New Decade, Same Idiots

At the start of a new year, I have less reason for optimism for this country. The lesson of the last decade was to never underestimate the damage a heard of thundering idiots can cause. Wars for empire, bailouts for billionaires, stratospheric debt, and now government run health insurance.

Enough! I've burnt out my outrage and there is nothing left but apathy as far as what is happening to this country. I'll still vote, but it's past time when I'll worry if it will do any good. I'm going to dig in deeper, do more to shelter my family from the shit storm that surrounds us. With that in mind, here is a list of my new years resolutions.

1. Become a better secret squirrel - I'm moving to another state and changed jobs. This gives me a chance to undo some of the mistakes I've made as far as keeping my preps secret. I made the mistake of letting people I worked with know about this blog and many of the preps I made. Not this time. As far as the people I work with goes, I'm just another Joe Consumer living in la la-land.

I'll keep blogging, because there is not much I can do about Big Brother watching me now. Nothing on the Internet is private, and the damage is already done. What I won't do is allow people in my local area know what I'm doing. If I ever need my emergency supplies, those will be the greatest danger.

2. Loose weight and get in shape - I've really let my self go these past 6 months. Living in an apartment and falling into that work-couch potato cycle has been hard on me. I've gained fat and lost muscle to an alarming degree. As I near 40, my body goes to hell rather quickly now and I've got to get the decent under control. But more than losing weight, I've got to build up muscle tone and improve my overall fitness.

It takes more than a low-whatever diet and exercise to reach this goal. I've got to make changes that help me to stay on track. One of the first things is to get out of that apartment. I am working on that as we speak. Found a nice place out in the country that needs work, for a price I could afford. Hopefully, I can close by Feb. 1 and since it's a foreclosure, there is no shortage of work to do. You can expect me to blog a lot more about this in the future.

The second is motivation. Seven years ago I quit smoking and one very valuable lesson I learned form that is that no one can do it for you and you have to want to do it for yourself. No amount of bitching or preaching by others will work, it has to be something you decide to do for yourself. I reached that point when I realised I couldn't manage a 10 mile hike without feeling like I was dieing. I feel the same way about my physical shape now.

3. Learn new skills - I have a short list of three new skills that I'm determined to start learning in the upcoming year. Bee keeping, a martial art, and masonry. I can do a little bit of each of these right now, the goal is to become more proficient than the average person. Mastering these skills will take years, but for now it's time to start focusing on improving.

I'll finish up by wishing you and yours a happy and prosperous new year. 2010 and beyond looks like we will all be living in "interesting times" as the old adage goes, so take care of yourself, cause no one else is going to do it for you.

R.E.A.L.