Hello, dear reader! Happy New Year, a bit late. I have been meaning to get up a post with my New Year’s resolutions, but, as the 6th day of the year winds down, I haven’t really resolved to do anything. I have some ideas, but no resolutions. Still, having inchoate ideas hasn’t stopped me before!
In his own blog, a high school friend of mine began 2010 with remarkably specific, measurable resolutions. In addition to detailing his goals for the year, he said he would be posting a list of daily goals, and later whether he was able to meet them, via twitter. He also had quarterly (I think they were quarterly) blog updates on his progress.
I will be doing none of that (surprise!).
Here are some things I am thinking of doing in 2011 (the bar is set pretty low for some of these):
- Get my own internet access. This involves making a phone call. Sounds easy, right? Well, I haven’t made that phone call in the 4.5 years I’ve been living in N.C.
- Call Catholic Charities (and other places) to try to figure out opportunities for volunteering. I don’t know why it is so hard for me to make phone calls.
- Write 100 crappy posts for this crappy blog. Two down, 98 to go!
- Register my car in N.C. I am putting this here in the hopes that Pater Familias will realize I will (eventually) take care of it.
- Walk at least 40 miles a week. This shouldn’t be too hard. I was going to shoot for 50 miles but decided against it because I wasn’t sure I could commit to walking 7 miles a day (+ 8 miles one day). My reticence about committing to 50 miles/week seems kind of silly since I’m not really committing to any of these. If these “resolutions” are all meaningless, I will then commit to walk 1,209 miles a week. Just kidding. I just wanted a bit of incentive to make sure I make walking a priority. This seemingly arbitrary goal might help a bit.
- Read 45 books. I think this one will be obtainable, though I don’t see myself speed-reading my way through a bunch of books in December so I can get to 45. I am currently partway through several books: Arthur Simon’s How Much is Enough? (for my Jesus class), David Lipsky’s Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, and Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin. I will probably finish the last one first, as it is excellent. Yay, books!
- Get out of the country at least once. Where shall I go? Probably back to SE Asia to visit my friends there. I should be eligible to take an entire week off as of next month; I’m shooting for a real vacation sometime this spring.
- Teach myself to write left-handed. You have no idea how long I have wanted to do this. I’m hoping 2011 will actually be the year. Did you know our sixth president taught himself to write left-handed? I remember very few things from my AP US History class in high school, but I remember this picture of John Quincy Adams in our textbook:
He looks kind of angry, doesn't he?
In the caption to the picture, it said that he had taught himself to be ambidextrous because he wrote so much that it helped to be able to switch off between hands.
Maybe if I can write left- and right-handed I can be elected president someday. Allow me to amend this resolution, too…
- Learn to write left-handed so I can be elected president someday.
That’s pretty much it, resolution-wise. There are probably other things I should do in 2011 and I might add accordingly.
A small suggestion: Instead of calling Catholic Charities, call your parish first. They may have “helping hands” organization. Our helping hands asks for volunteers to drive folks to Mass (and some to doctors appt.), visit the homebound, aid families with funerals by bringing food. If there is a local Food Pantry, I’d recommend it as a first choice (you may not be able to help because of full-time employment). It has been the 2nd most gratifying experience of my volunteer career!
Let us know what you decide upon….
That is a great idea, Aunt Hint of Cinnamon. If our parish does have a volunteer arm, which it must, it doesn’t seem to have a very strong or visible presence. I will check the bulletin more closely this week. It seems like a few of the people in my Jesus class, all of whom are more involved in the parish than me, also don’t seem that familiar with the church’s volunteer efforts. They mentioned on Tuesday that the parish members used to provide transportation to other people who wished to attend, but that effort (for reasons unknown) fell through. I could even try to help the parish coordinate its efforts at outreach. So, thanks for the good suggestions. Miss you!
John Quincy doesn’t look angry to me. He looks concerned. Perhaps, he is concerned that his daughter has not yet registered her horse!
Hey, Dad, look–your comment made it! Your comment is both funny and theoretically possible. As I told you yesterday, but some readers may not know, Adams did have a daughter. Unfortunately, she died the year after she was born. If Adams WERE waiting for her to register her horse, he probably expected to be waiting a long time. Actually, maybe he taught himself to write left-handed while he was waiting…
[...] last day of January, I’ve decided to discuss how well I’ve stuck to my New Year’s “resolutions”. It shouldn’t be too surprising that I’m not doing particularly [...]