Fat Cats and New Years Resolutions

Source: via Roberta, aka Pinkpackrat on Pinterest

I don't do New Years Resolutions anymore-- too damned depressing.  But I do do what I call New Years reflections. I look back briefly on the year just past and then think about, and write down,  two or three goals for the coming year.  I keep a diary-- have for years-- and always write down my New Years reflections in my diary. The writing down part is key-- at least for me, not least because it forms a record and a concrete reminder of where you have been and where you are going.

This year, after performing my annual reflective exercise, I looked back over more than a decade's worth of diary entries to see if there was a pattern in my New Years ruminations and there was.  I noticed two important things-- to wit:

•  The first big surprise was that most of the goals I have set for myself over the years, I have achieved-- more than I thought before going back over my diaries. I really do worry less, spend more time with family and friends, procrastinate less, keep my house cleaner and my finances more organized and a whole bunch of other things too boring to mention here.

• On virtually every goal list, every year, no matter what my weight or the state of my health, I included as a goal " losing weight, and getting more exercise" which is a goal I never seem to achieve-- at least not to my satisfaction.

So, now, just in time for my annual New Years review, I read that being a little overweight might not be a bad thing.  It seems that a major study, involving more than 3 million people, has found that being moderately overweight ( I believe I definitely qualify for inclusion here) not only is not bad, but might actually statistically lower your chances of premature death.  Hooray.  Of course, the bad news is that the same study found that being significantly obese  increased chances of premature death in a big way-- but then we already knew that, didn't we?

MY takeaway from this is to pat myself on the back for having managed to achieve so many of my life goals over the past decade and to give myself a break in terms of diet and exercise.  Time to stop being so critical of myself.  It is, after all, not how long you live, but how that counts.  So Happy 2013 everybody and pass the popcorn.  It's going to be an interesting show, for sure. 

Do the Meme, Be the Meme, Happy New Year 241543903

photo source

OK.  If the title of this post made absolutely no sense to you-- google 241543903 right now and then click on images to see the meme that is seeing out the old year and welcoming in the new on the internet.

According to urlesque.com  :

 "The head-in-a-freezer photo meme was started in April 2009 by David Horvitz, a New York artist known for (among other things) starting a subscription service for his daily photos of the sky. At the time, Horvitz was running a Tumblr where he would post instructions to his audience each day. These were generally off-the-wall things like "record a dramatic reading of a YouTube comment fight" or "ask to watch the sunset from the roof of the tallest building near your house." In November of this year, David had a book of these instructions, Everything That Can Happen in a Day, published by Random House.

Taking a photo with your head in the freezer and tagging it with the seemingly random number "241543903" was one of these instructions. Horvitz told us he got the idea after telling a sick friend, Mylinh Nguyen, to try sticking her head in a freezer. The number Horvitz picked was a combination of the serial number of his refrigerator and the barcodes on a bag of edamame and a package of frozen soba noodles he was keeping there."

Whatever-- the bottom line is that somewhere during 2009 people started taking pictures of themselves with their head in a freezer and uploading the pix to the internet with the tag  241543903

Thus we see the power of the internet and the social networking  phenom of people doing something intrinsically silly just for the sake of doing it....together. 

Somebody has got to be laughing all the way to the bank as there is now a website, a Twitter account, a Facebook page and who knows what else devoted to 241543903.  Bloggers are on it. Can Tee shirts, coffee mugs and needlepoint pillow patterns be far behind ?

I'm thinking New Years Eve, head in the freezer,  shots could be very cool and I may just follow up on them-- so experience the meme, do the meme, BECOME the meme ( I am assuming the lotus position, eyes closed and chanting) and by all means leave links to your photos in the comments section if you care to.

Happy New Year from the pinkpackrat ( who will definitely NOT have her head in a freezer this New Years Eve), but who will be watching this strangely fascinating meme in the year to come. 

May 2011 bring you and yours  health, happiness and many memorable memes.

H/T  The Next Web  and  241543903.com

Happy New Year from Jib Jab and Me

Thanks all,  for sharing 2009 with me and for stopping by pinkpackrat's place and taking time to read and comment here..... it has really made my year. I've become addicted to blogging and tweeting, and stumbling and digging this year and I've met so many wonderful people from everywhere in the world and discovered so much energy and creativity along with great writing that I'm sure I will be even more addicted next year.  You guys rock-- you really do.

May 2010 bring happiness and prosperity to one and all and may we all have an even better blogging year.  But first, it's time to look back on 2009 -- the year that was.

Jib Jab sums it all up more quickly and with more humor than I ever could, so watch the video and join me in a toast to see the old year out.

Happy New Year everybody. See you in 2010

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