Random Photo Friday: No more WIRE hangers. EVERRRRR!!!!!

While I do have a remarkably random photo for today's post, I first have to introduce my equally wire-hanger-hating alter-ego with this outstanding and classic scene from Mommie Dearest:

Why does this come to mind? Because last night I was getting so bloody irritated that my closet is literally crammed full and it doesn't help that it's hardly a massive closet in the first place - none of that 300 ft. walk-in you see on all those HGTV house hunter shows where you can buy a mansion in the States for less than half of what a 4 sq.ft. manky broom-closet would cost in Vancouver. 

But what I hate most - the one thing that really annoys the hell out of me every single time - not just at home but anywhere, even when I'm looking at clothes in a store......is hangers! I hate, loathe and detest clothes hangers, especially wire hangers. I have a boundless hate-on for goddamn maddeningly irritating wire hangers, which is what's so eerily reminiscent (and oddly amusing) about the freakishly traumatic scene above, courtesy of Faye Dunaway (or Dun Fadeaway as my dad always called her) playing Joan Crawford. I hate hangers at the best of times, but give me those infuriating wire things and I want to start jabbing and poking eyes out, they are so immensely enervating! They get tangled, mangled, jammed and snarled on everything, usually while they're shredding a nice line through a silk blouse or ripping a whole in your favourite dress and hooking several other favourite garments into the mix.

So last night, as I endeavoured to trim down my closet and part with clothes I just don't seem to wear lately, wouldn't you know it - hangers of all shapes, sizes, materials and colours got stuck on one another, tangled, dangling and pulling, tugging and snagging on each other and everything else as I tried unhooking them from the closet rail. The slightest movement just seemed to drag several other items along! Aaarrgghhh!!!!

As useful as they may be, me and hangers share no love whatsoever. And when it comes to those hideously infuriating wire things, well let's just say, we should never, ever be left in a room together. I get all wound up just looking at them. Lorne ends up with a pile of them each month from getting his shirts laundered and it drove me nuts at the last house where we shared a closet and I swear those wire-monstrosities seemed to multiply! Thankfully we now have separate (equally tiny) closets, so I rarely have to see them anyway, but it's safe to say, as useful as hangers are, I really loathe and detest them - and when it comes to those downright AGGRAVATING wire beasts, let's just say, me and ol' Joan Crawford/Dun Fadeaway bear a striking resemblance. Even to the extent of pulling everything from the rails and throwing it like a wild woman into the air behind me. And believe me, PMS and battling unruly hangers is an especially potent mix! As a rule, I avoid tidying/rearranging anything in my closet until I'm home alone - because it seriously ain't pretty and no-one needs to witness that, not even the cats. Heck, even I don't want to be there. And last night was no exception and, in hindsight, perhaps the wrong time of the month to take on the closet. 

The Horrorrrrrr of Hangers.

But here's the funny - and oddly random coincidence. I was telling my friend, Denise, this morning about the whole hanger incident from the night previous, explaining my seething and vengeful wrath for hangers of any kind, especially wire ones, and even shared the above video clip with her to emphasize my point. Then I tried googling stock images of 'pile of coat hangers' that I could maybe use for this post, to emphasize my point.....

So imagine my surprise when Denise left to walk her dog at lunchtime and texts me this photo (above), saying 'thought of you'. Goooo figure! How bloody-well random is that? I mean seriously, what are the odds that I'd be getting myself all in a knot (again) sharing my vehement animosity and utter loathing for wire hangers and relating my general contempt for basically any given variety....and then she goes out for a short walk and comes across..... a pile of hangers! What the.....? And then sends me the photo, not knowing I'd actually been trying to dig up stock relevant images just a few hours earlier! Crazy, eh?

And so there you have it - today's wonderfully random photograph: The Horrroooorrrr of  Hangers!  comes courtesy of my good friend, Denise.

Of course this post wouldn't be complete without an image of the very bane of my existence and fodder for the above wonderfully dramatic scene in a rather psychotic display of 'motherhood'.  These things are currently terrorizing a corner of our bedroom, waiting for Lorne to donate them back to the cleaner when he next picks up his shirts.....which had better be soon!

Oh, and did I mention that I really, really, really HATE wire hangers? 

EVERRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

Random Photo Friday: Random act of . . . . .aggression?

Today's random photo is just that; a random photo of what sounds like a bizarre random incident.

