This Year, I'll...

I've never been a fan of resolutions. Perhaps that is the internal contrarian in me creeping up, but I just always felt that making resolutions for the new year was a bit arbitrary. I suppose it's as good a time as any, but why not resolve to make a situation better when you see that it needs to improve rather than wait for a set date to roll around?

Of course, that contradicts my love of Christmas and the arbitrarily imposed date to give your loved ones gifts, but whatever. I'm so contrarian I can even contradict myself! That's hard core ;)

Last year I had a resolution to lose weight. It wasn't a new year's resolution, per se, because I made that resolution in October, but I did decide that it was time I drop about 45 pounds. Over the course of the year I made that resolution come true and I'm proud as hell of myself for that.

So it's time for a new goal, and since it is now around that time of year that others tend to make resolutions, I may as well do the same.

Trying New Foods And *gasp* Seafood

I've never considered my palette to be bland, but there are just some things that I refuse to eat. Namely anything that swims or lives in the water should not touch my plate. I'm not sure where my aversion to seafood came from, but it's about time to put it to test and see if the dislike is all in my head or if I just really don't like water creatures.

Lately I've discovered that I enjoy tuna, and not just canned tuna. We had a tuna appetizer at our wedding last summer and it was delicious, so there's a start. And I've started to realize that crab meat is pretty good as well. So with those two realizations, perhaps there are other sea-dwelling thingies that I might enjoy just as much?

Besides, most sea foods are pretty healthy. I need to expand my proteins beyond chicken, turkey and peanuts. What better way than with some of the leaner sea critters?

Get Out And Socialize

I've never been a particularly social creature. I love spending time with and around people, just like anyone else, but I'm perfectly happy spending time with my husband as my social outlet. That's not a bad thing, per se, but I've noticed that for me that has also meant less effort in maintaining other friendships, be they close or just casual acquaintances.

I can be very social when I decide to be. When I decide to put on the social face and get out and meet people, I'm pretty good at it. But I haven't been putting as much effort into that part of me lately, and I'm worried that perhaps I'm isolating myself. So it's time that I step up my efforts and make amends with anyone I might have offended and start trying to forge new friendships as well.

That's All Folks

Keeping it simple and manageable, I'm sticking with these two ideas. It's easy enough to force myself to try new foods and with my husband's social senses helping us stay in sync with the outside world, I think these are achievable goals.

So here's to a new year and new beginnings!

Guess What? US Still Doesn't Think Gays Have Rights

If you weren't clear on the fact that religious fundamentalism holds our country back more than any other force, consider the UN Resolution that calls for the world-wide decriminalization of homosexuality. A French activist group has put together a resolution that will firmly enshrine in UN doctrine that all people, including sexual minorities, should have the legal right to, you know, not get murdered or jailed for who they are. It's not really that much to ask, all things considered.

The resolution, as with all things UN-related, is completely non-binding and doesn't really accomplish anything except a world-stage dance of tolerance. Still, it's a nice gesture. And considering it's merely calling for the world to finally say "I guess Gays can have the right to exist… and stuff…" and not even coming close to other basic human rights, you'd think that this was a non-issue, especially when it comes to the United States, bastion of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, where all men are created equal, where we are constantly fed BS as children that we later find out isn't true (well, sort of true, just not true for us). If you thought that, you'd be wrong.

Of the all the countries supporting the resolution, including the ENTIRE European Union, the US is not one of them. The US has chosen to not support the resolution. Why? Because our current administration is over-run with politicians that are in bed with religious bigots. Because the Vatican is using the same, tired, patently false Bull Shit line of "slippery slope" arguments. Because we are not a progressive country that values human dignity and self-respect.

It is a sad and pathetic disgrace that this country does not sign on to this resolution. If we can commit to dethroning foreign leaders that pissed off our President's daddy, but we can't even commit to basic, BASIC human rights, what the hell kind of country do we have?

I refuse to accept that we, as a Nation, are still so bigoted that we are OK with other nation's decision to hunt and kill gay people. We are better than that. Just not our current Government. January 20 could not come sooner.