We have reached the final issue of the year once again. It barely feels like six months have passed since I wrote the column for the last issue of 2023.
That’s been a constant theme in my column this year…how quickly time has passed. I’ve been fascinated by this phenomenon of time going quicker as we age. I noted that 2023 was a typical year; it had its slow moments and days that went by before I really got to enjoy them. I imagine with the previous three years affected by Covid-19 in some way, that’s why time felt…normal.
But in 2024, I honestly can’t remember a time when there was a slow period. There were maybe a handful of days where I thought, “Why is the clock moving so slowly?” But life seems to be passing by at a record pace now. Where did all the time go?
Maybe being as busy as ever has filled up the days so much that it feels like there’s barely been time to do much else. In 2024, many things happened at the paper. We introduced a ton of new stuff, including our new website. It’s pretty much been my project for the paper this entire year. While there are many things we can improve, I think we’ve done pretty well with the site. We’ve been getting many views on stories, even hundreds on some.
We also decided to turn our special section for the senior classes into its own tabloid. It was fun to interview the four JWP seniors I did for it, which we chose based on their achievements throughout school. It will be much trickier to pick the seniors I will interview this school year. Not only are there over 70 students in this year’s graduating class at JWP (about 15-20 more than the typical class size), but so many of them are involved in several activities, sports, music, and other extracurriculars. I have about 20 in mind that I’d want to interview.
One of my main goals this year was to lose weight. While I lost about 15 pounds from the beginning of the year, that only scratched the surface of my goal. I have other issues that I will have to fix in 2025, such as my tendency to grab fast food instead of cooking at home; this is especially difficult when there are away games or meets I go to for JWP or St. Clair. Why wait nearly an hour to get home from Blooming Prairie and cook a meal when I can spend $10 or more at McDonald’s for a two-cheeseburger combo meal and eat that on the way home? Sure, if I cooked, I would have more control over what I put into my body, and I’d spend less money. But that’s not instantly satisfying!
I also wish we didn’t have so many artificial or processed foods right in your face. I know it’s our responsibility to choose the right foods to put in our bodies, but what if I just want to indulge in a Sprite?
At Chipotle, they sell Mexican Coca-Cola products in glass bottles. The Mexican versions of Coke and Sprite use cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. I got the Sprite on my most recent trip there, and it was the best-tasting Sprite I’ve ever had in my entire life. Why is this not a regular thing in America? Why do we get the inferior, worse-tasting, worse-for-us corn syrup version? I remember when Sierra Mist (which used real cane sugar) rebranded to Starry and started using high fructose corn syrup because it wanted to compete with Sprite. Congratulations. You took away a crisp, tasty lemon-lime soda and reinvented a worse Sprite.
I used my sickness in November as an excuse for being a bit lax with my diet and exercise. But the truth is that I barely had an appetite for most of my sickness and dropped down to 240 (I weighed about 250 before I got sick). When I was at 85 percent, I started eating bad food for me again. As I’m writing this (on December 10), I’m drinking a mini-donut flavored cream soda from Lift Bridge; it tastes as good as it sounds, but like most things that taste good, it’s not good for me.
I am usually pretty lazy, at least when it comes to myself. I’ll work and work for the paper or others, and that usually means self-improvement goes by the wayside. I’ll admit that going out in the Minnesota winter to work out at a gym is not the most appealing thing. But I’ve lived here for 26 years and chose to stay here. So, I have to suck it up and get over it.
But what I’m realizing is that all good things don’t come easy. Well, all things that are good for you. I can grab a 12-pack of Lift Bridge cream soda at Hy-Vee any time I want. But losing weight is a long-term practice. And I know that once I reach my goal, the real test will be to keep it off and stay disciplined. Life is Christianity in a nutshell: it’s easy to sin, but difficult to be a good person who follows God’s example.
So, as we all gather for Christmas, ring in the new year, and think about those “New Year’s Resolutions,” let’s make plans behind those resolutions and be okay with things not going according to those plans. Losing weight isn’t an exact science for anybody. It takes patience, sheer will, and confidence.
To cap off the final column of 2024, I’d like to say thanks to all the people I’ve interviewed, from the local pastors to all the businesses in Janesville and St. Clair. You all make this job fun to do. To everyone who’s stopped me to compliment us, you make this job worth it. And a special shoutout to the JWP students who keep shouting my name at sporting events. I don’t think I will ever, ever get used to it. The only thing I ask is that you cheer for your fellow Bulldogs with the same enthusiasm.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good 2025!