Welcome Back, Me!

I've been pondering this obsession I seem to have with making resolutions at the end of each calendar year, assessing them on my birthday six months later, and then starting it all over six months after that. I also seem to have some obsession with making these resolutions public. It started with a resolution to put the laundry away before retiring for the night, something I did not publicize in my embarrassment that the bedroom was typically home to twin laundry baskets, and we went through the clean basket each morning in search of this or that item. Resolving just grew from there, though I tried to simplify things a bit a year ago. And let's just say that the six-month review is good to go for today as well.

So how do I satisfy the obsession this year? My cousin-in-law, Debi, called 2012 her "year of just because." In that vein, I'm thinking of 2013 as my "year of why the hell not." As younger son put it, the question to ask is not "why?" but "why the hell not?" I'd have to say that that about covers it for 2013, or at least the first half of it. I've committed to trying something about which I feel quite intimidated, a GoRuck Challenge. If you read through the comments on the aforementioned page, you'll see one from me asking if it's reasonable to think a 56-year-old woman can finish one of these. You'll also see the reply from one of the GoRuck founders that yes, it's quite reasonable in that it is more of a mental than physical challenge. Yeah, well, I have some problems in that regard, too, but hey. Why the hell not? Both sons are signed up, and both encouraged me to register. A friend who is one of our karate instructors said that he'd do it if I did (there's was a special in which two people could register for the price of one). It mean 137 days (according to a countdown widget that younger son put on my smart-aleck phone) of serious preparation, but the party at the end could be a doozey.

A couple of years ago, one of my resolutions was to try to learn to speak some Vietnamese. I bought a fairly cheap computer program and found it not very helpful at all. I did discover that a little goes a long way, though, scoring lots of points in Hue last spring by simply saying "thank you" in Vietnamese whenever appropriate. I gave in to all the reviews of Rosetta Stone and the incentive offered by having spent what it costs and purchased the three levels of Vietnamese they offer. It took three tries to get the first lesson finished to an acceptable level (I went from 70 percent correct to 79 percent to 92 percent at which point I was offered the chance to move to the next lesson), but I can see how the program is working. It really is immersion of a sort, and you really do start to make connections. There's no next trip to Vietnam scheduled, though I'm hoping for one in 2014. Hopefully, that will be enough time to learn a bit more than the "thank you" I already have.

And that's it. I think that's enough. I've been vacillating about keeping up the quickie photo blog that replaced the photo-a-day blog I did for the year in which I was 55 or bring my blogging efforts back here. I'll give it some thought over the next couple of days. The two things above will require some focused attention. There's also this thing called a job that clearly comes before time devoted to writing here. The martial arts I don't want to give up, and the creative efforts I'd like to do more of. How many balls can I keep in the air at one time? We shall see. In the meantime, happy new year. I think it's going to be a good one.

If Today Is Your Birthday ...

From today's Washington Post: TODAY'S BIRTHDAY / JULY 1: You get the lucky break you deserve this year. This month features well-considered financial and lifestyle decisions. August brings new friends, harmonious partnerships and shared adventures. October shows you the way to make more money. Family grows in November. Compelling new interests crop up in January. Aries and Virgo people adore you.  

As translated or interpreted by older son: July: Choose new exercise/diet plan & it works! Commit to Pig's Nest (family compound in country), plan purchases. August: Meet hobo. Go into business w/ hobo. Road trip! October: Sell snarky gun/election themed crafts. November: Other son gets engaged / gets someone preggers. January: Kills deer.

The Post one is probably more likely, though the son one has possibilities. I guess I'll have to start hanging around the tracks, though, if I really want to meet a hobo.

The Road to Hell

I had good intentions of blogging here in the last six months minus one day. I really did. Does it count that I blogged a seven-week trip elsewhere (though truth be told, I still have at least one more post to write)? At least regular blogging was not one of the resolutions I made, unlike at least one earlier year. At the midway point of the year--which also happens to be my birthday--how am I doing on those resolutions for 2012? I made them more general this year, in hopes of being better able to meet them. Let's see if that helped.

In 2012, I shall be healthy. I've done this for the most part, especially since my physical in May. I'm putting much less caffeine in my body on a daily basis, and trying to snack only on fruits and vegetables. Since a friend's summer vacation from teaching started, I've been going to the gym with her in the mornings. This has made it easy to add some weights back into my fitness routine. I'm not doing the Lazyman Triathlon this year. One, having done it twice and one of those being in two weeks rather than a month, I know I can do it. I'd rather not have what I do for exercise limited to the Lazyman's swimming, biking, and running. Be healthy? Check!

In 2012, I shall produce at least one something for which I feel a sense of accomplishment in several areas: writing, photography, fiber art, thinking. If I finish the last post or two on the trip blog, I would consider that an accomplishment. There were posts I could have written but didn't, but they were of a more general nature and would have had fewer photos. Several of the photos in that blog still amaze me, particularly the faces I showed here. Fiber art, I'm still working on, but with six months to go, I'm not too worried. An idea that delights or amazes me? I've actually had a couple that I hope to expand in posts here or elsewhere. Accomplish somethings? Check!

In 2012, I shall make progress in my practice of Myo Sim karate and kendo. I'm doing that, and in the four areas I mentioned even. Thanks to the sons, I've regularly worked on my kendo sparring, and have been told by fellow students that they see the improvement. I feel a bit more confident about my kicking in karate and my diagonal cuts in kendo though much work remains. And that's okay. If it were all that easy, I would have gotten bored with it by now. Myo Sim practice? Check!

