Why do today what you could put off until next year?

Yesterday, I awoke in a panic of all the things I had to do before the end of the year.

Like what? The Hubs asked.

Well... I wanted to finish the three books I had on the go so that I could get my final tally of books read this year up to 25, since I was currently sitting at 22 after finishing How to Be Good by Nick Hornby (good read!) a while ago. Other than that, well, I didn't know what else I wanted to do, but I felt like I should do more things on the final day of the year. Instead, I went to the golf dome and then ate some leftover turkey (although eating leftovers seems like an accomplishment, right?). Then, I thought, why not go to the mall. What bad can come of finishing the year off by shopping? I was looking for a new dayplanner, which I thought, would at least inspire me to write down all the things I would do the following day, on the first day of the year. And then I had an epiphany. I would get a new phone. I LOVE my phone. It's a Chocolate, and it's so cute, but pretty much sucks. Last Christmas I begged for it, and got it, and now wish I would've stuck with my no frills/no colour/no camera phone that actually rings when someone calls. But today, I thought, I will put up with it no longer (after saying for a year that I should actually take it to the Rogers store but never did). I would take care of this, once and for all. So I went to the Rogers kiosk, where the guy asked me what was wrong and I told him -- that the phone doesn't ring, only sporadically lets me know when there are messages, and my ear presses buttons randomly when I try to talk on it. To which he told me that if I'd come anytime this year, I could've gotten the phone fixed, but because I'd waited a whole year, the warranty had now expired. And I still had 2 years on the plan. Because of course, I signed up for the 3 year plan. But I looovoed the phone. I thought I'd love it in 3 years! What's 3 years, really? It seems like no time at all. How could I not love my Chocolate phone in 3 years? I'm such an idiot. The worst part is that because I wanted the Chocolate phone last year I had to pay to cancel my other cellphone plan a year early (because of course I thought I'd love THAT phone for 3 years too, but somehow I fell out of love with it, too). So now, my only options were to upgrade my phone for $250, which is so ridiculous. Apparently even if the phones under the glass say $99 that's only if you start a new plan, not if you want to trade in your phone midway through your plan. My other option was to buy a new phone and put the SIM card in it. I don't even understand how this works (how much does it cost to buy a phone? Isn't that what I'd be doing to upgrade or would it be even more?). So I went with option 3: Why do today what I could do next year? I mean, I put up with a phone that doesn't ring for one year, I figured I might as well put up with it for another year. And then, after that I'll just have one more year to go. So then I left the kiosk with my cute and crappy phone in hand and went and bought myself a pretty party dress to go on my new year's eve date and then I ate some candy because my new year's resolution is to not eat candy (at least, on a daily basis). So I figured I should at least have some before I go cold turkey.

So I didn't get a new phone, and I didn't finish reading any of the books that I started. But you know what I realized? When I DO finish reading those 3 books, I'll already be well on my way to my new goal for 2008, which is to read 36 books, or 3 a month. So, I guess the Hubs was right. There ARE some benefits to procrastinating until next year after all. It makes you feel even more accomplished!