I came across this intriguing note when I got off the bus last night - meticulously bound with oodles of packing tape onto three of the four lamp-posts at the crossing of Granville Street and West 7th Ave in Vancouver. Visible and weather-protected.

Quite the scene must have played out at that spot just the day previous. A huge over-reaction on both sides by the sounds of it.

At first glance I was struck by the aggressive undertone of the note but then I have to admit, I quietly admire this person's humility at trying to (publicly) make amends. Well, if you discount the middle few lines where the apology begins to waver somewhat - in fact those lines were blacked out by pen on one of the posters.

Clearly he (I'm assuming it was a he) really was in a dark place, auditions or not, and maybe the other person went a little over the top also, though I imagine I would too at the mention of throats being slit etc. But we all have sh*t going on, one way or another, and I'm sure we all act it out sometimes on those who had no intention of upsetting us, certainly not to the point we lash out like this person did anyway. We might unleash our own messed-up head without knowing or even considering the sh*t the other person might be going through at that time too. We all have a back-story, one way or another.

I have to wonder if the other person in this scenario was a tourist, perhaps European, given the mention of camera and man-purse. Well, I guess he got first-hand confirmation of the (fairly reliable) rumour that Vancouverites are pretty unfriendly. Your average person on the street here really does come across as if they couldn't give a shit about anyone but themselves, their cellphone and where to grab a Starbucks half-caf-triple-salchow-demi-macchiato-non-fat-low-carb-gluten-free-soy-latte on their way to yoga! But it doesn't mean we're all like that.

At the end of the day, the writer of this note admits they were in a bad headspace and something small triggered a huge and uncalled for level of retaliation for which I believe he/she genuinely feels bad. Even if they weren't entirely 100% to blame for the ugly scene that apparently unfolded on that street corner, they're at least admitting their part in an unfortunate event and are reaching out to say, 'Hey, sorry man - that was totally uncool and uncalled for.' I hope the other person sees (or hears about) this note and can move on too. No-one is ever too big or too old to apologize - or to accept an apology.

Peace!

Battling the Bulge

I know I've harped on in a couple of recent posts about having gained a few pounds and my frustrations at not being able to shift them, which - for years - has not really been an issue for me. A few extra workouts, a little tightening of my diet and any additional weight has quickly been burned off. Not this time though. All the usual tricks are not only failing to achieve their previous success, I appear to be fighting a losing battle. (If you'll excuse the pun.... or is it irony?)

Now I've never tried diet pills before, call me crazy but I've always preferred the (healthier) old-fashioned method of diet and exercise and that's been my reliable fail-safe for almost 20 years. Until recently. I don't know if it's down to age, or is it the daily dose of Tamoxifen (an estrogen-inhibitor that I started 14 months ago in follow-up to a minor surgery for breast cancer, and will take daily for a total of 5 years).

Late last year, already beginning to feel frustrated with a few pounds gained - (not least because I felt great when I lost about 7lbs earlier in the year for no real reason other than changing my workouts slightly) - I saw an online ad for 'Dr. Oz recommended' Garcinia Cambogia - a product that's rumoured to enhance weight loss even if you don't exercise or change your diet, as well as boosting serotonin levels and having other health benefits, all without any adverse effects. Wow, I'm not a fan/believer in Dr. Oz per se and I place very little faith in those 'eat as much as you like and no need to exercise' claims but hey, if that's for real with this product, then what's not to love? Or so I thought.

Without labouring over the details, let's just say I dutifully did my research and chased down the best reviews, best product and best price I could find for my first purchase of this so-called miracle fat-burner; making sure there were no binders/fillers, the Hydroxycitric Acid (HCA) was at least 50-60% etc. etc. And when I ordered my first bottle of pills (right) via Amazon, I diligently followed the dose and directions to the word.

I went on vacation for two weeks during that first set of pills and was pleased to find I didn't gain any weight while on holiday. Admittedly, I didn't lose any - but since I didn't gain any either, I was happy enough with that, so I continued taking them.

By the time I ran out of the first set (given there were only 90 and you have to take several capsules per day) I still hadn't noticed any weight loss so I decided to try a different brand. Once again, I did my research (willingly ignoring any nay-sayer reviews) and  came across a 50% HCA Garcinia Cambogia extract by Top Secret Nutrition (Below, left) which I bought over the counter at Vitamin World when Lorne and I did a quick shopping trip over the US border. Other than via Amazon.ca I don't think you can buy GC in Canada, or not in BC anyway.

