giving in to the New Year hype

Although I stand by the notion that New Year's Eve is just another night (with just more drinking - and this year, a barrel roll on my friend's back porch by a guy who looked just like Peter Jackson), I do get caught up in the idea of having New Year's resolutions.

I don't necessarily keep them, or even remember what they were, but I like the idea of starting over, making some changes and setting goals. If I recall correctly, I vowed that I would become a good runner in 2005. I planned to start slow, building up my stamina and maybe, just maybe, one day see the possibility of a marathon on the horizon. I failed. I can jog maybe ten minutes if you were to chase me with a bucket of fire.

I also meant to read more, eat well, exercise regularly, yadda yadda yadda. We've heard it all before.

A few things I did do in 2005 that I am not entirely disappointed by are:

1) Finished grad school. (Yay! Now maybe one day, I'll apply for a job, leverage my aces J-school connections and heavy weight alma mater, and then eventually become an award-winning writer.)

2) Moved to a new city alone (technically this part happened last fall, but humor me here), made new friends and survived a Chicago winter. Then moved to a foreign country, learned a few key words, wrote a few stories, struggled in the dregs of isolation and loneliness, made a few friends, traveled through Middle Europe and survived the whole mind-scramble that was the global journalism quarter.

3) Learned to knit (sort of. I am stuck on this one stubborn stitch, which has caused me to feel like a failure, put the needles down and swear to try again soon... but I am getting ahead of myself.)

4) Subsisted as a freelancer, making it through the weeks where I had taken on too many stories, weeks where I thought for sure I would never write again and be doomed to eat only Ramen Noodles, and weeks of constantly checking my mailbox waiting for the check to finally arrive.

Shoot, this entry morphed into the dreaded year-end post. Gross. What I meant to get into was a few things I have planned for 2006. As I previously referenced, I would like to get better at knitting. And I am not too ashamed to reclaim my goals of becoming a solid runner (marathon 2007?), reading more, flossing daily and eating better.

Also on the docket this year are to get a newspaper job and to get back to the business of being a good GF who lives in the same city as her BF. I also feel the need to dedicate a little time on me - finding ways to be a little less high-strung, a little more comfortable with who I am and the choices I make, and focusing on being just all-around generally happy.