A Belated Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all! Hope everybody had a good Festivus, Christmas, Hanukkah, or whatever you wish to call the event of "spending three to five days with family members you regularly try to avoid."

Yeah, you all know what I'm talking about; the family clichés are true. We hang around with family members and other people we barely know and attempt an air of civility and false modesty.

Everybody has that one family member who finds solace in misery. They grab the proverbial megaphone and wax philosophic -- to a crowded, uncomfortable dinner table -- their pains, issues, wants, dislikes, and ailments. All you can do is sit there, smile, and act like you're listening...

The positives were sprawling, though. It was decent to spend a little time with my immediate family -- the folks, brother, and daughter. I haven't spent Christmas with my four-year-old since 2001/2, so this time of year was easier with her around.

Everybody asks me about my New Year's Resolution. I say fuck it; why make one? Why not many? Here's a sample of a few I've already broken.

1) Cut down my daily intake of a fifth of Jack Daniels to a pint.

2) Lose weight. Lose weight. Lose weight.

3) Quit being a wuss and send out a script to one of them Prodco's in Hollywood.

4) Write more. Write more. Write more.

5) Quit dropping currency on bad habits.

6) Quit smoking cigarettes. (Read #5)

7) Finally quit my filthy crack cocaine habit. (Read #5)

8) Keep on top of the spec market: what sells, what doesn’t sell, who's buying what, etc.

9) Actually talk to the cute Russian girl working the counter at the local gas station.

10) Create better themes for my screenplays.

11) Read more screenplays.

12) Blog more.