Hello, my name is Steve and this is my first blog! I am writing this blog for many reasons, but primarily to prove to myself that I can do it. This is my first official post on the internet, other than any comments that I may have written on a Facebook page under the protective umbrella of my friends and family. Therefore, I am officially out there somewhere in cyberspace as a target for anyone who wants to take a shot. My hopes in writing this blog will be to provide an opportunity for me to learn about the people who share my interests. My interests have changed over the years and even though I am still interested in competing in things like team sports, rock bands, and driving fast cars, I find that it has become just a little bit more difficult to do because of arthritis in your knees, prescribed medications that make you less coordinated, and basically the fact that I may be getting more than middle-aged (if there is such a term).

I find that I now have a little more time to do the things I wanted to do when I was younger, but seem to lack the energy to do them , now that I am older. I hope that makes sense. ( I'm really not senile, yet...I don't think).

Anyway, getting back to the purpose of this blog... there are some things that I wanted to do and may have started with a bang, but ended up unfinished. Just like you may have some things that you wanted to have completed by the time you were thirty, and were pushed back until forty and then something happened in your life and now you may be fifty and these projects or plans are either unimportant, less of a priorty, or just not going to happen. I am not talking about some get-rich scheme or "if I only won the lottery" ideas here. I won't be referring to any of those things in this blog. I also won't be participating in any of the so called "Bucket List" ideas, as noted from the movie with the same title. I am not a dare-devil, just a regular guy who would like to finish some of the things that he has started in his life and may be inspiration to helping others get off their own buckets to do the same.

I'm talking about things like taking a class, maybe teaching a class, eating a new food for the first time, going on a real diet, joining a gym, learning to play a musical instrument, participating in a 5k, and maybe even writing your own blog. These things are feasible, don't require a great deal of money, and are possible at most any age. These are things that I have tried, some I'm still doing, and others I plan to get involved with.

I find that finishing projects helps bring a sense of satisfaction and calmness to my life and I then can look forward to completing my next task at hand. Let me give you an example of a friend that told me that he looked around his house to see all the things he started and hadn't finished and how he felt unsatisfied and unhappy. So he declared that he would start this morning before leaving his house to set off and complete his unfinished business. He finished off a bottle of merlot, a bottle of tequilla, a package of Oreos, the remainder of his old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos, and a bag of marshmallows. He then exclaimed to me, "You have no idea of how freaking good I feel right now!"

Well, that may not be the way we all want to finish things off, but it sure was a start for my friend.

Sometimes I think the reasons, why alot of us don't finish things we may have started fall under a couple of assumptions. One assumption may be that we are afraid of finishing the task because then we are accountable for the results and noone likes to be judged or look bad. So if we don't finish, we don't have to worry about the failure. Another assumption may be that we don't finish because we really enjoy the ride. Sometimes the anticipation of starting something new is more exciting than the actual process of doing it. We may become disenchanted with the task and less inspired to continue. I am hoping to avoid both of these assumptions with reporting my results and progress through this blog. Hopefully, this blog will help me maintain the confidence to continue with my personal pursuits and make me believe in Steve.