Top 5 New Year's Resolutions

At the risk of being really cliche, I thought we should do a resolution list since it is a brand new year. Plus, it’s good to have goals and I need something to fill the next 8 months of my life ...

Honorable Mention: Watch More Movies - With all the year-end movie lists going around, I realized that I don’t watch nearly enough movies. Nor do I make use of my Netflix account in any way that makes the monthly payments worthwhile. I’m also sick of having to say “Oh, yeah I haven’t seen that yet, but I really want to,” in conversations — so really this resolution is about saving face. Aiming high would be 2 movies a week, a realistic goal is one.

5) Exercise - If the basic premise of this list wasn’t cliche enough to being with, this is a pretty cliche resolution to start with, but a good one to have nonetheless. I don't have a weight goal in mind, I think I'm pretty much going to be where I'm at from here on out; I’m really more concerned with being more healthy, fit and toned. I also spent $60 on that work out video (which I actually like), so I should really make use of it. I'd also include in this resolution dancing more on my own (outside of class), which will keep my basic skills and choreographies sharp.

4) Clean regularly, in general, and my garage, in particular - Cleaning and organizing the garage was something I had aimed to have done during the summer ... so much for that. It's amazing how quickly things pile up. Other than the garage, I run a pretty tight ship at my place, but lately things have gotten a little slovenly with the holidays and traveling (not that that's an excuse since I don't have a job or classes to take up my time ... how DO I fill my days??). So after getting things to an acceptable level of clean, I'm resolved to keep it that way the whole year through. This means developing and actually sticking to a cleaning schedule. The idea is that if I do a little often (i.e. every week), then I won't have one massive job to do all at once because someone is coming to visit or people are coming over for dinner, etc.

3) Reduce My Carbon Footprint - I’ve been trying to do this for a while now, but without a specific plan. So I guess I want to do it more methodically, which I suppose would mean, firstly, doing a carbon audit and setting a reduction goal. (Mother Jones suggested in their recent issue that everyone try to reduce their carbon footprint by 22%, which seems reasonable, but that might be because that number doesn’t mean anything substantive to me and I’m not good with numbers ...). This is a pretty nondescript so far, so here are three things in particular I'm planning to do in addition to a carbon footprint audit and setting a reduction goal: 1) Bike More, Drive Less - once I get a bike rack and side baskets, I can start biking to my groceries; 2) Eat Right - by joining the local grocery co-op - something that also requires the bike rack; 3)

2) Stay in Touch with Family - Visiting family made me realize how little I stay in touch with them, which is sad in today's world of technology and even more sad given that I am constantly wired (even more so now with this new handy-dandy iPhone). I really have no good reasons eyond my own laziness and the fact that I'm pretty bad at e-mail, which are both lame excuses rather than valid reasons. In order to remedy this, I will aim to get regular (every week?) e-mails going with my cousins.

1) Learn Tagalog - This is sort of a corollary to resolution #2. Visiting the Philippines has made me really regret that I didn't buckle down and learn tagalog before I got there, especially since I shelled out the $300+ for Rosetta Stone. Filipinos are an extremely friendly peoples and most of them speak English, but it just felt kind of weird not being able to converse. I also wish I knew tagalog so I could talk with my grandma, who's English has become pretty rusty. So the plan is to do an hour of Rosetta Stone every day (at least during the week).

Top 5 Dream Jobs

The following may actually become real job prospects if I don’t get into law school ...

Honorable Mention: Personal Gift Shopper - I am really freaking good at buying presents for people and I often feel like this amazing skill is seriously underutilized. The reason this gets honorable mention though is that while I like the idea of shopping for a living, I would rather be buying things for people I actually know and like rather than do someone else’s grunt work.



5) Trophy Wife - While trophy wife was your honorable mention occupation, this one actually makes my list. I think the fact that “trophy wife” isn’t considered a “real” job is just a testament to the reality of how under-appreciated women’s work truly is. Keeping a house is tough work! But soap box standing aside, yes, I am perfectly okay with marrying some billionaire and getting to do all the other things I couldn’t do if I had to bring in a salary—bake, nonprofit work, write Top 5 Lists. Also, I would get to run around in cute aprons all day.


