Inspector Bucket
January 6, 2023

In the 2005 BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Bleak House," Police Inspector 
Bucket, who is trying to catch a murderer, says "Sometimes you have to do 
something to make something else happen."

In the past few days, the phrase has taken on a new meaning for me. Like a lot
of people, I make New Year's resolutions; or rather, I try to get myself 
to actually follow through on the resolutions I've made several times before: 
eat better, get more exercise, write more, use the internet less. Every year 
starts out with success but inevitably decays into previous bad habits.

The new meaning of Inspector Bucket's quote came to me on New Year's eve, after 
I said it to my wife (we like to quote lines from movies and shows at each 
other) and realized that if I wanted to have a different year, especially in 
terms of habits, I'd have to take different actions. I'd have to _do_ something--
something different-- if I wanted _something other_ than the usual to happen. 
The same old, same old would just get me the same disappointing results.

So this year, I'm going to try doing things differently when it comes to the 
good habits I want to build. I don't necessarily know yet what I'll have to do 
to build them, but I _do_ know that if I don't change what I've been doing in 
the past, I'll get the same results I've had for the past few years. This is 
going to be a year of experiment. And like all experiments, some bound to fail. 
But whatever I do, it won't be what I did in the past. I'm going to do something
to make something else happen.

(c) 2023 Andrew Gudgel
email: contact [at] andrewgudgel [dot] com