If at first you don't succeed....try, try...and try again.

Once again I followed the dose religiously, even stepping it up a little after a couple of weeks, but still no change. Big, fat, hairy nada! (OK, maybe not the hairy part, but you get my drift.)

While doubt began to seriously sink in along with that sense of having allowed myself to be completely sucked into the hype, I decided I still wasn't going to give up, after all, there were many reviews that rave about this product, and it's not like I even have much weight to lose, surely it can't be that difficult (can it?). So I switched brands again and this time I asked for advice at Vitamin World (on another cross-border border trip) and was recommended Super Citrimax (above, center). I was obviously wearing a flashing neon "I'm a Sucker" sign on my forehead that day too, because the saleslady cleverly up-sold me by suggesting I should take Acetyl L-Carnitine supplement in combination with the Super Citrimax for maximum effect. "The Acetyl L-Carnitine helps burn fats and boost metabolism too," she said, "A lot of people take both products together." As I mentioned before, I unwittingly had sucker written all over me that day and I'm definitely not normally one for being up-sold - on anything - and I certainly felt the pinch when it came to paying for it all, but hey - I was also beginning to get panicked that I'd never get this weight off, or be able to stop the needle moving higher on up the bathroom scales.

Many more weeks went by and I religiously swallowed down my daily regimen of Super Citrimax and L-Carnitine tablets, continued my regular gym workouts and was eating less but - you guessed it - still no change!

Needless to say I was incredibly frustrated - in addition to being out of pocket and completely annoyed at myself - for being somewhat sceptical but nevertheless duped by all this Garcinia Cambogia hyperbolic claptrap. In the few weeks before Christmas, I came to the conclusion I was done with it all, I'd given it my best shot (in spite of my intuition telling me this would all prove to be a grand waste of time and money) and I decided quite adamantly that I would NOT be buying any more. Clearly the reviews that berate this stupid 'miracle remedy' are in fact the more credible ones. 



And then, while doing some of my Christmas-shopping through Amazon, I once again found myself drawn in by the prospect of a little pill that could, would and should. This time I found a much more reputable (or rather, well-reviewed) nutrition company who offered a better product - touting 65% HCA no less! That's right, the highest (and purest) concentration of HCA that I'd seen on any of the competing brands. And with a name like "Trusted Nutrients" amid labelling claims of "All Natural Fat Burner & Appetite Suppressant" accompanied by a bunch of positive reviews and high praise for the company's magnificent customer service, I was somewhat powerless (read too desperate) to resist. Furthermore, they advised just two tablets per day, making it a 90-day supply plus they'd halved their regular price and I would have it delivered by New Year. Within minutes I found myself hitting 'add to cart' and before you could say, "You know you're just wasting your money AGAIN you daft cow" I hit send and the order was in. Besides, it cleverly pushed me over the "spend over $25 and we'll ship for free" barrier with the couple of books I had in the same order (Excuses.... excuses...). So really, there was nothing to lose but the weight...... Right?

My order was waiting for me when I got back to work on January 2nd and, with my pants feeling noticeably stretched to their max across my expanded arse, I started taking the tablets right away!

And I've continued to take them just as advised, one capsule twice per day, 30-60mins before meals alongside an increasingly intensive workout regimen..... and.... continuing the overwhelming sense of déjà-vu....I've noticed NO change. Seriously! Nothing. Nowt. Rien. Nichts. Zippo. Zilch. Big, fat bugger all! Why oh why??

To say I'm increasingly frustrated would be an understatement. I'm completely choked, pissed off, irritated, perplexed, annoyed and downright grumpy about the whole frikkin' waste of time, effort and money! Over and over. The whole stupid idea has proved to be one fat loss, only the loss is NOT weight - or fat - related. At all!

So I decided to write this out for anyone who happens to hear about this useless product and its many, many 'miracle weight loss formula' versions of the same old sh*t, different pile.

In fact, while I could keep ranting, I happened to stumble across this simple article which sums it all up perfectly (and more politely) than I would. Of course I see this now, after my months (and hard-earned $$s) of wasted effort....but hey, if I can spare anyone else the nonsense of this over-marketed drivel that I clearly fell for, then hey, that's more money for you and less in the pockets of these hokey companies.

