New Year’s Eve has come and gone.  It’s a time when many of us declare some New Year’s resolutions.  This post is kinda about New Year’s resolutionsons but maybe more about wishes.  

Frankly, these wishes / resolutions include zero plans. Yet, hope springs eternal.  Let’s plow on. 

My primary wish / resolution for the year 2026 is to win the Powerball. The plan is to donate a small portion to charity which would make me a minor hero of sorts. Of course it would have the additional benefit of  reducing my taxes.  Money can’t buy happiness, however, since I’m already happy, why not also be rich. 

The next wish / resolution is to achieve world peace.  Pretty much everyone, including me, is in favor of world peace.  Since most everyone is on the same page, my guess is world peace should be easy.  Those greedy war mongers who oppose world peace can go to hell, which is where they belong.

Another wish / resolution is to lose about thirty percent of my body weight. All I need to do is completely change pretty much everything about myself including becoming younger.  Being younger would make doing lots of exercise easier.  Subsisting on twelve calories a day seems reasonable. 

No joke on this one. A good friend has dementia.   I miss joking around and so much more.  I continue to hope and pray for a miracle that somehow he comes back to us.  Wishes and hopes count for this post. 

This New Year’s resolution is to  encourage the younger generations to get well educated.  It may or may not help them get a better job. However, it really will help with their self-esteem and confidence. Learning is inherently a good thing.  Writing this, by the way, is doing my part to encourage folks to get educated.  Aren’t I a great person? 

My New Year’s wish is that the world climate crisis gets solved.  To be clear, I’m enjoying the generally warmer winters in Minnesota . So, at least in Minnesota, let’s keep the generally warmer winters part of climate change.   While we are at it could the summers be between sixty- seven  and eighty-two degrees with relatively low humidity.  Throw in moderate amounts of rain only between midnight and five a.m. with no periods of extended drought. 

My next New Year’s resolution is “they”, whoever they are, figure out how to actually prevent cancer so that there is no cancer needing to be cured. In the meantime, I wish the whole cancer thing could be easily detected and treated.  That would be nice.   

My next New Year’s resolution, a real resolution, is to write a post about the extremely rich getting richer at the expense of the less rich who are getting poorer.  It’s kinda nerdy, however, I think it’s an interesting story.  There are a few very rich people who actually own a large portion of the wealth here in America. 

My next New Year’s wish / resolution is that all of the main sports teams in Minnesota win most of their games. Please, it would really help my mental health.  I don’t mind if the games are close, however, winning those games would be better. 

Another New Year’s wish / resolution is that kids and their parents feel safe enough that young kids could play unsupervised outside for extended periods of time. There is no substitute for pretending you’re fighting the pirates and hanging around in the fort that you think nobody knows about. Except, of course, your parents know where to find you when it is time for supper. 

My next New Year’s resolution is to limit my use of artificial intelligence.  AI can be handy, however the downsides are steep. Huge amounts of power are required. Most of the things I do, don’t require lots of intelligence. Clearing snow off the driveway, boiling some shrimp or listening to sixties rock don’t require artificial intelligence.  My day to day life does not require a super brain. 

One of my more realistic New Year’s resolutions is to listen to more music and to listen more intentionally. For example,  I’m currently listening to all Taylor Swift’s albums in order.  She is a very good songwriter. Her stuff is ringing true so far.  Next up will be all of Bob Dylan’s albums. 

Another New Year’s resolution is to smile more often.  My plan is to be the weirdo who smiles at random people and says “hello, hope you are having a nice day”. Then just walk on.   They may think I have issues however, at least they will smile and nod.  Getting people to smile and nod seems worth the effort.

Obviously, it is hard to imagine that many of my New Year’s wishes / resolutions will come true. Yet I continue to have hope.  Every once in a while I actually buy a Powerball ticket.  I cheer on our teams.  I limit my use of AI.  I listen to more music  and try to smile and interact with people more.  I continue to try my hardest not to continually complain about the weather.  The weather is what it is. 

The thing I try the hardest to do is maybe my most important New Year’s resolution. I resolve to continue to do my best to be generally happy and content.  In addition, I resolve to do my best to not be a jerk or an asshole.

I am, at heart, not a particularly religious person, however I do like this part of the serenity prayer:  “accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”  Hope is a good thing. Have a wonderful 2026 one and all. 

The closer you look the more you know.