4) Photographer - Not a wedding photographer, but a legitimate have-your-stuff-on-display-at-SFMOMA photographer. Photography is one of the few artistic endeavors that actually makes sense to me and is consequently my favorite artistic medium—most other art just seems either unnecessarily ornate or hopelessly inaccessible. It would be really neat to be able to create something for a living rather than be merely an appreciator of things.


3) Belly Dancer - Being a belly dance for a living would be awesome because it would mean that I was actually good enough to make money doing it—which is simply not the case right now. Add on the benefits of not having to muddle through a 9 to 5 every day, and performing doesn’t seem like such a bad gig. It would also be neat to have my own dance studio and teach people things. However, I do have reservations about a profession that is completely dependent on one's physical appearance—let’s face it, you could be the most talented dancer in the world, but if you’re fug you don’t have a chance. So there’s a whole host of different anxieties and pressures attached to being a performer, which is why this is the dream jobs list and not the list of things I could actually do.

2) Used Book Store/Coffee House Proprietress - Used book stores are some of my favorite places and there just aren’t enough of them. This job would bring together two of my great loves—books and coffee—and also let me be my own boss. It would be like the whole Barnes and Noble + Starbucks set up, but smaller and without being enslaved to corporate America. Emeryville is in serious need of a used book store, so this might not be such a pipe dream after all ...



1) Pastry Chef a.k.a. Baker - While I get that people need to eat and what not, cooking has always seemed like the most frivolous profession possible. So if I really didn’t care about making a difference in the world or fighting global warming and the depletion of natural resources, I would be a baker. I absolutely love to bake and if I could do it all the time AND be able to sleep at night, I would totally do it. But alas, I feel like I need to accomplish something meaningful first.

Top 5 Dream Careers

We've finally reached that stage in our lives where we can begin to put into action those "When I grow up..." dreams from childhood. As with everything else in life, it's never that easy, though, is it? This list is going to ignore that, however. Instead, it's going to focus on what careers I would have if anything were possible. Forget advanced degrees, the need for experience, or location. In my dream world, this is what I would be doing:

Honorable mention: Trophy wife
I'm not sure if this is an actual profession or not, but I would absolutely love to have a life where I didn't have to worry about money at all and could focus on charities, vacationing, and entertaining. I think I'd be pretty good at it, too




5. Adviser to the President
I said these were dream jobs, right? Working in the White House for a period would be a fantastic experience. I know I'd be completely burnt-out, but for awhile, being in on the action would be exhilarating. Plus, gotta love having some power and say in what happens in government. I'd also want to know what actually happens in the West Wing.



4. Travel writer
What is better than a job that pays you to travel around the world and experience new cultures? I don't think I'd necessarily be good at it, because I'm scared of diseases and getting mugged, but man it would be a trip. I would see parts of the world that I wouldn't go to ordinarily and there's no way to come out of that without a whole different outlook on life.




3. Rock Star
Who doesn't want to be a rock star? The rush of performing, having music be my entire life, and traveling the country performing. Also, that implies I would be very musical and able to write music... which is fun. I miss playing an instrument. Also, I could then adopt a rock star attitude
and be generally bad-ass. Win-win.



2. Scuba diving instructor/dive trip leader
This is actually my plan-B in life. Kenzie and I have it all worked out: we'll move to Fiji and open our own dive shop. She'll teach and I'll run the shop until I get certified and then we'll spend our lives underwater. After spending a few days out to sea on the liveaboard in Australia, I think that would be a fantastic life. You go out to sea for a week at at time and your whole life revolves around the Great Barrier Reef. That actually sounds like heaven.


1. Editor of National Geographic
Sigh. The dream that will never come. This is one of the best magazines in existence--it has culture, travel, art, and really cool subject matter. To be in charge of such a dynasty and oversee and shape its future would be fantastic. I still love print media production, even though it's not really a part of my life anymore, and the challenges would be fun to tackle.