These aren’t resolutions. I gave up on those a while back. Because seriously–I’m the same person at 12:01 a.m. on New Year’s Day that I was at 11:59 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. It’s not like I’m going to magically be able to suddenly accomplish all those things that have proved elusive for the first half century of my life.
That doesn’t mean, though, that there aren’t some things I’d like to do this year. There are, most definitely. And seeing as how I popped wide awake at 3 a.m. this morning–which means that life is going to be hellish after lunch today when I can hardly keep my eyes open–it seems as good a time as any to make a note of them.
So:
French. I took the equivalent of 2 years of French at university, and promptly forgot much of what I learned. Last year I purchased the Rosetta Stone French course, with a view to actually attempting to become fluent. Where is that course, you might ask? Why sitting on the bookshelf in my bedroom, unopened. So I’m going to spend a couple of hours a week working on French. I also got a French phrase a day calendar to help me along that front. Joe and I were talking about seeing if we can add a French channel to our cable line-up. That might be nice. Maybe listening to some of my favourite movies in French will happen. Maybe not. I don’t want to make a huge deal about it, but it’s something I want to incorporate into my life.
Creativity. I’ve felt hampered the last several years, creatively speaking. Getting off all those nasty creativity-suppressing bipolar meds helped, and I think I’m through the roughest part of learning how to deal with life unmedicated. I found a blog I adore called New Dress A Day, where the blogger turns the most ghastly thrift store finds imaginable into not only wearable, but often supremely cute clothes. Inspired by her blog, I operated on a couple of tee shirts, with less than desirable results. So I’ve been thinking maybe I’ll take a beginners sewing class. I’m not expecting to turn into a fashion designer, but maybe a little more knowledge will help me be able to create some supremely cute works of art myself. Then I’ve been into Pinterest, and found some great blogs where the bloggers test different pins with wildly varying results. That got me to thinking maybe I could try a pin a week or something, just for the fun of it. I probably have a hundred or more items pinned in my “To Try” board. So that could be fun. I think I’d like to just take random little courses here and there at craft shops or the community center, as things move me, just to keep things interesting.
Writing. After a long hiatus, I’m back to writing again. It’s not going as quickly as I could desire, but it is going. I need to make sure I continue making time for that, because it’s hugely important to me. My sister and I are working on a joint project, and then I’ve got some solo projects going on. I’d like to publish another book or two this year, if at all possible. And it is possible. If not, I’d at least like to hit the end of the year having fleshed out two manuscripts.
Work. Last year I nearly worked myself into the grave. I didn’t realize how much and how hard I was working until I stopped and looked around and saw that I’d done virtually nothing with friends and family because I was either at work, commuting to or from work, or recovering from having put in 50-60+ hours each week, with one memorable week of 73 hours. So I decided, at 4 this morning, that I am going to work less and play more. Right now it’s just not possible to get my job done in 8 hours a day. But maybe, once I’m caught up, i can do it in 9 hours a day. I don’t mind getting to work an hour early. That’s precious time, there, when the phones aren’t ringing and I can focus on what I need to do. But when 5 p.m. hits, I need to be out the door if at all possible.
Fitness. I’m going to continue my journey to health. I lost 62 pounds last year. My weight yesterday at Weight Watchers was 209.4 (it was 209 even at home, nekkid, but I could hardly strip that far down at work). My dream weight, for many years, has been 135. However, after seeing how comparatively small I am at my current weight, I think that goal may be too low. So for now, I’m tentatively setting it at 150 pounds. That means I have about 60 more pounds to lose. I asked for fitness related stuff for Christmas, and Santa (aka me) got me Zumba for my Wii, the dogs (aka me) got me a hip hop dance exercise dvd, Joe got me a bicycle helmet, and Liz and Elizabeth got me some nifty socks to wear when I go running. On MLK day I’m planning to go get my running shoes, and will start the couch to 5K program afterward. Excited and a little nervous. Definitely looking forward to it.
Travel. Imma take a cruise this year. I’ve been pondering it for a few years, ever since Liz started going on them, and decided this is my year. So in the autumn Liz, Elizabeth, Ro and I are hitting the ocean together. It’s going to be a blast. I’m also going to go to Utah in the spring. My mother can’t travel anymore, so if I want to see her, I have to go to Utah. Liz and I are going together, and we’re really looking forward to seeing all the family and friends. That’ll be fantastic. And if I can find a way to fit in one more vacation, I’d really like to go to New York City. Or the UK. Or, well, anywhere that’s not here. And there will be one beach trip to Galveston with Liz, because it just must be done, and it will be done before September 19th, as our fun yet excessively rainy weekend in 2013 showed us that it’s a bit late in the year to expect warmth and sunny beaches.
Finances. It’s rough right now; Joe got laid off last year, did some contract work, but is not working right now. I’m fully confident that he’ll be working again very soon, and we’ll be all right. I have an allowance out of my salary, and last year I frittered it away on clothes and shoes and handbags and makeup and books and movies and whatever else I felt like frittering it on. So I’m doing a few things differently this year. First of all, I’m doing that savings thing where you put one dollar away the first week, two dollars the second week, etc., until at the end of the year you have something like $1300. That’s going to be my Christmas fund. I bought the piggy bank yesterday and put the first week’s savings in it. Another thing is that I’m going to do my shopping with cash. I’ve read recently, and have experienced for myself, that it’s easier to not spend the money when it’s in cash. Somehow that idea that it’s plastic (even when it’s debit plastic) makes it easier to buy whatever piques my fancy. So for example when I go shopping on MLK day–because I need work clothes as well as running shoes–I’m going to set my budget ahead of time and take it out in cash. Then whatever I don’t spend in cash that day will go into my Dalek bank. My Dalek bank is where I put any left over cash at the end of the week, and the only thing that keeps the Dalek from exterminating my household is my feeding him with money. I’m such a geek. 🙂
So those are my thoughts about my not resolutions this year. I’ll be reporting back on my progress.
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