Earlier this year I actually went on a date. Several to be honest, but my after four dates she just disappeared. Fortunately she didn’t feel the need to tell me about my failings like other women did after three or four dates and I was spared some of my usual humiliation.

Even after just four dates I was more despondent than normal and this made me think that I needed to change things around in my life. Nothing drastic as I’m too old for too much drama and also require a stable job with health insurance to stay on the right side of the turf, but something had to change. So I quit the gym that I’d been going to five times a week for years and deleted everyone from my Facebook account though this hurt nobody but myself.

I joined 24-hour Fitness and found that to be a crowded mess. I also applied for entry to an expensive athletic club in my neighborhood, one that I swore I’d never join (just being on the wait list cost me several thousand dollars). I also ended up working some late hours because I had nowhere else to go. I also joined a local Judo club, where I got hurt and had to decide whether the risk was worth it.

Oddly enough, things worked out pretty well. I’m taking Judo slowly because I’m an injury-prone old man, but I’m enjoying it quite a bit. I even earned a promotion that I’m working at living up to and I’m also trying Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, something I was avoiding for years. Working longer hours paid off and things are going smoothly at work (as smoothly as can be expected). And I made it onto the wait-list and in a couple of years I may be able to pay a lot of money to see what the inside of the expensive athletic club looks like.

At least things are a little different, kind of interesting, and looking up. I hope your year was just as good (those four people who might read this.)