I can say with all honesty that I believe this whole Garcinia Cambogia hype is nothing but utter stuff n' nonsense - don't fall for it!!!

The only saving grace of my whole experience thus far is that Trusted Nutrients really are proving themselves to be worthy* of the positive reviews on their customer service and if you're still tempted to try GC, then I absolutely recommend you order it through them, directly or via Amazon. They've been incredibly helpful and supportive of my frustrations, have offered me a full refund (even though I get to keep the product) and are even shipping me a bottle of Raspberry Ketone (on the house!) to try alongside the GC! Apparently the two have been known to work better in tandem (hmmm there goes that sense of déjà-vu....all over again). (*On second thoughts, I take back this compliment about Trusted Nutrients - see my update post (Feb. 20) here.)

Anyhoooo, safe to say the fat lady ain't singing just yet. For the time being I'll continue with the GC I still have left over, I might as well anyway - and I'll certainly try the raspberry ketone with it, once it arrives. That aside, I'm researching ways to boost my workouts and hopefully get off this frustrating plateau and back to fitting into my regular clothes again. One thing's for sure, I can't afford to be buying a whole new wardrobe - not even at the local Sally Ann!

Random Photo Friday: Bursting at the seams



'Twould appear the universe is not only trying to tell me something but has now reached the point of being downright sarcastic!

While waiting for a bus recently I noticed the above tag lying right at my feet. Oh hardy bloody ha haaaa. Charmed, I'm sure, though it certainly sums up how I'm feeling lately, especially post-Christmas n'all. Actually it's more like an overweight old bag, but let's just address one thing at a time.

Two weeks in and several heavy-duty workouts later and I'm still pushing outwards against the seams of my clothes - and this in spite of eating less, drinking less and 2 x 1,000mg of (65% HCA) Garcinia Cambogia per day! What the f...? When did it become so difficult to shift a few pounds? Normally a week back at the gym and I'm good. Two weeks and it's like Christmas never happened. Well, that's how it used to be anyway - but it certainly isn't the case this year, which is what concerned me even before the holidays, when my weight seemed to be mysteriously creeping upwards.

I know it's not about 'weight' per se, since it's normal to have fluctuations of up to 7lbs within any given day. And, having been much healthier and fitter for the past 20 years or so, I've tended to go mostly by how I feel and how my clothes are fitting rather than by what the scales might tell me - which has rarely made me feel good anyway. But that's what bothers me, my clothes continue to feel a little too tight for comfort despite the fact I'm doing all the things that would usually work to the contrary. (Usually being for years - up until about last November.) And I'm still hovering around the 138 - 140lbs mark - i.e. a good 7-10lbs over the weight I've maintained for at least the past 15 years.

I'm beginning to struggle with what to pull from my closet in the mornings and have even taken to wearing the looser-fitting clothes I bought when I first started taking Tamoxifen, in preparation for the weight gain I was told would be quite likely. (Funny how the opposite seemed to be true for those first several months, ho-hum.) Problem is, even those clothes aren't nearly so 'loose' anymore :-(

So yeah, today's picture sums up perfectly how I'm feeling. (sigh)



New Year, New Specs, a New(ish) Do and a New Weight (yikes!)

Well, I had hoped that I'd be kicking off the New Year with a wild and amazing first post, choc-full of profound wisdom, sage contemplations and exciting aspirations for the year ahead. And so I waited...... and waited.... and.... here were are, ten days in already, and I've still got nuthin'. Nada. Big fat diddley squat! Lucky I wasn't holding my breath.

Christmas is done and packed away, except for (too much) remaining chocolate, I'm back at work, back at the gym and whaddya know, things are ticking over just the same as they were in 2013. It's hard to contain my underwhelming enthusiasm really. Gees, I haven't even managed to come up with any pics for my Random Photo Fridays the past 2 weeks either.

So, while I continue to hope for some enlightenment and dazzling inspiration for 2014, I figured I'd blather about a couple of things that are new with me. Well, new-ish anyway.

