New Year’s Resolutions & Other Ramblings

Yet again proving that I am a fount of unoriginality, I’ve decided that today I would include a post about my New Year’s resolutions. Not that I’ve ever really been much of a resolutions kinda guy – making resolutions always seemed to be counter to my spontaneous “take it as it comes” nature. But perhaps by putting these goals and ideas in writing (and publishing on the ‘net for the world to see) I’ll have some added pressure to actually put some effort into them. Nothing terribly ground-breaking here, but here goes:

1. Pay better attention to my health, lose weight, eat better: yeah, yeah, I know these are the same resolutions half of the population is making, but I am genuinely disturbed about my health for the first time in 20 years. It’s time to start paying attention. Gym memberships should actually be used.

2. Become more financially responsible. Simply put, I’m tired of living paycheck to paycheck – especially since my own irresponsibility is the primary reason I find myself in that state.

3. Spend more time out and about. Granted, I’ve always been something of a homebody, but it’s ridiculous how little time I’ve spent in the past couple of years out having adventures. Last year I never actually had a trip to the beach, which is heresy in my mind. I’ve not made the most of the “New York experience” in my time here either. In ’07 I’ll make a point to enjoy the city and to also find time to get out and surf, rock climb, hike, ride and fish.

4. Allow my writing to become more personal. Whether that transfers to the hack writing I do in this blog, we’ll see. Regardless, I’ve let my creativity become less personal and more pedestrian – that has to stop.

5. Enjoy friends and loved ones more. Keep selfishness at bay.

Useless (Depressing?) Information About Sex

According to Tiresias, a prophet in Greek mythology, the woman gets nine times more pleasure than the man. Who gets the most pleasure out of sex--the man or the woman?

Scientifically speaking, your basic run-of-the-mill male and female orgasms are pretty similar. Kinsey, in particular, took pains to emphasize that "the anatomic structures which are most essential to sexual response and orgasm are nearly identical in the human female and male," and that "orgasm in the female matches orgasm of the male in every physiologic detail except for the fact that it occurs without ejaculation."

OK, now the bad news (for us guys, I mean). Masters and Johnson (1966), while conceding that male and female orgasm were usually pretty comparable, noted two important differences. The first is well known: women can have multiple orgasms without having to rest in between, as men do. This occurs in 10 to 15 percent of women regardless of age. Young men can have multiple orgasms within ten minutes or so, but this ability drops off sharply after age 30. Yup … sharply.

The second difference has been less publicized: women are capable of sustained orgasm, called status orgasmus. These orgasms may start with a 2-to-4-second "spastic contraction" and last 20 to 60 seconds all told--and if that isn't nine times the pleasure, it's definitely in the ballpark. Masters and Johnson published the chart for one woman who experienced a 43-second orgasm in which one can count at least 22 successive contractions.

Depressed? Hey, it gets worse. Status orgasmus is usually the result of self-stimulation, but a woman can also experience it at the hands (ahem … for example) of a suitably skilled lover.

Christmas in Sydney

Finally, for those of you who, like me, feel like you did at least one stupid thing this holiday season – rejoice! There’s at least one person in the world who made a bigger boo-boo:

BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- A 21-year-old German tourist who wanted to visit his girlfriend in the Australian metropolis Sydney landed 13,000 kilometers (8,077 miles) away near Sidney, Montana, after mistyping his destination on a flight booking Web site.

Dressed for the Australian summer in T-shirt and shorts, Tobi Gutt left Germany on Saturday for a four-week holiday.

Instead of arriving "down under", Gutt found himself on a different continent and bound for the chilly state of Montana.

"I did wonder but I didn't want to say anything," Gutt told the Bild newspaper. "I thought to myself, you can fly to Australia via the United States."

Gutt's airline ticket routed him via the U.S. city of Portland, Oregon, to Billings, Montana. Only as he was about to board a commuter flight to Sidney -- an oil town of about 5,000 people -- did he realize his mistake.

The hapless tourist, who had only a thin jacket to keep out the winter cold, spent three days in Billings airport before he was able to buy a new ticket to Australia with 600 euros in cash that his parents and friends sent over from Germany.

"I didn't notice the mistake as my son is usually good with computers," his mother, Sabine, told Reuters.