The Alibi's New Year's Guide

The end is upon us, but it's not here yet. The wrapping paper is still piled on the floor, and there's enough turkey in the freezer to feed a family of six for weeks. It's been a stressful year, topped with a maddening holiday season, but, finally, 2005 is on its last legs.

A reference guide

Once the partying is done and the hangovers cured, the guilt starts to set in. The daunting realization that it's the beginning of another year—a year you promised to make better than the last. To make this compact, clip-out New Year's Resolutions Guide as productive as possible, here's a bit of preliminary advice.

1) Your resolution should be something you have control over. Don't resolve to win the lottery. That's a wish, not a resolution.

2) Tell yourself you can accomplish your goal. It may sound silly, but part of doing something is believing you can do it.

3) Don't be afraid to ask for help. You are not alone in your battle. Find support groups, talk to your loved ones and seek out others with the same goals.

All right, here's a random, obviously incomplete list of organizations you might consider contacting to help make 2006 a successful new year.

New Mexico Sports and Wellness
858-1785

Designer Bodies Personal Training and Nutrition Management
899-1700

Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute (TVI)
224-3000

Yamaha Music School
293-5698

24-Hour Addictions Referral Network
(800) 577-4393

LovinSpoonfuls: A Cooking School
292-3657

Financial Freedom of New Mexico, Inc.
889-9346

Arthur Murray School of Dancing
296-6112

Alcoholics Anonymous
266-1900

Toastmasters International
(888) 259-4235

Albuquerque School of Fine Arts
856-5159

Kays All Swim School
255-7946

Hypnotherapy Associates
296-1898

Career Enrichment Center
247-3658

Numbers you need to know to get your sorry butt home and out of trouble

Albuquerque Cab Co.
883-4888

Yellow Cab Co.
247-8888

A Fantasy Limousine
833-5466

Downtown Action Team
243-2230

AAA Bail Bonds
262-4222

Tattoos Erased
323-4033

Dent Express
255-1018

Pop-A-Lock
242-4550

Mr. Plumber
994-4444

Your antidote to a dull New Year's Eve

Party games are fun for moderately sized groups, and are a good way to integrate and transform regular old drinking, eating, conversation and funny hats into end-of-the-year entertainment. Most of these games are—or are derived from—old parlor games and were attained from my new favorite website, wikipedia.org (thanks, wikipedia!). Happy New Year and watch out for falling ammunition.