resolute. late, but resolute

For the past two years my resolution posts have featured images by Anne

Marie Musselman, a Portland photographer. Musselman works a lot with

animals and conservation in her photographs, and I especially love her

series on the Sarvey Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. It makes me feel hopeful.

Even though it's a bit delayed (sorry about that), I'm excited to post my New Year's resolutions here. As I've said many times, I love January. For instance, last year I wrote that January "feels set apart from the other eleven [months] somehow, a month of new beginnings and hopeful futures." Well put, self. And even though a lot of people find New Year's resolutions to be futile, the fact that I've been faithfully posting these for a long time now means I can look back and see actual, honest-to-goodness progress, and that feels nice. In case you're curious: 2012, 2011 (here and here), and 2010 (I didn't post resolutions per se in 2010, but I did post a book list and a sort-of bucket list). 

This year, I've been thinking about a lot of things I'd like to keep up with or change. So many, in fact, that I divided my resolutions up into two lists: one personal, and one professional. 

Personal List: 

1. Drink enough water. This is my always-and-forever goal. 

2. Eat more produce. I read a suggestion once that at least half of your plate should be filled with fruits or veg. I like that. 

3. Learn: A) To can; B) French. The French goal is a semi-professional one, since I have to take a language exam next October. Did you know medieval England was bi- (and even tri-, if you count Latin) lingual?

4. Perfect homemade pizza and crepes. I make these all the time, and always struggle. No longer!

5. Keep in touch. I made some (small) strides at keeping in touch with friends last year, but didn't do so well with family. I'd like to change that. Part of that keeping in touch will be blogging here: my new, not-crazy goal is once a week. Here's hoping I stick to it. 

6. Grow spiritually. I'm still figuring out what I mean by this. 

Professional List:

1. Increase digital presence by: A) Starting a professional blog; and B) Using Twitter and Facebook more professionally. I've already had some success with both of these. I started my blog and I was active on Twitter during a digital humanities conference. Now to keep it up. 

2. Limit internet idleness. Again, some success here! I use Safari, and I recently altered my home page  so the sites I see are professional ones. I'm embarrassed by how much of a difference this has made. Now if I'm feeling idle, I'm more likely to read the Chronicle of Higher Education than, say, the A.V. Club. 

3. Publish. My first paper is coming out in postmedieval this year, and I'm hoping (this feels scary to say out loud) to line up another publication by the end of the year. We'll see.

4. Apply to (at least) two major conferences.  

5. Get more work out of each day. 

6. Write daily. This doesn't necessarily have to be Writing, with a capital "W." I think blogging, either here or on my professional blog, Facebook and Twitter can all count. 

That's it! No big deal, right? Here's to a 2013 full of adventure and accomplishment. Happy New Year. 

talkin' 'bout a resolution

Last year in my resolutions post I featured a photo by Anne Marie Musselman, a Portland photographer whose series on the Sarvey Wildlife Rehab Center I really love. This year I decided to do that again. 

In spite of the cold and general bleakness, January is one of my favorite months of the year. It seems set apart from the other eleven somehow, a month of new beginnings and hopeful futures. Eileen Joy, a scholar I quite admire, described it here as heralding 


[if even as a mirage] new beginnings and re-tooled ambitions and second [and third and fourth and so on] chances as well as a chance to pause and rest and refresh. 


I love it (the quote and the month). I know many, many people find New Year's resolutions an exercise in futility, and while I understand that, I love them anyway. Longtime readers (defined here as people who have loyally stuck with me in spite of my apparent inability to consistently post), however, will know that the only thing I love more than making resolutions is sharing them. Hence the ill-fated week of living resolutely, which went well until I crashed on my sister-in-law's bike. Hence also last year's New Year's Resolutions, and the following, my resolutions for 2012 (many of which will be familiar):


1. Exercise three times a week. I actually did rather well on this resolution this past year, and especially during Fall term. Last year I became much smarter about how I set up my schedule, and I was able to go to yoga class at least twice a week (more than that, I've discovered, and I'm just too darn sore). Over the summer I also "ran" several times a week for nine weeks. This year I'd like to keep up that progress, and possibly even find a way to transport my things to campus so I can continue running.
2. Drink enough water (64 oz. daily). Always and forever.
3. Continue to improve the way we eat. Last year I became a vegetarian, which has been wonderful. But it's also been challenging, and it's often hard to think of ways to give myself (and more importantly, my meat-loving spouse) enough of the right kind of food. A few sub-resolutions will hopefully help me break this down:
     a). Eat less sugar. This has the pornography definition: I know it's too much when I see/eat it.
     b). Eat three food groups at breakfast (courtesy of this great article at Runner's World, which I read     even though I totally don't qualify as a runner). I don't often get to eat a full breakfast, but when I do, this will be my guide.
     c). Fill half the plate with produce (courtesy of the same article. Also, really difficult, even for a veggie eater like me).
4. Write daily. Like many of these resolutions, this will probably be on my to-do list until the end of time. This year, my goals are: 1) To write short weekly responses to the things I'm reading for class; 2) To write 10-15 posts for this blog a month. I really love this blog and love knowing that people are out there reading it. I've been a bad online host, and I want to work on that; and 3) To blog at my cherry amour once a week, and to try to make my posts as cool as Kathayoon's.
5. Find a summer job I won't hate. I failed epically at this last year. This year, I am determined.
6. Be more generous to people (mostly Ross).
7. Make time for adventures. Of all types.
8. Relearn French. I've got to say, in terms of enthusiasm, this resolution tops the list. I've been thinking about trying to re-teach myself for a while now (Ross' continued facility with Polish is inspirational). Armed with a bunch of books and tapes from the library, I'm finally ready to give it a go.
9. Carry less stuff. I mean this literally, in terms of the sheer amount of heavy s**t I carry back and forth to school every week, but I mean it figuratively, too. I've been trying for years to shed a lot of negative emotions and anxiety, and for the most part, my efforts (bolstered by the incredible amount of support I've received from, oh, everybody) have paid off in slow and steady progress. I want to keep that up. Earlier this month, I hit a milestone in regards to a persistent and irritating problem I've been facing for a while now (sorry to be vague, but there it is). So I'm already making progress on this one.
10. Keep up with old friends. You are the hummus to my carrot sticks, the frosting to my graham cracker, the nap in my long day. Happy New Year.

