Violins and Velvet: Plans for a New Year

Happy New Year!  I'm back after a holiday hiatus (in which I shunned my laptop and did some real-people things) and ready to get my powerhouse on.  Like so many others, the chronic organizer within me loves the annual opportunity to list up some resolutions and start ticking them off.  Yes, this practice is hackneyed and pretty far off the "cool" map, but in looking back at lists from years past, I see how well voicing and visualizing Big Life Priorities has been working for me. 

Last year, my life was graduate school, and all of my goals surrounded theses and mad amounts of academic undergoings.  My list this year is much shorter, but its desired results are less "step by step" and a few are going to take some serious elbow grease.

Also, hilarious and strangely helpful is this round-up: "20 Resolutions for 20-Somethings."  (Number 18, for example, is "Back up your entire online life onto an external hard drive, especially your photos." Heck. Yes.)

And now... Some Things To Do in 2012!

  

1.  Become totally awesome at sewing.  Make more clothes. I want it to be Project Runway in my apartment by 2013.

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2.  Start and complete a new poetry manuscript (60-80 pages.) Also, get a chapbook published.

3.  Write and publish a romance novel under a hilarious pen name.

4. Catch up on book backlog. Read at least 60 books (that I already own!) Keep a reading journal! Also, get non-awful bookshelves and organize my over-flowing library.

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5.  Learn about film. Chiefly, watch loads of Criterion Collection movies.

6.  Run a 5K.

7. Practice violin 2-3 times per week and start playing music with other humans again.  (Read: Stop neglecting the music.)

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8.  Invest in going to the opera and the theatre more frequently.

9. Write more letters. Send more parcels. Communicate with long-distance friends extra-frequently.

10.  Finally go on a weekend getaway to the country and be very, very quiet.

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The only thing I have to say to you, 2012, is, "Bring it."