Sort of. Work with me here. The timing of the holiday is such that this is the last Sexy Friday of the year of our Lord 2017.

And yeah, go fuck yourselves with that CE crap. Taking away the religious angle, the commonly accepted chronology is based on the estimated birth of Christ.  We are also well into the Hebrew year 5778 but you don’t see that on a calendar.

Holy shit.  I stand corrected.

We are also about to start Buddhist year 2561.  Which is exactly 543 ahead of the Gregorian calendar, so still based on the same commonly-accepted reference date.  Anyway, I will concede that we should be using BC (Before Christ) and AC (After Christ) instead of AD.  AD made sense when people spoke Latin and that hasn’t happened since the days of Spartacus.

Did I mention this was Sexy Friday? You may have also noticed that this is Balls, not tWBS.  I have taken over today’s Sexy Friday post as our esteemed colleague, tWBS, needs a break from looking up hot women for your pleasure.  I felt bad for him so I decided I would take today’s post.

For today’s theme, I have chosen to let you in on a Balls annual tradition: The Balls’ New Year Resolutions Challenge.

Until my friends moved away to different parts of the country, we would gather together the week before the New Year at a bar and write down all the things we were going to do/accomplish in the new year.  There were rewards as well as punishments laid out as incentives.  We all signed and then set about accomplishing the tasks.

It was actually a highly effective thing as, while we never completed every single thing on our lists, it encouraged us to try to better ourselves.  I like to think it worked.

So, I share these resolutions with you, my imaginary Internet friends.  Keep in mind that these resolutions are in line with what my friends and I used to do.

TO THE LIST!

#1 – Read a book for pleasure

To the readers among us, reading ONE book seems like a simple thing.  In fact, my friends and I would challenge ourselves to read several.  As you get older, though, and time moves faster, it is harder and harder to find the time to read.  So, my challenge this year is to read one complete book (more than 250 pages) during the calendar year.

#2- Travel to a place I’ve never been

For some of us, this is more difficult than others (looking in Dok’s direction) as we may have already traveled to a lot of places.  For others, it may be difficult because of money or work/school obligations.  Regardless, travel is a worthy pursuit that opens up our eyes and enriches the human experience. You don’t have to go far.  Just go somewhere you haven’t been before and experience new people and places.  It’s worth it.

#3 – Have a new sexual experience

It doesn’t matter whether you currently have a partner or not.  There are always new things to do/try.  Heck, maybe finding a new partner will count!  In any case, the mantra of Sexy Friday is that sex is a good thing to be enjoyed and beauty is found everywhere and should be appreciated in all its forms.  So, whether you like black,

Asian,

Latino,

White,

or any combination thereof,

you should try to celebrate the beauty around us.

#4 – Give back

This could mean volunteering, donating to charity, or participating in a fundraising event. I myself run an event that benefits homeless children.  It doesn’t take much effort and the money raised goes to a good cause.  We all have causes important to us (Don T and the people of Puerto Rico come immediately to mind), so it doesn’t matter who you give your time and/or money to, just give.

#5 – Learn a new skill

It can be anything.  You can learn how to drive a manual car.  You can learn useful phrases in a foreign language.  You can learn how to play an instrument.  It doesn’t matter.  One of the greatest things you can instill in people is the desire to be life-long learners.  You are never too old to learn new things.  It keeps your mind fresh and your personality more interesting.

***

So, there you have it.  5 out of 5 should not be too hard, right?  If we are all here by this time next year, I’ll follow up and let you know how I did.

I hope you all are able to join in and achieve some of these for yourselves or create your own resolutions. Feel free to publicly challenge yourselves in the comments!