Welcome 2006

Does anyone else find the measurement of time incredibly arbitrary? Why do we celebrate the passing of another year? "WE MADE IT!!!!" as if we weren't going to? Not to sound immortal, lots of people died this year, but it just seems incredibly useless to celebrate growing closer to our demise. Maybe that's not how I should look at it, and the New Years party I attended didn't even have a countdown to midnight so it hardly seemed like a New Years party at all, but I just have to express that I don't get it. And by the looks of this photo of me at that party, (care of Erick)

I was deep in thought then, too. Oddly, under a carefully placed blue light.... Actually, I had a great time with everyone, the party was lots of fun (even if the post-midnight hip-hop kind of sucked) and the house it was in was absolutely adorable. I want to live in a cute house with hip roommates. Or at least clean-ish roommates. Too bad Celeste is gonna up and leave for England next fall and I won't be able to live with her.

So... in the spirit of the celebration of the Earth completing another orbit around the sun, here are my equally arbitrarily timed resolutions:

-Work out. I won't even say how often, since I'm pretty sure I do this one every year and it doesn't really happen for more than a few weeks, but I'm gonna try again. If I say five times a week I'll fail sooner and probably give up. If I say three, I'm still not gonna make it all the time, but it's feasible. So I'll shoot for three. No promises.

-Mandatory hang-out time with CJ. Celeste and Meg: Back with a vengeance! At least every two weeks, but we'll shoot for more. This one is absolutely imperative since this past semester we really slacked on making time for us.

-Save money. Enough is enough of me spending all my money on paying off my credit card and food and sometimes clothes or other unnecessary crap. I need to not feel so broke all the time. This may also entail getting a third job somewhere off campus, but I might also kill myself if I try to do that. Maybe something unofficial and flexible (ie: babysitting) will be best. My class schedule is really open three days a week, so I can fill that time with making more money so I don't stress about it.

-Read. I started this one a month or so ago, but I have a lot of books I haven't read, and I intend to start reading for pleasure again. If that means scheduling out time to read in my daily life, then great. I think all it will really mean though is carrying around a book at all times. I used to do this and it was always remarkable how much time I found for reading during the day. Get to class early? Pull out my book. Waiting for friends for lunch? Read. Yep- this is a good one. I miss reading. Oh, and trying to read before bed. This one might be more difficult since I tend to pass out as soon as I hit the pillow when school is in session.

-Don't slack in school. While my grades don't reflect it, I really don't do the work I should for school. So this year I'm turning a new leaf. I'm going to do my best to do homework before the last second, to write papers before the eve of their due date, and to actually study for exams instead of review the morning of and assuming I retained everything I need from lecture. Oh, and going to class. Not skipping- while I love sleeping just as much as I love learning, I'm not paying money to sleep through class, so enough is enough. I'm gonna go to all my classes unless there is an unavoidable reason for missing. I think I'll also buy a 7-day alarm clock so that forgetting to set it each day can NOT be an excuse.

I think that's it. Other than these, I just want to keep doing what I'm doing, because I think I've been pretty okay. As I told Erick yesterday, I've been living a pretty Zen, mellow life this semester, and I aim to keep avoiding unnecessary stress, to keep letting go of things when their outcome doesn't ultimatly matter, and to go with the flow of life instead of fighting it. Amen, sistah friends.