As New Year’s Eve steadily approached, stores started to fill with different variations of black and gold 2012 headbands and endless amounts of plates and napkins donning the “Happy New Year!” slogan. Television channels were swamped with New Year’s Eve themed episodes with the estranged man and woman miraculously finding each other for a kiss as the clock struck midnight.
With the holidays recently over and New Year’s hype buzzing throughout the world, Staples students were faced with the closest thing they had to homework this break: coming up with New Year’s resolutions. But for some people, these resolutions were broken before Mayor Bloomberg and Lady Gaga’s shocking midnight kiss was even over.
Ending the caffeine resolution
While some people resolve to cut back on spending money and some try to cut back on binge eating, Haley Garrison ’13 is cutting a different consumption: coffee. Since her freshman year, Garrison has been drinking two cups of Dunkin Donuts iced coffee or French vanilla Green Mountain coffee a day.
“I’m always exhausted in the morning so I drink coffee to wake me up and give me some energy for the rest of the day. The amount I drink of it isn’t a lot but it’s a really good pick-me-up,” Garrison said.
In order to be successful, Garrison realized that she would need an alternate plan to make sure she isn’t tired throughout the school days. Part of her resolution is to go to bed earlier, a natural fix to school-morning exhaustion.
“I didn’t drink any coffee for a few days but once I got back to school, I had to have coffee in the mornings. Waking up at 6 a.m. after 10 days of sleeping late made it impossible to start my resolution,” Garrison said.
Despite not starting to implement her resolution immediately, Garrison believes she will be able to do it. She said that her more realistic resolution is to cut back on her coffee, rather than cutting it out of her diet completely.
Hitting the gym for a buffer body
Working out daily is a resolution common to many people, including Alec Maki ’13. He stated his sole reason for making his resolution to go to The Edge every day as “getting my six-pack on for summer and being more of a chick magnet.”
Maki’s parents were really supportive from the moment he conceived this resolution, which they demonstrated by giving him a membership to The Edge for Christmas. Despite his parents believing in him, Maki didn’t think he would succeed even when he first chose this as his resolution.
“Honestly, two to three times a week is much more realistic for me. I have never been able to keep my resolutions. One year it was to be nice to my sister but that worked for less than a day,” Maki said.
So far, Maki did not keep his either his “extreme” resolution or his “more realistic” one. In the week following winter break, Maki did not go to The Edge once. Given his past failed resolutions, Maki is not too surprised.
“I knew I wouldn’t be able to follow through completely, but I’m definitely going to start going more once midterms are over and school isn’t as crazy. I’m a little disappointed in myself because I thought this would be the first year I actually stuck to my resolutions,” Maki said.
With a new subscription to the gym and a determined attitude to attain a more muscular build, Maki is hopeful about fulfilling his resolution before the summer- so he can show off his “beach body.”
Self-improving in the new year
Many students go for the generic resolutions. There’s eating healthier, watching less TV, getting better grades, volunteering more often- and that’s just to start. However, this year, Jon Wormser ’12 resolution digs a little deeper: to stop having “anger blackouts.”
“My main issue in 2011 was that a typical high school fight with a friend would quickly turn sour because I would suffer from something I like to call an ‘anger blackout,’” Wormser said. “I’ve defined it as when an individual gets extremely angry says things that are extremely rude to hurt another individual’s feelings and a few days later forgets what they said.”
Wormser is hoping that in 2012 he will not be as mean when in the middle of a fight. He plans on doing so by holding in some of his thoughts and concentrating on the problem rather than using low blows and insecurities to hurt people.
“The problem is not that big of a deal so I don’t think I’ll refer to purchase any self-help books or watch any Dr. Phil,” Wormser said.
During the week following break, Wormser got into a mild fight with a friend and did have a little bit of an “anger blackout,” though he said it was definitely not as bad as most of the ones he has had in the past.
“My resolutions have generally failed but I have no regrets in life. It’s rare that people actually follow through with theirs,” Wormser said.
Joining the ranks of Rachael Ray and Wolfgang Puck
Rebecca Finell ’13 has many hobbies. She dances ballet, has travelled to Paris, is devoted to fashion, and sings in Staples’ own choir. One hobby she has never had is cooking. However, this year her resolution is to acquire that as her next big hobby.
“I have always loved watching ‘The Martha Stewart Show’ and ‘Julie and Julia’ is one of my favorite movies, so I thought it was about time I started cooking,” Finell said.
Finell’s goal is not as vague as just cooking. In fact, it’s as specific as cooking a different meal each day, each varying in the ethnic background of the food. She said she wanted to make Pad Thai, a Thai noodle dish, and Crème Brulee, a French custard dessert, for her first meal.
Despite her determination, Finell ended up breaking her resolution within the week. “I just didn’t realize how hard it would be to fit that into my schedule since I have so much dance and homework to do. When I came up with it, I was so excited that I didn’t realize how unrealistic it was,” Finell said.
Even though Finell’s large number of hobbies makes it impossible for her to carry out her resolution, she hopes to use her excitement and enthusiasm to turn cooking into her next hobby— even if it’s only making an ethnic dinner once a month.
A fizz-less success
Molly O’Shea ’14 decided that this would be the year she would finally fulfill a resolution she has wanted to for several years already: not drinking any soda— except for ginger ale.
“I can easily give up all soda except for ginger ale. I just love ginger ale too much, and I could never even imagine giving that up,” O’Shea said.
O’Shea has two reasons for giving up her soda-drinking habit. She says that its health effects and tooth damage are two very big drawbacks from drinking soda and that discovering them made her want to give up soda for good.
“Everyone knows that soda rots teeth, and I like my teeth too much to do that to them. Also, I just want to be healthy,” she said.
Unlike most of her fellow schoolmates, O’Shea has not broken her resolution. Since New Year’s Eve, she has not had one sip of any kind of soda— of course, except for ginger ale. O’Shea plans on keeping this resolution for at least the next five years.
