New Years Resolutions

I agree, that while it seems cliche, it's impossible not to reflect back on the year and make promises to yourself about what you want to do better. Maybe it's an inherent human trait--continually striving to be a better version of yourself. Either that, or it's a way for us to superficially boost our self-esteem only to be torn down come Nov 2009 when nothing is going like we planned. Without further ado...

HM. Save up money to pay off loans quicker.
That seems self-explanatory. No one likes debt! Thanks Stanford!

5. Get in shape.
I just... sort of gave up the past few months on eating correctly and working out and it's taking it's toll now. Which is lame sauce. It's not really a weight thing, but more of a "I still want my clothes to fit well" thing. That'd be solid. It's a depressing topic all around because I'm not willing to do the most extreme things to be the most fit person ever, but I wouldn't mind being better.


4. Learn how to cook.
This is more of an over-arching life goal, but it's starting to hit me more now that living on my own is within the 6-9 month range that I need to know how to cook. More than just scrambled eggs and toast... I would like to know how to use a kitchen well and make good food that I like. Which also means I need to figure out what I like, but that's a different story.


3. Check-in more often with Skyler.
Our relationship has been all kinds of things over the past 20 years and I do NOT want us to become the type of adult siblings who only see each other at Christmas (maybe) and talk once in a blue moon. I don't know how to move from here to there, and I know it all takes time, but I don't want to waste what time we have now waiting... so I resolve to at least make more of an effort to see how he's doing. I love that kid and I just need to suck it up and put more of myself out there.


2. Call GW more often.
My other favorite person in the world that I don't spend enough time corresponding with. It became painfully apparent at our last visit that he's getting older now mentally, which is hard to watch. He's the best man I've ever met and I want to be able to talk to him as much as possible before I can't anymore. No one should get old ever, btws.


1. Worry less/remember how to have fun.
I've enjoyed RAing a lot, but it has brought out the worst in me when it comes to fretting and worrying. I'm a little afraid I'll have an ulcer and insomnia by the end of the year. I don't have kids-- so why am I acting like a mother? The responsibility is killing me! I need to figure out the balance between enjoying myself when we do house events and being able to forsee and cut off problems at the pass. It's not going to happen tomorrow, but if I can lower my stress level, that would be ideal. Being the fun police as a job takes more of a toll than I'd thought.

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).