addendum

Festive photo from our New York trip. More photos to come, promise.

I've thought of two other resolutions to add to my list (bringing the total to a pleasing 10):

9. Carry less heavy s*** every day. Actually, I feel like this one simple (and yet oh so difficult!) change could improve my overall well-being more than almost anything else. Remember my backpack? The trouble is, I have to be on campus all day. Ergo, to make sure I'm using time well, I end up carting a veritable library (plus water, lunch, clothes for the gym, and whatever else I need) back and forth every day. Hopefully, however, all this will soon change... hopefully I'll get that most coveted of possessions for the non-officed: a locker. That would be a New Year's miracle.

10. Record our life. I love this blog, and I especially love it when I write a lot. So my goal is 20 posts a month. That's a sufficiently arbitrary number, don't you think? This is obviously for me more than it is for you (although I LOVE that people actually read this thing). I appreciate the way the blog represents our lives... it's not like a journal, where it's all about what we did and when we did it. It's more like a time capsule, and sometimes when I'm reading old posts it takes a second to remember why the hell I wrote such-and-such. Then I remember everything I was thinking that day, and what was going on, and I love that. But the "what we did" factor is nice, too, so along with blogging I want to start keeping an index card journal, like this one here. As an extremely delinquent journaler, I'm totally on board with the idea of keeping a journal every day, but only having to write enough to fit on one line of an index card.

Anyway, I think that's really it. I drank my full 64 oz of water today, which made me feel like a rockstar. Or maybe a superhero (I doubt rockstars are all that hydrated, at least with water). I am AquaGirl.

resolved

Photo by Anne Marie Musselman, a Portland photographer. Love.

First of all, thanks so much for your wonderful response to yesterday's maudlin midnight post. I was feeling pre-tty glum, but your encouragement cheered me up considerably, as it always does. So today I thought I'd return with a slightly more positive spin on the New Year. Like I said, I love making resolutions. Remember the week of living resolutely last spring (it was sadly truncated by bike accident #1)? Well, then some of these goals will look mighty familiar. We're all works in progress.

RESOLUTIONS FOR THE NEW YEAR (or "New Year's Resolutions"):

1. Drink enough water (64 oz. daily) This has always been and probably will always be on my to-do list, but I continue to get better. Incrementally. Sometimes.

2. Exercise three times a week. My newfound (and totally unexpected) fondness for the gym will hopefully make this doable.

3. Be on time for the important stuff. I tend to be staggeringly early to class and late for just about everything else.

4. Make time for adventures. Part of the reason why Ross and I were excited about moving here was because of the chance to explore new places. Lately, the cold weather has put the kibosh on that plan (warm weather = cheap entertainment; cold weather = expensive). Once it gets warmer I want to resume our hiking/exploring/camping/getting to know DC adventures.

5. Take better notes in my school books. Yes it makes my books messy, and yes, I often blush when I stumble across some forgotten and inane marginalia. But when it's paper time, those scribbled notes (of which I did not make nearly enough last term) are a godsend.

6. Find a summer job that I won't hate. This may be nearly impossible, as nothing could ever, ever compare to the bliss that is the Oregon Zoo, and I'm worried that, in spite of my best intentions, I'll spend the summer thinking of what might have been. But that's why we make resolutions, right? To try to overcome our worst impulses.

7. Make time for hobbies. Ross gave me a knitting book for Christmas, and I've been reteaching myself how to knit (I quasi-learned in college). I'm even halfway through a scarf! This fall I really missed my hobbies. Without NW 23rd, many of our friends, and Portland, Ross and I both kind of forgot to keep up with the things we liked to do. In 2011 I want to make those things a priority (especially for the spouse, who really neglects his interests without prodding)... yoga, cooking, knitting, and maybe even some gardening for me, frisbee and other running-around activities for Ross.

And finally:

8. Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other... well, you know how I feel about you. Happy New Year.