New Year’s Eve, 2017 is here and if you’re heading to Times Square in New York City, bring a double set of long johns because it’s going be six degrees. I hear witnessing the crystal ball drop in NYC
Today we say good-bye to 2017. Tomorrow is a new day, a new year and I’m looking forward to seeing what 2018 will bring us.
The holidays have just about wrapped up and on Tuesday, it’s back to work and reality will sink in once again. That week between Christmas and the New Year becomes a blur. During that week, you don’t feel like working, every day is like a Saturday and half the time, you don’t even know what time it is.
So many of us look towards a new year for that fresh clean start, especially if the previous year wasn’t the best.
What makes us believe a new year will result in a new you?
Starting over is obviously psychological of course, because what is so different about today that will be different tomorrow? Nothing. It’s just a way that we can reset our mind. For example, you want to start a diet and it’s Wednesday and you tell yourself you will start the diet on Monday. Mondays are like January 1 except there’s about 52 fresh starts per year.
Speaking of dieting, all the diet specialty companies like Jenny Craig, Weightwatchers, etc., focus on their target market for the month of January for that simple reason that people want to start over in January.
Local gyms do the same by offering specials if you sign up the first month of the year.
If your aim is to look better and feel better, good luck and I hope you can accomplish your goal.
Personally, I’m no different than the rest of you. I’ve always looked at January 1 as a fresh start; it could be getting fit, it could be a new job, a new relationship, or just a new attitude.
There are many reasons why you’d want to start fresh. It’s possible you lost a loved one, or you got out of a relationship or you had an illness that you’d look towards a new year.
I know a few people that are just happy they made it through another year.
This week, area municipalities and school board will have swear-in ceremonies creating new governments.
Folks like Michael Lombardo (Pittston) and Denise Adams (Exeter) will be taking over the helm in their perspective towns as mayor this week. Michael is doing another go-around while Denise is a first time mayor. Good luck to Mike and Denise as well as other area officials, both veterans and newbies.
To me, January means the real start of winter and boy is it coming in with a furry. It’s way too cold for my liking. A few columns ago I said it wasn’t going to be a pleasant winter and I hope I’m wrong, but a friend called me Punxsutony Phil.
I’ve been writing a Greater Pittston column since 1999 and since 1999, I’ve probably complained about winter a million times and you’ll be happy to know I still hate winter and will continue to whine.
Trust me, the next eight to 10 weeks will be awful for me. It makes me wonder why my ancestors didn’t settle in South Carolina or Florida for that matter?
Even if we get through a decent winter, I don’t want another blizzard in March like we had last year. It took three days for the borough to get to my street. I remember high school sports being in jeopardy from getting their seasons off the ground due to snow, wet grounds.
Speaking of jeopardy, I want to congratulate Eileen Palmer for her recent appearance on the syndicated game show, Jeopardy with Alex Trebek. I think anyone that’s ever known Eileen knew she would eventually end up on the show.
Eileen is a retired Wyoming Area Chemistry teacher and one of the jobs she had was getting students ready for bowl competitions for many, many years. She became a walking encyclopedia.
She was actually in the lead at each of the first two breaks and was ahead going into final Jeopardy. At the commercial, I was hoping the final Jeopardy question would have been on science, but that didn’t happen. In one of those rare situations, none of the contestants had the correct answer and unfortunately Eileen wagered a bit too much and the guy who sat in last place the entire show ended up winning. Go figure.
I can tell you, knowing Eileen for as long as I have, she was just thrilled being there. She could barely wipe the smirk off of her face. I never witnessed a Jeopardy player that looked so happy.
Eileen did end up taking home $2,000 and a bunch of great memories. She had Facebook a buzz when she first hinted that she was going to appear. She wouldn’t say for sure if she was going to be on the show, but again, anyone that knows Eileen doesn’t joke about Jeopardy.
Eileen, I can safely say that all of your friends, colleagues and former students were thrilled for you and you represented yourself and all of us well. Next up for Eileen, The Price is Right! Not really, I tease, but I’m sure it’s not the last we’ll see our Miss Palmer.
Quote of the week
“The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue rowing as long as we live.” – Mortimer Adler, American philosopher.
Thought of the week
“A conservative is a man who just sits and thinks, mostly sits.” – Woodrow Wilson, 28th US president.
Bumper sticker
“Chance favors the prepared mind.” – Louis Pasteur, French chemist.
