Well, the end of 2011 is near, and that means time for New Year’s Resolutions. This past year has been half productive and half not. This last semester was particularly bad. I’m beginning to feel burnout, after having been in school for 9 years (after high school) straight. I’ve convinced myself to give it one more semester before I call it quits or not. I currently have a pretty sweet situation, and having to look for a job is not something I want to think about right now. It’s a complicated dilemma, because I’ve already invested a lot of time, but I never really wanted a Ph.D. or to do research anyway.
So that’s one resolution, I suppose. To give this next semester a good strong go for my research. But I don’t really count that. This year I’ve decided to do two sets of resolutions, a year-long set, and a set that I’ll work on every few months, similar to what I did this past year. So, here we go:
Year-Long Resolutions
- Get down to 125 pounds – This goal has been off and on for the better part of my twenties. I ignored it last year in favor of trying to eat healthier, and it seems my weight has stabilized at about 175. However, that’s still overweight, and so I’m giving myself a whole year to try to lose the weight. I’m using an iOS app called Fatwatch. It’s a neat little program; instead of you dealing with the ups and downs of individual daily weights, it looks at an overall trend, and tells you how many calories you are over what you need to maintain and also how many calories you need to cut to stay on track with your goal. It also has a built in “mini” exercise program, meant to be done in 15 minutes. It’s based on the Hacker’s Diet, a book written by a programmer on how he lost weight. He basically espouses a calorie counting, calorie restriction only diet, which I’m not interested in. But I did like the idea of the trend line, and using your daily weights to help calculate if you’re maintaining, gaining, or losing weight. The maintaining part is particularly important, because I don’t want to yo-yo. The 125 number is based on being in the middle of the “healthy” weight range based on BMI (which I think is bunk in most cases), and I don’t know if I’ll actually reach it, but we’ll see how far I get.
- Continue to follow the Real Food Lessons – I’ve still been following the lessons on GNOWFGLINS, albeit slowly. I still think they’re a great learning tool and a great learning experience for me. In fact, Wardeh is having a free webinar on how to transition to eating Real Food. I’ve already registered. I’m going to keep working through the lessons throughout the year, and hopefully slowly integrate them as habits.
- Zazen – During Ango, I was great at first about doing zazen every day. Toward the end I trailed off, and then I tried a two-day retreat in December. I didn’t get through the whole two days, but it is important to my spiritual practice that I develop this habit.
Tri-Monthly Goals
- Fashion Makeover – I recently purchased a mini-makeover pdf from Sally at Already Pretty. I’ve been unhappy with my fashion/style for a while now, and while I’ve done a couple closet purges, I still don’t feel like I have a cohesive style. It feels like it jumps around from super casual to super formal. I’d like to get it a little more together, especially if I might be looking for jobs in the not so near future.
- Crafting – This was a goal last year that didn’t happen. While I need to do some crafting in the first three months for my juggling club, those aren’t personal projects. I’m hoping to work on carving out some time for this, as I have a lot of hobbies.
- Piano – This is another goal from last year that didn’t happen. I got an electric piano as a graduation present , 5 years ago now. I took piano lessons once upon a time, but it’s been a long time since I played. I’d like to get back in the habit, especially if I have to give up some of my other hobbies in the future due to research or jobs.
- Getting back in touch – I’m horrible about keeping in touch with friends. I’ve gotten better, using Facebook and Google+, but lurking and reading other people’s posts and making the occasional post myself isn’t really communication. I’d like to get back into a regular email or chat habit with friends who I used to be close to.
Cafe Le Shay 