Forest Hills' New Year's Resolutions

Now that the champagne bottles are empty, the confetti has been swept up and the silly hats are stowed away deep in a closet, the reality of the new year is starting to set in. With that reality comes an age-old New Year's tradition: people resolving to change something about themselves.

The changing of the calendar is a traditional time to look back at the year and see what went well and what didn't; taking stock to see how you can improve for the year to come.

This annual period of reflection usually kick starts a wave of people coming up with resolutions to change their behavior, environment or situation with hopes that this year will be better than the last.

Along Queens Boulevard and Austin Street, this tradition is alive and well. While some Forest Hills residents said that they don't bother to make New Year's Resolutions, others were happy to share their goals for the new year.

One of the most common themes for New Year's Resolutions, weight-related goals, was repeated by a number of residents.

"What's my New Year's Resolution? To lose weight," said Dominic Rocco.

"Just to lose weight, isn't that everybody's?" asked Laurie Koffler. "Not to gain the ten pounds back that I lost last year."

In light of the economy, however, extra pounds weren't the only thing weighing on people's minds.

"Everybody says stay in shape, but I think I'm already pretty good there," said graduate student Aaron Owen. "Be better at my job, work harder."

Both Kiran Thapa and Raymond Irizarry hope that the new year will bring them better financial circumstances.

"I'm trying to get out of my debt. I have a huge bill that I pay every month," Thapa said. "If I can get out of that debt, that would be awesome."

For Irizarry, a penny saved is a penny earned.

"My New Year's resolution for the year is to cut down on my spending and save a lot of money," he said.

It's no surprise that more people are resolving to be more pennywise or work harder when the economic climate isn't particularly sunny.