Do people still make New Year's resolutions these days?  Somehow I completely neglected to have any conversations on this topic in early January.  Maybe I imagined that nothing new would be said and I'd just be subjected to the same old resolutions everyone makes:  health, relationships, money.

I did make a resolution although I can't remember if my mind was made up before the old year was out:  look for a new church to attend.  The way I word that phrase may be misleading - I don't currently attend a church but I'm looking for something new compared to all the ones I have attended.  This is no simple feat but I'm really working hard on it.  It's not simple, you see, because the church I want doesn't exist - a somewhat old fashioned Church of Christ congregation that won't try to throw rocks at me if and when they learn I'm gay.  I'm certainly going to have to make a compromise here and while the two paths are pretty clear, the research I have to do in order to choose a path is really slow.  The slowness of the process is for no other reason than that I can't really experience what a church is like unless I attend services on Sunday and I'm too lazy to attend more than one church in a day.

I prepared for my effort by doing online research and recording data in Google Notebook (which is working very well for me.)  I've found Wikipedia to be a very helpful source of information on many different Christian churches.  In particular, this article on the Restoration Movement has been great.  It's interesting to note that having grown up in a C of C family and attending a C of C university for two years, none of this information about the denomination's history was ever brought to my attention.

So far I've attended four different churches in the last four Sundays.  I have a list of around 20 congregations that might suit my needs and I'm basically going through them one by one to see what they're like. 

Some of you may be asking "What about MCC?" (The Metropolitan Community Church is a denomination founded on the principle of accepting and ministering to LGBT people.)  I attended the Austin MCC chapter for around two years in the '02 to '03 timeframe.  The experience really helped me a great deal but after a while the traditions of the denomination were just too different from what I grew up with and when I hadn't adapted after giving it a good long run, I stopped attending.  This, then, comes back to the struggle I'm experiencing:  do I go with an unfamiliar way of worship for the sake of being in a place where I'm accepted or do I go for the worship experience that works best for me knowing that I can't be out at church?

Health

I have been plagued with a number of gastrointestinal problems since I was in high school.  I've fought against ulcers, H. Pylori, gallstones, and other problems with some degree of success.  Now something new is going on and no one is sure what it is.  Last autumn a visit to the doctor returned a "wait and see" diagnosis but when things didn't improve, I returned last week for another consultation.  This time, a number of unpleasant procedures have been scheduled for the middle of March.  Not only is the middle of March the earliest they could see me but the earliest my boyfriend would be able to take me to the clinic and stay with me (due to spring break.)  I can't figure out why he has to stay with me during the procedure but I've confirmed that this is, indeed, a requirement.  Unless the news is too minor or the details are too ugly, I'll post the results when I get them.

Relationship

That same boyfriend mentioned in the previous paragraph will have been with me for 4 years as of this Thursday.  We currently celebrate the anniversary of the day we met.  We're working on getting reciprocal wills and power of attorney documents drawn up sometime soon which will allow us to be as close as possible to "married" as two guys can be in Texas.  We're not going to have a commitment ceremony or any other kind of wedding-like event but maybe one of these days there will be rings.  That's the one item I'm trying to get concessions on now - jewelry.  We've talked it over, it's complicated.

Work

I just passed my 13th anniversary with this company.  There's more to be said about work, for sure, but that'll do for now.

School

I'm still plodding away at Austin Community College with the end goal of getting a BA in Computer Science from Texas State University.  I don't really want this degree, but it should help my career.  What I really want is to get a photography degree from the new Art Institute of Austin which opened up their campus surprisingly close to where I work.  For now I'm pacifying myself with the idea that I'll do the computer science degree first then an art degree.  Oddly enough, the class I'm enrolled in this semester has nothing to do with computers or art, it's a Biology course.  I have a requirement for two semesters of "laboratory science" and this is my second one.  The professor for this section is nice and so far the lectures and labs have been a breeze.

Taxes

Went through Turbotax online again which worked fine.  Getting a refund which I will have to mainly spend on catching up on bills.