Brand New Year, Same Old Thing
Jan. 3rd, 2009 09:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vixalicious2008, A Year in Review:
Last year's resolution: to get out of the house more!
I had proposed to do this in the following ways:
Work in a coffeehouse once a week: I did do this pretty regularly for most of the year. It sort of fell apart in the fall, because most of my installs were having issues.
Join a tennis league: Done! I am so glad I did this, and I intend to keep it up!
Take a yoga class once a month: Nope.
Go to church once a month: Also no. I did go once though.
Overall though, I think I did really well at this. I am going to continue doing the things that were successful, and also continue to look for opportunities/hobbies that require me to be around other people.
Last year's goals:
1. Take drum lessons: Am doing and loving! This too fell apart a bit in the fall, because my instructor was too busy to have Saturday lessons. I had a lesson in August, and then my next one was not until December. But we're picking it back up after the holidays, so I'm happy about that.
2. Finish iPod playlist and ACTUALLY APPLY TO IPOD: Am through the letter J - it's much more slow going than I had expected.
3. Complete 2004 and France sabbatical scrapbooks: Completed 2004 book. Got distracted by making my brother a book of our childhood photos, and by starting a blanket out of my college sweatshirts.
4. Finish the basic decor (ie paint and furniture) for at least one room in my house: I'm counting this one as done, as my bedroom is pretty much done - it only needs pictures printed and framed on the walls. Also, I painted the living room/hallway, so that has really helped the feel of the house.
And so, on to 2009.
There are several new people on my flist this year, so a bit of explanation. I have a strict rule for resolutions: only set ones that are easily attainable. New years have enough stress associated with them without starting off with failure. Past resolutions include things like "Make one new friend" and "Try to relax about scheduling every minute." I then also set some goals for the year, which are not resolutions, just some things I'd like to focus on this year.
2009 Resolution: Learn to live within my means financially.
After buying the house, it's been really hard to keep the credit card debt down - I doubled my living expenses by living alone, and I had to furnish the house and put a new roof on, and then this year there was the shed and the lawn equipment. But there's always going to be something, and I need to learn to be more frugal.
1. Pay off credit card debt.
2. Increase savings to $5K in case of emergencies.
3. Eat out less.
4. Explore getting a roommate more aggressively. This one sort of pains me, because the only logical room to rent out is the room I now use as my office, which means I would have to shift some stuff around to move my office upstairs. But I am going to start feeling around work and friends to see if there are any connections to someone trustworthy.
2009 Goals
1. Resume my walking routine. I let this go when I started playing tennis, but I need to do both. Ideally I'd like to walk 2 miles a day.
2. Finish my sweatshirt blanket, and in the process, re-learn how to use a sewing machine.
3. Finish my France sabbatical and childhood photo albums.
4. Paint the guestroom and hang my grandmother's quilt up.
- January: Woke up to a manhunt and got my house searched by police. Started taking drum lessons. Wrote a song. Got the death flu while on site and had to fly home early, with a 100 degree fever.
- February: Whee drumming!
- March: Had dinner with my friend Craig in Denver and finally met his bf of 10 years! Stayed at the hotel that inspired 'The Shining.' Bought my drum kit! A tornado hit downtown Atlanta. Wrote Amish Bandom AU. Started playing tennis at community center.
- April: Went to Saskatchewan for the first time; another province down! Went to New Mexico a LOT. Saw Tristan Prettyman and Panic at the Disco in concert. Had dinner with Brad and Lucy in the North End of Boston.
- May: Went on the one and only date I had in 2008; never heard from him again, after a four hour date. Got new brakes on the car.
- June: Went to Bangkok, first trip to Asia. Wrote more Amish Bandom AU. Saw Eddie Izzard on tour.
- July: Home for the Fourth! Took a creative writing class.
- August: Visited my best friend for one week in her new home in Maine, visited my brother and his wife for a week in Massachusetts. Saw Boston & Styx in concert with
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cherryscott. Went to Dragon*Con with marny_h96, padawanhilary, & zillah975! Became comic book geek. - September: My hearing checked out fine at my one year post-surgery exam. My friend Deb had her first baby!
- October: Went to the Greek Festival and ate a lot of good food. Had 2nd annual Halloween party at my house. Went to Texas and got to hang out with friends, including the_grapevine.
- November: Went to Iowa; spent election night obsessively refreshing the PBS website and watching CNN afraid that somehow we'd have a repeat of 2000. Obama wins; yay, a president with some sense! Went to my first protest rally, against the passing of Prop 8 in California. Played in my first USTA tennis match! Lost my first USTA tennis match! Saw the Terracotta Soldier exhibit at the High. Mom & Dad & Joann came down for Thanksgiving. I have a new storage shed!
- December: Work very difficult, between our new version and Microsoft Server 2008, tons of issues. Very stressed. Watched Jon perform in the AGMC Christmas concert. Went home for two weeks vacation!
Last year's resolution: to get out of the house more!
I had proposed to do this in the following ways:
Work in a coffeehouse once a week: I did do this pretty regularly for most of the year. It sort of fell apart in the fall, because most of my installs were having issues.
Join a tennis league: Done! I am so glad I did this, and I intend to keep it up!
Take a yoga class once a month: Nope.
Go to church once a month: Also no. I did go once though.
Overall though, I think I did really well at this. I am going to continue doing the things that were successful, and also continue to look for opportunities/hobbies that require me to be around other people.
Last year's goals:
1. Take drum lessons: Am doing and loving! This too fell apart a bit in the fall, because my instructor was too busy to have Saturday lessons. I had a lesson in August, and then my next one was not until December. But we're picking it back up after the holidays, so I'm happy about that.
2. Finish iPod playlist and ACTUALLY APPLY TO IPOD: Am through the letter J - it's much more slow going than I had expected.
3. Complete 2004 and France sabbatical scrapbooks: Completed 2004 book. Got distracted by making my brother a book of our childhood photos, and by starting a blanket out of my college sweatshirts.
4. Finish the basic decor (ie paint and furniture) for at least one room in my house: I'm counting this one as done, as my bedroom is pretty much done - it only needs pictures printed and framed on the walls. Also, I painted the living room/hallway, so that has really helped the feel of the house.
And so, on to 2009.
There are several new people on my flist this year, so a bit of explanation. I have a strict rule for resolutions: only set ones that are easily attainable. New years have enough stress associated with them without starting off with failure. Past resolutions include things like "Make one new friend" and "Try to relax about scheduling every minute." I then also set some goals for the year, which are not resolutions, just some things I'd like to focus on this year.
2009 Resolution: Learn to live within my means financially.
After buying the house, it's been really hard to keep the credit card debt down - I doubled my living expenses by living alone, and I had to furnish the house and put a new roof on, and then this year there was the shed and the lawn equipment. But there's always going to be something, and I need to learn to be more frugal.
1. Pay off credit card debt.
2. Increase savings to $5K in case of emergencies.
3. Eat out less.
4. Explore getting a roommate more aggressively. This one sort of pains me, because the only logical room to rent out is the room I now use as my office, which means I would have to shift some stuff around to move my office upstairs. But I am going to start feeling around work and friends to see if there are any connections to someone trustworthy.
2009 Goals
1. Resume my walking routine. I let this go when I started playing tennis, but I need to do both. Ideally I'd like to walk 2 miles a day.
2. Finish my sweatshirt blanket, and in the process, re-learn how to use a sewing machine.
3. Finish my France sabbatical and childhood photo albums.
4. Paint the guestroom and hang my grandmother's quilt up.