It seems I should have been writing very general resolutions all along, since this is by far the best mid-year checkup that I've had. I feel better physically and while there have been some emotional dips in the road this year, feel better psychologically for now, today, anyway. As with the practice of a martial art, if life were all that easy, we might have gotten bored with it. I'd also have two fewer blog posts in a given year. Should I add a new resolution as a postscript, to run with scissors and a sword here more often? We shall see.

Good Intentions and All That

I've been posting my resolutions here for a couple of years now. There's really nothing like failing abjectly out in the open or feeling as if more people read this blog than really do and everyone knows I worry about my weight, caffeine intake, etc. I laid out the 2011 resolutions here, and offered a mid-year, birthday update here. Looking at things at year's end, did I really fail abjectly? No, though I really only succeeded at two of the overly specific resolutions I started with. I did, in fact, run, ski, bike, swim, etc. 700 miles to nowhere; the final total was right around 1,005 thanks to a valiant push the last 10 days or so of the year. I also succeeded in noting something to be grateful for or otherwise appreciate each day of the year. I did this thanks to a friend who gave me a boxed set of cards, one for each day of the year. The completed set is now moving to my studio, to my shelf of precious things. The rest of the list? Fuhgedaboutit!

My thinking for 2012 was to make much more general resolutions, a difficult task for someone who has worked in the planning field with measurable goals and the like. After I inked the list I'll put below onto the obligatory piece of cardboard, I read an article that advised making only one or two resolutions and making them quantifiable. Not this year, at least not for me. Here goes.

In 2012, I shall be healthy. I will watch what I eat and drink. I will work on getting stronger, perhaps by getting back to the weightlifting that I largely dropped when I added Myo Sim karate to my practice of Myo Sim kendo. Finally, I will try to act with more mindfulness, not flying off the handle or jumping to conclusions that may or may not be valid.

In 2012, I shall produce at least one something for which I feel a sense of accomplishment in several areas. I will write something, be it a blog post or letter or story or whatever, about which I feel pride. I will take one photograph that knocks my socks off; it doesn't have to knock anyone else's off, just my own. I will create one fiber something and one other something that needed to be created and will beautify the world. Finally, I will think of one idea, just one, that amazes or otherwise delights me.

In 2012, I shall make progress in my practice of Myo Sim karate and kendo. In kendo, I will work extra hard on diagonal cuts and sparring. In karate, I will work extra hard on kicking and channeling my anger outward, away from myself.

How will I know if I am succeeding at these? I'll figure that out, I guess, as I go along. I may not recognize the piece of writing or the photograph or the other things at the time I create them, but I'm hoping that as the year wears on, I will know which ones they are. Each day, I will try to keep being healthy near the front of my thinking. Does this mean I won't occasionally eat or drink too much of the wrong thing and that I will never skip a workout? No, but I will try not to obsess about it at the same time as I will try not to let it happen too often. In six months, when I turn 56, I'll do my mid-year assessment and hopefully feel better about the preceding six months than I do now about the preceding year. Stay tuned for details!

O, Christmas Tree

I've posted here and there about our tradition of putting the Christmas Ape atop our Christmas tree. A comment on yesterday's post (the "there" one) expressed interest in seeing the whole tree. Things change somewhat from year to year because we either decide the tree looks full enough or we tire, one by one, of hanging ornaments and I decide I'd rather not finish the job myself. Here's this year's tree in its entirety. Two ornaments that always make it on the tree are the ones I showed in last year's tree post (the "here" one above), the sons in Christmas-pageant attire. As I think I said then, younger son is not quite the little angel he was then, while older son still knows what to do with a stick in his hands. We do have the odd store-bought ornament on the tree, including some given to us by the husband's now-departed mother. Most of the ornaments are homemade, though some of those were gifts from an art teacher friend. Others were stitched by my stepmother.
Others were made by the sons. And still others, I made the year we lived in the Netherlands and decorated a tree entirely with creatively handmade ornaments such as toilet paper tolls covered with electrical tape. Besides the Christmas Ape atop the tree, some stuffed animals always manage to work their way into the branches.
There are always some oddities such as the tag I took off a gift one year and started hanging as an ornament. For the first time, this year a number of "shinies," things I find and save for no reason other than I found them and think them interesting, made it onto the tree.
Finally, somewhere in the tree (you'll just have to take my word for it because I could not find it to photograph) is a set of keys that younger son found beside the road. The radio locking component is beat up to the point of suggesting the set was run over at least once. Why are they on the tree? Why not? They were sitting on a nearby shelf as we were hanging adornments, and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Beanie Baby Mutations, Parts V and VI

I didn't post any photos of the fifth Beanie Baby mutation since it was a gift, and I didn't want to spoil the surprise for the intended recipient. Since it turns out that her photos of it are better than the ones I took before I sent it off, you can see an elephant with butterfly wings here. It's not clear whether it's an elefly or a butterphant, but I sort of like elefly myself.

The sixth Beanie Baby mutation doesn't have a distinct name yet, but here it is. If that photo isn't clear enough, try this one. Or this one. It's Howl the wolf wearing the clothing (well, the skin) of Fleece the sheep. And like any good wolf in sheep's clothing, this guy knows where to fit in, too. With a couple of other sheep, in the shadow of the Bearodactyl. It's still not clear just what I might do with these creatures other than probably clear them from the mantle perhaps to rest in the branches of the Christmas tree. I have decided what's coming next, though, a rhinopottamus or perhaps a hippoceros, though I think I prefer rhinopottamus.

Beanie Baby Mutations, Part IV

Being a knitter, I do like yarn, so when a friend in England suggested that it might be fun to have a sheep that could spin its own wool into yarn, who was I to argue. Crossing Hairy the spider with Ewey the sheep was actually a bit more complicated that I thought it would be, and I still have a sheep's head with which to do something, but here's what Caroline's spinning sheep might look like. I'm open to suggestions as to what it might be called.