December 31, 2014

The new you.

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Any New Year's changes you've got planned for yourself?

Don't be boring!

ADDED: I found those painted bowling pins in the Cherrywood Coffeehouse in Austin, Texas. Maybe they gave you the idea to take up painting bowling pins in 2015. You can buy old bowling pins at eBay, unsurprisingly. They're only about a dollar or 2. Many of the listings anticipate that you will be using them for target practice. So there's that too. You might want to sharpen your shooting in 2015.

Recommend self-improvements for Althouse in 2015. (Check as many as you want.)
 
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41 comments:

garage mahal said...

I plan on continuing my interesting and unique contributions and smoldering hot takes. Here, for all of you.

Robert J. said...

Here's a profile of celebrity law prof and regulation czar Cass Sunstein, "The Legal Olympian," in the latest Harvard alumni magazine. It would be a great piece for Althouse to riff on in a separate post (and for others to comment on).

CStanley said...

If a few life situations remain stable enough I plan to take some painting classes. No bowling pins will be involved though (too boring?)

traditionalguy said...

I am gonna master the new Keurig coffee machine.

It has many tricks. But the coffee is quick and good and at the right temperature.

Jim in St Louis said...

My resolution is the same one I failed at last year: Cut everyone some slack.

Every-single-fucking-one-of-you-bastards.

Sarah from VA said...

I've thought about several New Years' Resolutions, but decided not to commit to any of them. I'm going to continue to grow a tiny human, give birth to her, and then feed and clothe her and the other 2 tiny humans that live here for the rest of the year. That seems like plenty.

I have vague hopes for other things -- organize the house, return my body to pre-baby state, find new freelance work since my last client folded -- but I anticipate adding baby #3 to be challenging enough that I'm not going to give myself flak over anything else that doesn't get done.

traditionalguy said...

Watching TCU play football right now is a high level performance art. No wonder the big school boys do anything to escape playing them.

furious_a said...

Compared to bringing a new life into the world, "Being the best me that I can possibly be" seem kinda lame.

Back to the drawing board.

furious_a said...

No wonder the big school boys do anything to escape playing them.

Wisconsin learned *that* the hard way, amirite?

Anthony said...

I'm thinking of recording all of my cash spending every day and putting it in my diary. I'm reading the 1952-54 diary of a Yakima teenager (16-18) in which he does the same thing and I started thinking it might make for an interesting data set in many years.

Michael K said...

Find your nearest sewer manhole and be ready.

Chef Mojo said...

Me? Quite simply staying alive for another year. I'd like to see if I can make it past my 55th birthday, and to ring in 2016. Not so much a resolution as a hope or wish.

I'm on my 5th chemo protocol. I'm a fighting SOB, and I'm not going down gently. I've had 3 relatively good days in a row, during which I was able to enjoy some time outdoors. A couple of trips into C'ville. Amazing Neapolitan pizza and food shopping for New Years. I was able to prep a big ole hunk of pork slathered inside and out with chipotle/pineapple adobo, and smoke it over mesquite. I'll use that meat for tacos al pastor this evening, along with drunken beans. The Lady and I will toast the new year with a limited bottling of a wonderfully dry local cider. I treasure the days I can function. When the bad days come, I always remember that there are others worse off, who suffer in ways that I - or you - cannot imagine, and I turn my thoughts towards them.

The other day, during infusion, I was in the "corral" with a 17 year old girl with ovarian cancer and a 22 year old guy with pancreatic cancer (stage 3). We all talked about our lives outside the "corral." At one point, I asked if we could briefly remove our masks, so we see each other's faces. We did. You never saw such looks of glory, bravery and determination. And love. We smiled, and replaced our masks.

Sorry for the rambling. Did I answer the question?

Tank said...

Hang in Chef.

Me and Ms. Tank are going to travel to some southern states to scout out warmer places to live. I'm sort of excited about it. I ask all the "older" people I meet now about their thoughts on retirement and relocation; I get amazingly diverse and often surprising responses.

FullMoon said...

I am going to track down the SOB who creates those "personality tests" that always end up paranoid psychopath for me. And then we will see what's what and who's who.

And do ebay.

And perfect my chilli recipe.

Chef Mojo said...

