Who do I still think I am??

This one's about what was, is, and will be.

30DBC PROMPT: <unofficial month>

What's up friends? A happy holidays wish to y'all....hope it was merry, or Hanukkah-y, or Kwanza-riffic, or just joyous however you choose it to be. Since this is still an unofficial month in the "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" , and there's no real prompt floating around for the day, I'm going to take this opportunity to end any suspense and formally announce my entrancy in January's Blog Challenge. That's right...I'm in, and I'm not waiting until the last possible minute to decide (unlike previous challenges). Furthermore, not only will I be entering, but this time around I plan on making it all the way through the entire month. That is also right...no bowing out three days in, or blowing off a day here or there. I'm in it for the (31 day) long haul. Y'all been served notice. I see some familiar names listed, and some new entrants as well...I'm looking forward to having a great month with this.

Now for the hard part: having to come up with three prompts as part of the entrant admission process. Believe me when I tell you that for me, that's harder than actually having the discipline to come up with thirty straight days of blog entries. Any punk with an internet connection and fifteen minutes can spit out a blog entry. But coming up with something for others to write about? I might actually waste an entire afternoon coming up with topics that may or may not see the light of the challenge.

Even more disconcerting to me, I find, is having to write an entry based on a prompt I created. Go figure. You'd think it'd be simple, but it's not. It's like test anxiety, and you copied the answer key on the bottom of your sneaker, but decided to jump in mud puddles along the way to the exam...almost a double panic attack. I have this notion that if it's a prompt of your design, it should be that day's best entry out of all the challengers'. Like there's some kind of hidden incentive to prove your point, or the keyboard is slanted in your favor. Truth is, it's not that simple when you weigh yourself down with that kind of pressure. Adding unnecessary expectations isn't healthy (says the guy whose WDC handle includes the words "blog" and "champ", but hasn't actually won in like, two years, and hasn't respectfully finished a challenge in at least 12 months, maybe more). Like a lot of people new to the 30DBC pantheon, I feel like I have something to prove, if only to myself. I need to show myself I can still maintain a solid thirty days' worth of verbal chicanery. I fear that I've personally set the bar for myself very high when it comes to writing a solid entry I can be happy with, but only doing it every once in awhile...I need to bring that same focus and intensity now over the course of one calendar month. Can I live up to my past? Can I be engaging nearly constantly? Will I not embarrass myself? We'll see.

Just...don't call it a comeback. Now, let's get them words!

BCF PROMPT: "As this year closes pick one and tell us about it: Most exciting event, saddest event, happiest event, most surprising event, event that you wish you could change, and finally an event that you hope will happen but hasn't."

Well, 2013 is a year I'd mostly prefer to forget. Any year where half of it is given to walking around on one leg is probably worthy of skipping (no pun intended) over in anyone's personal history. Like every year, there were ups and downs...but I think as humans we generally remember the downs more so. They tend to stick greater, unless your ups were truly noteworthy. Marriage, having kids, promotions at work...those are all pretty high on life's ledger of plus-side experiences. Nobody puts "gaining a pronounced limp" on that list, even if it's one of the few things I did all year. If the "year in review" were graded on a curve, maybe then I'd feel alright about it. But that and an epic beard are about the only places I was able to show growth in this past year.

That's not to say this year was a total wash. I did reconnect with some family, and I'm finally dealing with some, ummm, for lack of a better way of saying it, mental health concerns. Life will never be the same in that respect, but in the grand scheme of things it's my opinion that life never should be the same. When it was, and it was great, I guess I was never really satisfied. Even when you fight and struggle to achieve a situation where you no longer have to fight or struggle, you're never immune from complacency. I had to lose everything again because I needed perspective, and she (perspective) isn't very understanding or forgiving. There's no "hey, you learned your lesson, here's your life back". That's not how it works. There has to be a new plan and a new identity, and it has to work. It has to work. There is no lower point anymore. Everything is above.

As for 2014, well, we still don't have flying cars like the Jetsons did (with apologies/a homage to Julie D - PUBLISHED! , please reference this: "This one's about what we should've had years ago." ). We have, instead, blankets with sleeves. We have all of the minor, more convenient miracles of life that society wastes millions of dollars on because we're led to believe we need them. Now, I'm not gonna swing the pendulum back to the extreme and say "Science will cure everything known to cause terminal illness!", and it's a nice thought to think, but let's be practical for just one second of my highly impractical existence. Being a dreamer and a realist is hard work; it taxes the mind and body more than you can imagine sometimes.

This coming year we'll see advances in technology, like Samsung's watch and Google Glass, or as I like to think of them, "more 'less pervasive' invasions of privacy". Like Dick Tracy, you'll be able to communicate through a timepiece. And the dumbest rich kids will suddenly know everything Google can teach them just by looking up, rather than having someone learn life for them. (I thoroughly enjoyed this article regarding Google Glass: http://www.esquire.com/features/google-glass-tests-1213)

Hey y'all, all I know is I want to be healthy, stay alive, lose some inches off the waistline I added during Crutchapaloozer earlier this past year, and get back into contributing to society in a way that satisfies you, me, and them (in certain, and undefinable ways). We won't always be happy, but we can't always be miserable either. And don't bet me on that last point...trust me.

MUSICAL BREAK!!

Oh, just a little grandstanding by your boy here.

THE DAILY BOX SCORE:

Yep...still takes me a hell of a long time to do this.

I hate it when Bills games get flexed over to the 4pm timeslot, especially when they have nothing to play for and are starting a QB that was an afterthought on a few other bad teams this season. Although I like the direction the Bills are heading, I'm thinking this last game will be no fun against New England. But I am looking forward to revisiting my NFL predictions soon (see: "This one's about your 2013 football preview." ). I haven't forgotten about that.

No hockey emoticon yet, but I received word that it's being worked on. I'm fully on board with whatever the SM says at this point regarding it...we've caused (in my opinion) too much havoc and unnecessary bs. It's one thing to stand up for what you believe in, another thing to follow through, and at the end feeling drained and curbed. I still have a bad taste in my mouth about the whole thing.

Don't forget to drop some names in the hat of the "The Quills" . THIS IS NOT CAMPAIGNING.

I scheduled an eye exam for next week. I'm putting that out here in hopes that I remember it, and reschedule other appointments around it.

And with that, I'm running out of patience and all the other stuff that comes along with doing this. Plus, I'm kinda hungry. So peace, Happy New Year/You/whatever you're down for, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!