Nine months ago I decided to try a new hairstylist - Sonia - who'd apparently replaced my previous guy at a salon I've been to a few times before. I'm always horribly nervous and skeptical of trying someone new and, while Sonia was very lovely, interesting to talk to and took a really long time over my hair, I left the salon quite distraught (inwardly anyway). Clearly Sonia had somehow confused a 2" trim with a rather dramatic 7" chop. My past-shoulder-length hair was suddenly about jaw-length, the shortest it'd been in four years and, quite honestly, I was not impressed. In fact I was really upset. I'd said 2 inches, indicated exactly where I wanted the length and at no point in our conversation and my showing her a couple of styles I'd picked out was there ever any discussion to the contrary. And it wasn't just a case of taking an extra inch - she took off seven!! I suspected she was going a little short but tried to trust her and figured she must just be doing a few shorter layers underneath etc., especially because my hair's so thick n'all. Wrong!

Let's just say I was still so choked about it the next day that I decided to call the salon and give my feedback, undeniably upset and with my voice breaking as I tried to explain. Thankfully they were very sympathetic and offered to have someone else fix it or a free cut with a different stylist if I'd give them another chance. I pointed out there wasn't enough hair left to 'fix' and it wasn't that Sonia had given me a bad haircut per se, just a much...much...shorter one than was ever discussed. Had I planned to get a full 7" cut off, I would've gone in there armed with a bunch of images and ideas of the new style I was wanting. I went in for a trim and came out with a CHOP!

Suffice to say it was a full 6 months before I needed to go back and in that time, I have to admit the style actually turned out quite nice, I got a lot of compliments on it and it even kept a nice shape as it grew out. So I updated my initial review on Yelp and in September, still cautious about giving Sonia another try, particularly since she might be p*ssed off at me for the feedback and the review I'd left on Yelp, I saw a different stylist for my freebie. Besides, you really don't want someone who's mad at you going anywhere near your hair armed with scissors or a razor! Noooo thank you! That'd be like p*ssing off your dentist then inviting him to drill your teeth.

Anyhow, I felt it was more of a tidy-up trim which was fine except it soon lost its shape and, after deliberating for a couple of months about whether to just go back and see Sonia again, I decided to take the plunge. I was nervous as hell but she seemed fine, lovely in fact, and I even mentioned that my hair had 'ended up quite a bit shorter than I intended' the last time I'd seen her. But this time I had a few images of what sort of style I wanted and she picked out the one that was actually my favourite too.

Although neither of us mentioned the Yelp write-up, Sonia was noticeably cautious in checking and double-checking that I was 'absolutely sure' I wanted to go as 'short' as the picture, i.e. collar-length, in view of how I'd felt the last time. But it's such a lovely style (plus the model has the same hair colour as me, even if I don't have her good looks) that I went for it and I was really happy with how it turned out even if I can't yet seem to get it to look quite like it does in the photograph, or if I do it's destroyed the moment I leave home, thanks to Vancouver's damp weather. Mind you, I generally prefer any new haircut after about 4-6 weeks, once it's settled down, so we'll see in a couple more weeks but on the whole I'm quite happy with it, I believe Sonia and I have re-bonded and hopefully I'm safe to go back to her again. That said, it probably won't be for a while because a) I've decided to grow it a little longer again and b) it costs close to $90! (Unlike Lorne who can get a great haircut for just $20! Men always get the better deal on these things, it's so ridiculously unfair and sexist!)

Once I had the new do, it was time to get new specs, not least because my eyesight has certainly deteriorated this past year (this aging thing sucks) and also because Lorne's annual medical benefits still had money available which will otherwise run out after 12 months.

I'm far-sighted and have only ever needed glasses for reading/computer and, as I mentioned the last time I got new specs, I've always tended towards discreet, safe and unremarkable (read relatively plain) styles. Although I distinctly remember that, when I got my last pair (April 2011) I felt they were actually pretty trendy and I was proud to have gone a little outside my usual comfort-zone.

I thought the new frames (right) were a trendy departure
from the safety of my usual 'blendy-blendy'  frames.

Interestingly enough a few weeks ago, when I asked Lorne if he thought I should get new frames, he went on and on about why the current pair are awful, too big for my face, too rectangular, too weird at the sides..... Yikes, steady on - I had no idea he felt so strongly about them. (Mind you, I only really wear them at work, so he hadn't been exposed to their apparent horr-orrrrr very much. Who knew they were so offensive.) So with that unfiltered, no-holds-barred confirmation that it's definitely time for a new - trendier - pair, I went shopping....everywhere! What a royal pain in the arse glasses-shopping is. I must've tried on at least 100 pairs at 7 different places and was feeling completely exasperated by the whole thing. For the first - okay second - time in my life I was prepared to go beyond the confines of my usual comfort zone and yet all I could find were boring frames, frames too heavy and dark for my face, or totally hipster styles....funky but better on someone half my age. I don't want to look old and fuddy-duddy, but I'm not aiming for the 22 year-old student-look either.

