Blackfork's Real Top-10 New Years Resolutions.

I'll straighten this out for all you youngsters given my lofty status as a double-distinguished shooter of doetags and a certified veteran of 60 years of riding the planet around the Sun. Kids, this is what your resolutions for 2012 OUGHT to be. Period.

For 2012, in order.

1. Resolution # Uno: Live through the year. Everything else hinges on this. Come cancer, heartbreak, diabetes, death of sig/other, peasantry, shingles, et. Buckle that seat belt, put extra mags and a water bottle in the car and be determined to live through the year. You can't tell WHEN exactly but there will be a test.

2. Notice: Just notice what is happening in front of your face as well as inside you, in your imagination, in your mind-talk. Notice. Otherwise you are a piece of furniture.

3. Pay your own way: Nobody does it for you, you have to do it for yourself.

4. Let go: Give stuff away or sell it. DON'T buy something on purpose. Reduce the pile of American stuff. Let people go as well to be as they are. Shake free of some of those attachments. Like the fellow giving Breda an M1 Carbine, give someone an unexpected gift.

5. Don't let go: Love your old knife, old rifle, stack of books, internet, photo of yourself in the first grade. Love the stuff of life that you DON'T let go. Love your job, your hunting blind, your cutting board in your lovely kitchen. Reality and the universe is MADE of stuff. Love and relish the sensation of the fabric of life from flowers to the skin of your significant other.

5. Do something: Pick out a goal and actually DO it. Might be time to run that 10K or Marathon. Anything worth doing is worth doing...even badly. Make a list of difficult stuff and check it twice.

6. Care about something besides your own appetite. Even if it's the dog, have some direct fondness and responsibility for someone else.

7. Buy a piece of art that costs more than 200.00. Put it in your living space as a reflector of your creative self and imagination. If it doesn't resonate enough, sell it and buy one that does.

8. Have a real friend. At least one person with whom you can let the mask come off completely. I'm talking audible gas. You aren't in the universe alone.

9. Prepare for the end: Nobody gets out alive so don't count on number Uno up above. Write a will and realize the clock is ticking.

Have a HAPPY 2012......if the lord lets you live! If he doesn't, well, there's always that.

Updated: Yes I know there are only nine of the top ten. You've got a secret, don't you? Fill in the blank.