Well, we’ve made it to the end of another right? Just about, anyway.

I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to a productive 2025. Right now I’m at the local public library sketching this post in the old-fashioned way, with pen and paper. Sometimes I get self-conscious about scribbling away out in public because no one seems to do so anymore; almost all writing – and reading for that matter – is done electronically these days.

I’m seated at a table in the library’s first-floor café, at a table at a remove from the glare of the sun coming through the big picture windows. In front of me are racks of winter coats (in an array of colors) that were donated to benefit the needy.

I am happy to report that, in starting to evaluate my past year, that I made progress on goals I set for myself. My problem has never been setting goals – I do so by the dozen – rather I fall short in doing the hard work of meeting them. This year I did much better in that regard.

Growing up I was a big creator of systems – perhaps one can put that down to my being a Virgo who loves order – and that remains the case today. In my teenage years I belonged to a Sea Cadet group and you should have seen the schedules and plans I devised for our Petty Officer’s Club: detailing the drafting of our newsletter, The Ranger Bulletin, to lesson plans for the younger cadets. Perhaps it goes without saying that I often found it hard to follow through on such machinations, but the attempts were sincere.

However I will also admit that I can chafe at too much regularity. I’m sure plenty of you can relate to that. What I find is that I establish routines – if not rituals – from time to time only to break them when they get boring. Then new ones crop up.

With my little company I have tried to maintain a high degree of consistency, however I see areas where I have slipped in recent years. I hope to make improvements in the New Year.

On a positive note, I made good on my intention to post on this blog once per month – and succeeded!

I’m sure you’ve all had your successes this year, both little and small. Let’s work to build upon those, best we can.