View from the Cheap Seats is kind of an extension of the newsroom. Whenever our three regular reporters, Calvin Daniels, Thom Barker and Randy Brenzen are in the building together, it is frequently a site of heated debate. This week: Are you making any New Year’s resolutions?
Definition please?
When you write a weekly column such as this one, there are some weeks the subject just seems obligatory. The week of Christmas lends itself to the question of gifts, Grey Cup week begs for predictions and, of course, New Year’s brings about resolutions.
I sometimes wish we weren’t such slaves to the format, because I get sick of trying to come up with new ways to talk about how I don’t make resolutions, at least not in the traditional sense of resolving to do something differently in the coming year.
I may very well end up making resolutions on New Year’s, however. Perhaps I will have to analyze a complex notion into simpler ones.
Or maybe I will be playing a chord progression on my guitar that goes from dissonance to consonance.
There’s always a possibility that there could be a meeting of the Cricket Association and we will vote on a formal expression of opinion, will or intent.
Perhaps I will be suffering from a some kind of pathological state, which will subside in the new year.
Maybe I will be at a point in writing a literary work in which the chief dramatic complication is worked out.
When I look at it that way, I may have been too hasty stating I don’t make resolutions.
- Thom Barker
Hobby driven
So we are about to flip the calendar on another new year.
If I had one wish for the new year it would be to slow down the years passing as quickly as they seem to be doing now that I am in my 50s, but since that isn’t likely, I’ll try to offer up a few other resolutions, recognizing they often seemed doomed to failure the minute they are put to print.
As regular readers of this publication will know I have rather varied interests, and generally my resolutions touch upon that diversity.
As an avid game player I really would love to see more opportunities to play board games in the community.
An example, I recently came upon a website (www.winnipegtablehockeyleague.com), and was intrigued that people played rod hockey so competitively. I suspect most guys at least, have played the game at some point in their lives and a weekly league January to April sounds like a lot of fun to help the winter pass. Anyone want to help get a league going?
Fishing is up next.
For the last couple of years I have wanted to catfish in the Winnipeg area, and bass fish around Estevan. Maybe 2016 is the year I drop things and get to it.
Then there is disc golf.
The new year is going to be busy in that area of my life as the interim chair of the new Parkland Association of Disc Golf.
There are courses coming on stream in the area I have promised to help design.
A tournament series is being planned and I am looking forward to many of the events already, a ‘birdie bash’ in Springside and a first run in Birtle, MB., likely the first events on the schedule.
But I also want to make a pilgrimage of sorts to play the course in Watrous, the first in the province. That is a definite must do in the new year.
So wish me luck, it promises to be a busy 2016.
- Calvin Daniels
Following through
Well it’s that time of the year again. The time where all of us look in the mirror and decide what we’d like to change about ourselves, make a list of it and then say that we’ll make the changes only to last about a month before giving up on it and falling back to our regular routine.
Or is that just me? I’ll admit, I’ve done that in years past. It’s sad, it’s embarrassing, but it’s true.
Anyway, there are a few things I’d like to put on my New Year’s Resolution list. The biggest thing is something that I’ve failed to do last year and the year before last and that is I’d like to lose, oh, let’s say a small child (that is, 45 or 50 pounds).
The second thing on the list goes hand-in-hand with the first one; I’d like to increase my veggie intake while cutting down my fast food/junk food/pop intake… so essentially I’d like to make myself extremely unhappy, but for a good cause (not dying early).
The third and final thing on the list is something that, while it doesn’t affect body or mind, is ultimately extremely important: I’d like to save more money and get a bit of a cushion in the old bank account which, come to think about it, is also affected by the whole junk food thing. After all, cutting down on garbage food should allow for more cash in the wallet.
So all in all, I’ve got three big things to work on and it will definitely take an entire year to achieve; but unlike previous years, this time I’ll follow through.
- Randy Brenzen
