I've never really done the typical New Year's Resolutions thing.

Being the nice Jewish girl that I am, I consider Rosh Hoshanah, the Jewish New Year celebrated every fall, as the annual marker of my own life cycles. And then I'm mostly just praying to be inscribed in the Book of Life for another 365 days.

I make resolutions based on my experiences. After a bad romance I say, "Never doing that again..." After I see a tear-jerking commercial from a long distance phone company, I call my grandfather.

After a year of hard work in a homophobic workplace, I resolved to be out at my next job (as long as it didn't threaten life, limb and employment). And I was out with a vengeance. I became the authority on everything gay. I educated myself, regularly stockpiling texts from the local GLBiTrans bookshop. Nothing vaguely homosexual escaped my glance. Co-workers consulted me on the proper terms of referral to persons of the queer persuasion. I became the confidante to all who had ever harbored a same-sex thought in their existence. Being the only lesbian in the workplace became a burden. I resolved just to be myself at my next job.

And that's what I did. Relaxed and honest in the workplace, I casually talked about my girlfriend just as everyone else did about their own significant others. And it was good. I resolved to stay the course.

My resolutions evolve as I do, put into words the lessons I've learned, and give me a guide to the kind of person I want to grow up to be.

I resolve to get my columns in on time this year.