Still here
Have no fear...I'm not giving up on this. There are many things that are easy to let slip away after some time, e.g. diets, diaries, New Year's resolutions. Isn't it remarkable that we keep attempting these things that seem to falter year after year? Determination or idiocy, I'm not sure, but we should at least get better with each attempt or else the answer is quite clear.
One of my anticipated alterations is a physical transformation, not quite as drastic as Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis; rather, slightly more practical. My goal is to shed a few layers of insulation (really not all that critical in Minnesota) while toning and bulking. Not that I've ever been a spectacle of obesity or weakness, but I fear that lack of attention over time might lead to either or both of these.
People are so concerned about how much money they make and how much they are able to sock away in a plethora of investments: 401(k)'s, Roth IRA's, 529 College Plans, stocks/bonds, and real estate, in order to establish a whopping sum of money that they can tap into during their supposed "golden years" so that they can afford an extra round of golf, one more winter in the land of elderhostels (read AZ and FL), or lifetime renewal subscriptions to TV Guide and National Enquirer.
Whatever people may envision for the use of their retirement egg, few people seem to grasp the concept that a retirement "kitty" is only beneficial to you if you're healthy enough to use it. The key underlying concept there is that you have to live long enough to take advantage of your hard-earned savings or else you might as well have wined and dined a little more extravagantly while you were able to enjoy the extra dough. With heart disease reigning as the #1 killer in the US, it seems logical that physical fitness should be just as much a priority in life as opening a savings account or shopping for a bargain on car insurance. Feeling satisfied with a sale price on Twinkies is now hilarious on many levels.