Tank,

Check out the area around Beaufort, SC. Beautiful area, and very squared away. I love the Low Country. Good fishing and hunting. Fresh off the boat seafood. Best shrimp you'll ever eat. If you're ex-military, you've got various USMC bases and a Naval hospital to draw on.

I Callahan said...

You forgot one item in your poll: More Puparazzo posts!!!

Shanna said...

Me and Ms. Tank are going to travel to some southern states to scout out warmer places to live. I'm sort of excited about it.

Beats the cold, I guess. Arkansas is gorgeous and cheap, but its awfully hot in the summer.

Graham Powell said...

Me: finish the 2nd (and 3rd) drafts of my novel.

BTW, there is a combat sport that involves shooting bowling pins off a table, usually with a handgun. The trick is hitting them squarely enough to knock them straight back. As many bowlers have discovered, they don't always go where you want them to.

Big Mike said...

There's a sport called bowling pin shooting. You could do #1, and then work on #3 by getting rid of the ones that didn't work out.

Oh! You meant shooting your camera?

Sorry 'bout that.

Big Mike said...

@Chief, I wish you all the best.

mikee said...

I intend to become significantly less of a person than I am now. Especially in the parts below my skull.

I second the pin shooting Graham Powell mentions.

For .22LR pistols, only the tops of bowling pins are used, having been sawed off pins destroyed by center fire target use. Fun to shoot, but made interestingly difficult by the real stress of a timed shooting competition.

JSD said...

Work less
Finish scanning box of photos from the 60’s through the 90’s.
Hike Tumbledown Mountain
Catch “Thor” the 24 inch brown trout who escaped last summer
Learn Bolero on the classical guitar
Don’t be boring

One out of six would be a success

Best wishes to Chef Mojo

Tank said...

@Chef

Been there and you are right on.

Ann Althouse said...

Good luck, Chef.

Meade said...

Get well, Chef. More mojo power to you.

caplight45 said...

Last January as I was thinking about a list of things to do in the New Year a good friend suggested that instead of resolutions or lists that I adopt a theme for the year. It came to me almost immediately and I have found that theme coming to life in both knowing and unknowing ways. I plan on doing it again this year. It was much more creative and liberating in my experience.

furious_a said...

Take down the Halloween decorations.

caplight45 said...

Chef said, " You never saw such looks of glory, bravery and determination. And love."

A holy moment. I have seen those faces. It always leaves me in a quiet reverence as did your post.

Be blessed with healing, Friend.

furious_a said...

Good on Chef for putting others first.

chillblaine said...

Get a sous vide machine like chillblaine and blog about it.

chillblaine said...

And more #gamergate posts.

Laslo Spatula said...

I hope to be reading Chef posts throughout the year to come.

I am Laslo.

Michael K said...

"We all talked about our lives outside the "corral."

Have you ever seen the movie, "The Doctor ?" I show it to my medical students every year.

Good luck.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

What do you carry, Althouse? I imagine that would result in some comment. Also, in your milieu, it would be transgressive as all hell. Let your freak flag fly.

Anonymous said...

Keep fighting Chef.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Keep your chin up, Chef, you can do it. I'm sure everyone here will pray for Mojo. Nailed it re: Beaufort, too--I tell people in Atlanta they just can't understand real shrimp.

Prof. Althouse--you should check out a Project Appleseed shooting clinic, I bet you and Meade would enjoy it. Looks like they've got some dates scheduled in Oregon, WI in 2015...

David said...

Chef and Tank--

If either of you get near Beaufort, let me know and we can get together. I'm in my 11th year living here. The Sea Eagle on Robert Smalls Parkway is the place to go for shrimp and seafood. They are a seafood store not a restaurant but we could cook it up at my house. They will also clean and boil shrimp for you if you need it.

Meade has my email address and he is free to give it to you.

--David

David said...

garage mahal said...
I plan on continuing my interesting and unique contributions and smoldering hot takes. Here, for all of you.


Good. We are quivering with anticipation.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Happy New Year from the eastern time zone!

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Water Festival or Shrimp Festival 2015 Althouse reader meetup. Book it.

Gerrard787 said...

My goal for 2015 is the same as 2014: 10 nights of backcountry camping. To date, all my backpacking has been done in Canada. This year I hope to drive down to Montana and camp 5 nights in Glacier National Park.

Wishing you well Chef.