Well, here we are again on the precipice of a new year. I don’t recall if I wrote down my resolutions for 2018 which is probably a good indication that none was kept.

Nevertheless, I am going to attempt to jot down a few lines on expectations of behavior I am hoping to live up to. I guess ending a sentence with a preposition didn’t make the cut?

I spent entirely too much time watching bad TV, specifically cable news channels. It did not bring me happiness and only served to enlarge my carbon footprint.

I did return to reading books as opposed to Kindle versions and I will continue to do so. Libraries are wonderful institutions that may one day suffer the same fate of bookstores.

Fortunately, Sarasota has a fine library and two bookstores to peruse. I miss going to bookstores, and record shops for that matter because I often found something that I hadn’t been looking for. Today, that experience has been relegated to the various supermarkets I frequent.

60 Minutes had an interesting segment last night. I may have previously seen it or something similar. The topic was whiskey, specifically single malt whiskey of Scotland. It made me want to drink more whiskey. I am not sure this is the type of resolution that one ought to make as a challenge for the upcoming year but I may at least have a drink or two in 2019.

I was going to get political and start off with my pledge not to lie 15 times a day or that my Ancestry DNA came back indicating I was Native American, but then I reconsidered and decided not to. (There goes that damn preposition ending another sentence!)

Oh well, maybe the best thing I can do is not to be so hard on myself and not to take myself so seriously? Maybe instead of watching cable news a little more Laurel and Hardy is called for. ( I just can’t seem to control myself!)

Let me summarize my goals and objectives.

I am going to be a better Jimmy.

I can’t change anyone but myself, and only I can change myself.

I am going to end the year as I often have. Eileen and I will stay up and watch the ball drop on Times Square before we drop off to bed.

It’s a tradition as well as an expression of faith in the new year that we are happy and content

with.

Happy New Year everyone!