Very tempting but the price wasn't nearly as attractive.

I initially fell in love with this pair (right) but not their $475 price tag! At least I think it was this pair - the colours looked fabulous on me (purple-indigo and royal blue) - but the saleswoman wouldn't give me the name/model number or let me take a photo - too afraid that I'd run off with the info and shop elsewhere. "I'll just write it on your file for when you come back." Ha! Having done some online digging since then, I found out they're Mizyake Couture style #4643.

So I trudged around several more places and, just as I was starting to give up on the whole idea, I tried one last store - Tru-Valu Optical, where the incredibly helpful Fred quickly picked out a pair for me - also Mizyake no less - and, despite still trying on just about all the other frames in the store, the Mizyake pair kept coming out tops - and, at $300 total, considerably cheaper too. Done deal!

The greenish colour works really well with my hair and eye-colour, also green (my eyes that is not my hair) and the shape is just right, not too narrow but not owl-like either.

Mizyake MZ4312, Forest

Oooh fancy laser etching on the sides.
Right posh is that :-)

They actually don't look that great in this photo thanks
in large part to my big nose and dull 'I'm just staying
home today' attire.

Ugh, the above photo is neither a good example of my haircut nor my glasses - and my schnozz looks massive. In real life my new glasses are similar to the style worn in every conceivable colour by Kathleen Robertson, who plays Kitty O'Neill in the dark and intriguing (but now cancelled) drama "Boss". Anyway, I'm quite happy with my new specs even if they do look surprisingly (ie disappointingly) non-descript in the photo. I'm sure they look better in real life, she wrote, trying blame it on just another bad Iphone pic. But that's enough boring banter on the subject....

As for the new weight.....well, it seems I outdid myself this year. Despite not going seriously overboard with festive indulgence, exercising some restraint on hoovering my way through the choccies, mince pies, chips and other such treats and going to the gym FOUR times over the holidays, I still managed to inflate by about 6lbs - right up to 140lbs, the heaviest I've been in.....about 15yrs! Un-bloody-believable and downright un-bleedin'-fair given that I didn't even go as mad this Christmas as I have in Christmasses past and was diligent enough to work out several times. What the F....????? I feel so cheated. And hitting that ominous 140 mark was quite the shocker, let me tell you - especially considering this time last year my weight was dropping to below 130! Almost a full stone. (Why do we brits talk about our weight in 'stones'?)

Of course, in the grand scheme of things and life n' such, I am fully aware that gaining 6lbs over Christmas is really no big deal. But try telling that to my jeans - stretching their seams across my somewhat widened derrière - and the love-handles and bubble-bum that are making my trousers suddenly look an inch too short. (Interesting how the hem of your pants rises in direct proportion to the inches gained on your bum/hips?) Heck, it's been tough deciding what to wear for work....or rather what fits!

Naturally I've weighed myself on about 4 different sets of scales in hope the news would be less demoralizing but there ain't no escaping it. Just like everybody else - I've gained a few pounds but while they're talking about their New Year diet plans etc. I don't get to be nearly so pleased with myself this year, feeling all smug that I only gained 1 or 2lbs. Bah bloody humbug, I say!

So it's back to the gym, cutting down on the booze and treats (Baileys really is not conducive to a slimmer waistline) and I've resorted to trying a different brand of Garcinia Cambogia that I ordered off Amazon in time for New Year (yeah me and a gazillion others, I'm sure). I've never tried any kind of diet pills in my life but this slowly upward-creeping weight/size thing is really starting to bother me and, while GC is actually a health supplement, it's primarily touted for it's 'alleged' weight loss properties. I've tried 3 or 4 different brands over the past few months and have not noticed any difference, so this is definitely my last attempt. Even I have to admit I've likely just been totally suckered in by the hype but hey, I figured it was worth a try. Maybe. Anyhow, I'll give my final verdict in the weeks ahead.

In the meantime, I'll still endeavour to gather my thoughts and perspectives on how to make this a great year.

Happy New Year!