Small Expectations

This is the traditional time for resolutions, those yearly (for some) promises to improve our lives and/or ourselves in some way. I have personally never indulged in such things, preferring to follow the philosophy of Lewis Black and keep expectations as low as possible. However, there’s nothing wrong with the idea of looking ahead and seeing what can be done to better my situation.

Professionally, the nature of my job requires almost daily evaluation, so a yearly assessment is rather silly, although that doesn’t stop the State of South Dakota from requiring one. In general I would like to do better, but that’s always going to be true. I'm always on the lookout for a different job, but I'm not counting on it; at the moment I have too many restrictions to make finding something suitable likely.

I would like to improve my overall finances, which could involve many possibilities with varying likelihoods of success. There’s the big old pie-in-the-sky Powerball win, of course, or some other unexpected windfall against which I have thus far resisted borrowing, even if I thought I could find a willing lender. But I know I will finish paying off a particular loan (a hangover from my previous marriage) later this year, which will free up funds to reduce other obligations and generally make life more pleasant. It would also be nice to reduce the child-related drain on the pocketbook.

Domestically, things are pretty good. I really have no business having such a fine wife, but I will continue to take advantage of her strange taste in men. I would like to make it possible for her to work less (which ties in with the finances) and to keep our daughters on course toward building decent lives. We also need to sort out our vehicle situation (finances again). But overall the biggest source of drama is Grandbaby, and that’s fine.

As for health-related matters, a recent decision to park on the edge of the lot at work in order to walk more has produced decent results, and I know better to make any dietary promises beyond keeping it reasonable. I don’t smoke, I drink very little alcohol, my blood pressure is good and everything seems to be functioning within acceptable parameters, so good enough. In fact, I’d apply that last statement to life in general: improvement would be nice, but until then, good enough.