High Spirits/Old Nonsense

Well it's that time again. (Actually it's . . . a month and a half late? I actually wrote this on time but then waited to post it until I had pictures. Which I still don't have. Oh well.)

In 2012, I . . .

Bought and moved into a house
Moved forward in earnest on getting a dog
Ate well, if not always wisely
Transitioned to a new position at work that is more interesting and more challenging
Went to Hawaii!
Road tripped through Tennessee
Traveled to WVA, Pittsburgh, Vegas, and San Fran (x 2)
Turned 30
Drank
Saw some good plays
Read not enough books (seriously a shamefully low number, in the 20s, some kind of lit fan I am)
Watched a LOT of movies, good and bad
Saw some great shows
Celebrated 6 years together with E
Dyed my hair pink
Hit my all-time highest weight (yeesh)
Dabbled in biking to work


Resolutions from last year that I more or less accomplished:

Read more in general (Still far behind the curve but could be doing worse. Book club love!)
Record my dreams more frequently (Hurrah! Lucid dreaming, you are my bitch. Sometimes.)
Write in private journal more (Hurrah! The trick is: Google Drive.)
Move to a bigger place, preferably one we own, preferably with a yard (Hurrah! The yard is not big but it is fenced. The house is pretty big for what we need and it is pretty nice except for when the jerk basement leaks. You should come visit!)
Get a dog (Okay we're only 90% of the way there but that's an A in most school districts.)
Floss (Hurrah! The trick is: Read a magazine while flossing.)
Drink more water (Hurrah! The trick is: it must be hot. Hello, nice to meet you, I am your asian/jewish grandmother.)

Resolutions from last year that I didn't quite get to:

Read Ulysses (I did get a copy of the book! Let's call that half credit - which is still an F. Try, try again.)
Meditate more/take a meditation class (Try, try again.)
Blog more regularly, if not more frequently (Try, try again.)
Improve aerobic fitness (Started strong but then made up for it with a long slide. Try, try again.)
Find & go to a new dentist (Okay I bailed on the dentist like an idiot but I DID floss a lot more, see above)
Beat Portal 1 and 2 (Try, try again)


And then there were the monthly projects. 

I will rate these on Nathan Rabin's My Year of Flops scale of Failure, Fiasco or Secret Success (in this case the successes are secret because the gains/lessons learned tended to kinda evaporate in the ensuing months).

January	Veganism	Secret Success	Veganism wasn't that bad. And I have mostly stuck to only eating meat whose origins I know and approve of. With the occasional exception of Popeyes. GOD I LOVE POPEYES SO MUCH.
February	Meditation	Failure	Sigh.
March	30 Day Shred	Secret Success	Felt slightly more shredded for a little while. Tortured the downstairs neighbors only a little bit.
April	Running	Secret Success	Two 5Ks down! (3 if you count the Color Run). Could be better but could be worse! New crunching noise from knee: slightly worrisome.
May	Moving?	Secret Success/   Total Cop-Out	Well it happened but it's not so much a project really as an all-consuming life event. Let's never do that again.
June	No TV	Secret Success	TV I hate you. No, I love you. Come back.
July	No Social Networking	Secret Success	Listen, I am never going to be Good At Twitter.
August	Um, Nothing?	Failure	Siiiiiiiiigh.
September	Daily Journaling	Fiasco	Made it four days.
October	Rocktober	Fiasco	Completed 1 out of 5 concert reviews. Posted zero monthly mixes. Guitar unobtained.
November	Nothing, Part 2: Revenge of the Unmotivated and Disorganized	Failure	November was really busy, okay? Or something?
December	750 Words	Fiasco	Didn't even make it past Day 1.

So, what do I learn from this evaluation? I am terrible at writing-based projects. I always think that putting deadlines and pressure on myself will make me write more. In an academic context that does work for me, but when it comes to recreational writing the pressure to produce just makes me writing-averse and then guilty. No more specific writing projects! Write when I feel inspired, and when I have time. Write more when I have more inspiration and time, and don't beat myself up when I have less.

On the other hand, I am pretty okay at externally-oriented projects such as those related to exercise, eating, and media consumption. And I occasionally even get some long-term use out of those experiments. So, while I don't have any new ones queued up for 2013, I am not opposed to them in general. Hitting the reset button every now and then on a specific behavior is not a terrible thing, if it moves me slightly toward a general goal.


In 2013 I'd like to . . .

Train our dog not to be a jerk
Take E to Europe
Blog and journal when I want to
Manage my workload at my job
Eat dinner at the dinner table (not in front of the TV)
Actually finish a few crafts
Go swimming at the Rec Center
Reach out more to friends and to acquaintances who I'd like to be friends
Contemplate the possibility of non-dog dependents
Read Ulysses
Beat Portal 1 & 2
Love my body the way it is, and make it stronger in the ways I can
Keep working on my little daily life rituals (making the bed, bedtimes, dishes, etc.)
Wear contacts more
Develop some legitimate opinions about wine
Get some tall black boots
Groundhog Day at Punxsutawney!

Frame this quote for my wall:

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely, and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. 

~ James Elliot Cabot, quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson