Happy New Year! I have already exercised today and am presently writing, so if I can manage to read my bible and floss before midnight, I will have successfully carried out my goals for the first day of the year. Just 364 more days to go…

I stopped making resolutions several years back due to the fact that I never could muster the resolve to see them through. I’m not holding out hopes that this year will be different in that regard, therefore I’m not making resolutions; I’m just making some goals. People may not realize the slight nuance here, but (legally speaking) unachieved goals do not carry the weighty disappointment of unachieved resolutions. Therefore, by setting goals instead of resolutions, I leave myself a comfortable loophole through which I may graciously excuse myself, if necessary.

All of this is not to say that I am planning to fail, but that there may be days when, oh say, flossing just doesn’t make the priority list. And life is entirely too short to feel guilty about not flossing. So, while I will do my best to make dental health a priority in 2003, I’m not going to sweat it too much.