Today is my last day of vacation for New Year. It’s Sunday, and my last day of work was Tuesday. It’s been wonderful and relaxing. For the most part.

I spent most of that time at Alicia’s. And I don’t know if you ever heard or not, but Alicia has a cat. The cat’s name is Izzy. Izzy is a great cat; playful and affectionate. No cat could better. Actually, no cat would better, for me anyway. You see, I’m allergic to cats.

I’m fine there for a while. Claritin helps. Keeping the window open helps. But over time, I just get worse. It’s inevitable, I guess. I was pretty bad by Friday night. I went to sleep on the couch at midnight, but woke up at 2am wheezing really badly. I watched a little TV, sitting up, because it was easier to breathe. But I couldn’t lie down and breathe well enough to sleep. About 4am I decided to get out of there. So I got in the Cruiser and headed home. I felt much better within an hour.

But before that, on New Year’s Day, we had a great time. Dan, Christy, Maureen, Paul, Alicia, and I played a marathon game of Tripoley. Ten hours, sitting on the floor. Ouch. Drinking progressed from mimosas and Irish coffee, to beer, to gin and tonics, and whiskey and cokes. Accompanied by bags and bags of munchies. And pizza.

If you’ve ever played Tripoley, you know that the 8-9-10 doesn’t get hit very often. During our game, during the whole 10 hours, it was only hit once. By me. We were playing with pennies, and when I played the 8-9-10, I got about $4. That made me the big winner of the day.

Other games we played were Texas Hold’em poker (everyone is fairly evenly matched at that), For The Record (a music trivia game at which I kicked Alicia’s ass), and Trivial Pursuit (the 20th Anniversary Edition, which we were astonished to realize was not actually the 20th Century Edition. Alicia and I each took a game of that. I was so drunk, I couldn’t remember “Erin Brokovich”, but how could it be that Alicia has never heard of the Jamaican bobsled team?).

New Year’s is the time for resolutions and new starts. And sauerkraut. Well, I hate sauerkraut, but far be it from me to ignore all traditions. So here are my resolutions for the New Year.

1. Keep the house clean. My house is a pig sty. I’ve been exceptionally lazy over the last two months, and it shows. Cobwebs grow unchecked. Dust bunnies boldly roam the halls with impunity. The bathroom is disgusting. I rarely have friends over to my place because it’s so filthy. Hard wood floors are easy to clean, but they don’t hide the dirt. So this year I am going to try and develop a habit of cleaning more regularly. I would love to have a house where friends can drop in at any time and not question my hygiene.

2. Eat better. Smaller meals, more regularly. And that means packing more lunches. Aside from costing too much, buying lunch every day means that the helpings are bigger than they really need to be. I don’t need an 8 inch sub every day. In fact, too often, I’m so full from lunch that I’m not hungry at dinner time. Or I’m too lazy to cook for myself. So I end up snacking on chips. That can’t be good for me. It might explain why most of my pants are uncomfortable. So I’m going to try to eat better.

3. Be more active. Exercise a little. Or maybe just the act of cleaning (see #1) will get me off the couch more often in the evening.

4. Finally finish off the dining room. Redecorating the dining room has been the longest unfinished project in my house. Since starting that project, I have replaced the bathroom floor and redecorated the master bedroom. (I did the bedroom to be more “women-friendly” as a surprise to my girlfriend at the time. But then she broke up with me over the phone before I finished it, so she never knew. Ha!) So this year, seriously, the dining room. The blinds I’m going to put up have been in the basement, in a box, for over two years.

That’s it. Not really ambitious. I want to improve my financial situation, but I’m not really clear on how to do that. I’d like more female companionship, but I’m even less clear on that front. So if I can stick to the four above, I’ll consider my life better.