G’day folks! Welcome to the start of a brand new year. Did we all have a happy holiday season or what? I’m pretty sure I did, but more on that later.

2011 is now upon us and as we all know the first week of January is where we usually start (and end) our New Year’s fitness resolutions. People have been coming up to me all week inquiring what my New Year’s resolutions are and, after a few stumbled over replies, I’ve finally nailed a decent response:

To do the shit I should be doing!

That’s right, I went there.

How many of us say, “This year, this year, is going to be different,” then end up doing the same crap over and over again? I’m definitely one of those people. For some reason I throw out the well documented history of the saying things and doing nothing that goes on every year and actually believe this is the year I can finally stick to my goals.

Well, I’m here to let you know that it’s a fact that this year is going to be different because this year, unlike last year, I’m completely and fully serious.

Isn’t it true that we are all of us our own worst enemy? The only thing we need to really stick to our goals is to stop fucking around and, you know, stick to our goals!

Since early January, while I awaited the re-opening of the grotto, my girlfriend has been motivating me (with her big left boot) to workout at home with her using our treadmill, Ab ball and free weights. I can honestly say the three day theory of fitness is real. If you’ve never heard that expression before, let me explain:

Basically, if you work out and make healthier food choices for three straight days, you’ll start feeling better and actually want to keep going. Getting in shape becomes serious business. You begin to actually look forward to keeping your body healthy and you start feeling results.
That being said, if you don’t work out and if you don’t make wise food choices for three days straight, you’re pretty much a goner. And you start feeling sluggish and guilty, which lead to junk food and laziness. Why work out when I can fuck around on Facebook and eat chips?

The good side is you can always start again, but you’ll always look back and think: how good would I have looked by now if I just kept this up in the first place?

I’ve worked out the past week at home and at the grotto when it opened this week, and I gotta tell you guys I feel great! What a difference a week in the right direction can make. I feel so much better now than I did a week ago, with my ungodly holiday season hangover firmly in the rearview mirror.

Let’s flashback to that for a moment shall we?

Being from Australia (and usually having summer for Christmas), the Manitoba winter, even after six years of being here, is still completely awesome to me. I love the way the snow looks, I love Christmas cartoons, and, as I discovered this holiday season, I love eggnog!

My best mate Steve moved to Vancouver a couple of years ago and he has been raving to be about eggnog for some time now. So my ever-thoughtful girlfriend stocked up on eggnog and spiced rum and on Dec. 1 the sweet noggy excellence hit my lips for the first time.

From then on things get a bit hazy for me.

I remember sitting on some dudes lap that I hope to god was Santa.

I remember playing NBA 2K11 through a whole 82 game season, only to be swept by Oklahoma in the playoffs, which somehow caused my controller to launch out of my hands directly at the 40 inch flat screen TV.

I remember something about not getting my Christmas bonus — which I was going to use to buy the family a swimming pool — so my crazy cousin Eddie kidnapped my boss.

As January kicked in the haze slowly started to fade away and objects appeared less fuzzy than they had for a long, long time. I awoke and stumbled out of bed, my body fully feeling the effects of an indulgent holiday break. My girlfriend had only one thing to say to me:

“You’re banned from eggnog!”

I’ll be seeing you folks at the grotto for free week this week. As you probably can tell, I badly need it.

Until next time!