artistically, writing, or anything really. I just want to be more creative in general. This ties into my more writing resolution from last year, which I did terribly at. Well not as good as I could have, so I am going to expand on it to include any forms of creativity. I've ordered a KorgNANO Midi Keyboard to plug into my Macbook so hopefully I'll use that to let out my creativity...oh yeah, and hopefully I'll write more this year. *Holds breath.*

I wrote almost all of this on the 30th when I originally started, and then re-visited it today, the 31st to finalize it and make sure I said most of what I wanted to say. I am looking forward to 2009, much more than I was looking forward to 2008. Okay, it's pretty much the same, but 08 turned out really well for me, and I think if I can stick to these resolutions then 09 should be even better!

Happy New Year to everybody who actually sat through reading all this, I'll be sure to update (hopefully more often than last year) my progress on these resolutions!

The end.