Resolutions, resolutions. I’ve never made them before — at least, not in public — but now seems as good a time as any, so here goes:
1. Read more. Seems like I’m perpetually in the middle of the same half-dozen books. I used to read quite a bit, but ever since I stopped riding public transit, I haven’t set aside time to read. I’d really like to get through all the books I’ve got on my shelf right now: Douglas Adams: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, The Long, Dark Teatime of the Soul (page 0); Stephen Dobyns: The Church of The Dead Girls (page 0); Robert M. Pirsig: Zen And the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (page 92); Douglas Coupland: Miss Wyoming (somewhere around page 170, but I’ve forgotten nearly everything); Carl Hiaasen: Kick Ass (page 142).
2. Become a better cook. This is just something I really enjoy and want to become better at. Everyone should become a better cook.
3. Use the food I have already, more effectively. It seems like I’m always throwing something out because it’s going bad. In 2004 I resolve to make a conscious effort to get through the food I’ve got before it goes bad, or if I’m not going to eat it, simply not buying it in the first place. Hmmm, looks like there could be some tie-in between this one and number 2.
4. Sleep more. In 2003, bedtime for me on a weeknight was somewhere between 1:30 and 2:00, and I was up at 7:20. That’s just over 5.5 hours, definitely not enough. On those rare days where I did get more, the difference was very noticeable. No amount of caffeine would be an adequate substitute. It’ll be a gradual process of course, but in 2004, I’d like to get at least 7 hours in per night.
5. Go dancing more. Yep. 🙂
6. Get back in the dating scene. This one is long overdue. 😉 In the past year I think I’ve been subconsciously avoiding relationships, but enough is enough! 😀
7. Exercise more. Ultimate does a fine job of exercising my calves and cardio system, but what about all those other bits? In 2004 (geez, this sounds like a US election campaign) I’d like to develop the parts of my body which don’t get exercise through Ultimate.
8. Explore my surroundings more. Back in June, exploring Myakka with Cam and Melissa was a good start. Now how about all the rest of Florida? What I’ve seen so far is beautiful… I’d like to see more.
9. Become a better photographer. I’ve learned a lot since I bought my digicam 13 months ago, but I feel like I’ve only scratched the tip of the iceberg. Two topics I’d particularly like to learn more about are composition and lighting, so I will endeavor to find out more about them in the coming year.
10. Start learning Spanish. This was one of my goals when I took this job, and so far, it hasn’t gotten much attention. Uno, dos, tres. ¿Una cerveza, por favor? But that’s as far as my vocab goes. Not sure how much I’ll be able to learn, but I do know I want to know a lot more Spanish by this time next year.
Wow, I didn’t think I had nearly that many. One nice thing is that there seems to be multiple areas where my resolutions could overlap, so it might work out pretty well. Guess we’ll know for sure, this time 2005. 😀
[About the bridge]

Christmas in Victoria was awesome.
It was so nice to see Mum, Dad and my brothers again — feels like it’s been forever since we’ve all been in the same room. Arrived on Xmas-eve, and Mum immediately sat me down to bagan choka, liti roti, chai and cookies. And suddenly I remembered why I like going home so much.

Got to bed pretty early that night, 11pm I think, and, thanks to the time-change, I was up at 8. So did what anyone else would have done in my position…. ran around the house and woke everyone up! Or tried. Mum and Dad were up shortly after me on their own, and Neil was easy to wake. But Anand and Davin were another story completely. Anand tricked me out by faking waking up. And Davin barely moved a muscle! He blinked at me, but that was about it.
So I sent Neil down after ’em, to greater success. Presents were opened, good times ensued. Davin gave me a mini-tripod stand, which totally rocks. It’s so small, it fits in the side of my camera bag. I’m using it all the time. He also gave me the DVD of Blue Velvet, which also rocks, because I haven’t seen it AND I’m a big fan of [director] David Lynch. He also gave me Morning Sci-Fi, the new album from Hybrid, which needless to say, I’m enjoying. I also got a new sweater from Mum and Dad, which should come in handy for work (which, despite being in Florida, can at times be an icebox).
Shortly thereafter, Dad, Neil, Davin, Rocky and I hiked up Mt. Doug. Wow, it was so great to climb an actual hill again. If there’s anything I miss about Victoria (and BC in general), it’s the mountains. Even though it’s only about an 800 foot climb, muscles I forgot I had burned in my legs afterward.
Then it was back home for two Christmas dinners — first at home pop-overs, squash, turkey and gravy, and second, at Davin’s girlfriend Mina’s Mum’s place, for turkey, mashed potatoes, carrots, cranberries and gravy. If that sounds like a mouthful, trust me, it was. 🙂 Davin and I picked up Dani (a good friend from our childhood, in town from NYC), and we came back home, met up with Erik and crokinoled until our index fingers hurt. Around midnight, we indulged in a late-night tradition and headed out to Denny’s with Anand (who was just getting home as we were leaving), Davin and Dani, where I loaded up on coffee and way too much sugar. It was awesome.
Boxing day saw me in Nanaimo for the traditional Boxing Day Greenwell Family Reunion. That was a lot of fun, got to see all sorts Dad’s side of the family I haven’t seen in ages. The more I think about it, the more special it seems that we do this each year. Grandpa, a regular fixture at these events, wasn’t there though — he had fallen badly sick a few days early and was in the hospital. At 92, he could fall prey to any number of illnesses, so that had me kind of scared. I’m not exactly sure, but I think it was some sort of immune system breakdown. We went to see him shortly after arriving in Nanaimo. There he was, propped up in bed. Tubes up his nose, something attached to his wrist. He shook my hand from his hospital bed, and I remember being shocked by how firm his grip was; he nearly crushed my knuckles! Grandpa’s great. You’ve never seen anyone with a bigger will to live. You could sense he regarded the hospital as just some minor inconvenience. It’s inspiring.
Drove back from Nanaimo that night with Davin and cousin Liz in the big green van, and took off to [Davin’s friend] Nathan’s to play 4-way Super Bomberman. Which, despite getting my ass kicked repeatedly, was a lot of fun.

Saturday, Paul (who was in town from Vancouver by surprise) stopped by to kidnap me. It was a really nice gesture, but I had to decline, already having a stupid-hectic day in front of me. I met up with Daniel, and we had tea he brought back from a recent trip he took to South Africa. Then it was off to meet Jayne, who had just gotten back from a work term in Montreal.


We exchanged stories over Tim Hortons for about an hour, then it was off to meet up with Tex and Nicole for dinner at Christie’s pub. They brought along Kirsty, and I invited Daniel along as well, who brought along Kathy.


The food was excellent, of course. Then it was back to Daniel’s with Tex, Nicole and Lisa to watch The Crimson Rivers, which was an odd but well-done French whodunit.

Immediately after the movie ended (around 12:50am), it was off to meet Davin at Hush to see Dekoze play. Unfortunately Dekoze wasn’t able to make it, but I still had a blast dancing to a trance DJ which replaced him, as well as progressive house dj extraordinaire Braeden, who closed the night.
But that wasn’t it — shortly thereafter it was off to CFUV to sit in as my brother and nickgurns broadcast a special 3-hour edition of Resonance.

The show didn’t end until 6:30am! Due in part to black ice causing us to drive home really slowly and in part to insomnia, I didn’t get to sleep until 7:30. Needless to say Mum (who was up before I got to bed) wasn’t terribly impressed.
I stumbled out of bed 4 hours later. The theory went that if I was extremely sleep-deprived, I’d have no trouble getting some rest on the red-eye flight later that night, which was necessary if I were to make the hour drive home from the Tampa airport. I’m not so sure that worked, but it sounded good at the time. 😉
Met Sarah for lunch downtown. It was really nice catching up. Afterwards we took a walk on the breakwater — a three-metre wide walkway which juts about 800m into the ocean to protect the docked ships from the bigger waves of the Pacific.

It was packed. Not surprising though… the conditions were perfect. The air was crisp, the sky blue, and just windy enough to redden your ears by the time you reached the lighthouse at the end.


And then it was back home for dinner and what would turn into a mad rush to get everything packed up for the flight home. Anand was getting on a ferry back to Vancouver at the same time as I was going to the airport, so we had to say our goodbyes while we were still at home.

Dad drove him to the ferries and met back up with Davin, Neil, Mum and I at Victoria International…


…where I jumped on a plane at 7:30pm, and walked in my front door in Sarasota 15 hours later.

January: first trouble with the Altima, start drinking soy milk, impressed with myself for playing Ultimate for two hours in a row, discover chicken chili, Florida freezes.
February: speculate on tendonitis in my left index finger, carry two couches from Simon’s place to mine, hit page 157 in Fast Food Nation, learn how to use macro-zoom feature of my camera, interview Cam, sort out my Canadian tax situation, Cam gets the job, get in sh*t with my camera, HPSN.
March: Cam arrives, spring break, Simon leaves for Winterpeg, get bitten by a cougar, buy a snazzy new watch, ankle trouble.
April: US Navy tries to recruit me, first time in a kayak, break down, Microsoft screws me, spend a lot of time in the PaddyWagon watching Canucks games, see Paul van Dyk.
May: discover Coldplay, get a cable modem, weekend in Savannah.
June: go exploring, discover a nice cafe, renew my visa.
July: mom, dad and Neil arrive in Florida, find shark teeth on the beach, take a trip to east coast of Florida, meet long-lost Greenwell relatives, drive to Miami, family leaves for Trinidad, HeatStroke, family comes back from Trinidad, walk in a space shuttle, win the summer 2003 Ultimate league championship, breakfast by the pool.
August: play in the Hurricane Hat tournament, ice cream at Settimi’s, chair racing, get an iSight, new sun visors and wheel cover for the Altima.
September: see Hybrid in Ybor City, get linked by hybridized.org, lead a renewed push for Ultimate on the beach, get an early look at the Power Mac G5 (which would later became part of the 3rd-fastest super computer in the world), see Timo Maas.
October: Sue2 gets hitched, photogroffee001: grasscore! (also here), watch Buffy Season 4 with Cam and Melissa, chat with Jayne for the first time in a couple years, purchase first digital song (Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy), attend “Night of the Panther”, attend a crazy Hallowe’en party, volunteer at the 2003 UPA Club Ultimate Championships.
November: learn about a scientific alternative to the big bang theory, margaritas at Jeff’s, purchase Chicago and Bowling for Columbine, MJ leads drills at frisbee practice, Stan makes E.R., going-away party for MJ, Turkey Gobbler tournament in Bradenton, American Thanksgiving at John and Ivee’s, watch Russian play “The Competition”.
December: get to know Amy better, learn booking a field with Sarasota Parks and Rec is close to impossible, MJ leaves, trouble with my flatpanel, spend Christmas in Victoria.
Still not finished Fast Food Nation.
2003 wasn’t too bad… seems the older I get, the faster everything goes by. Having a blog sure helps bring back the memories. I hope each of you were blessed with a chance to spend time with your loved ones. May the new year bring you excitement, joy, passion and peace. And lots of it. 🙂