Working Towards Resolutions

Alright, here are my "New Year's Resolutions" to be accomplished in no particular order and with only a half-assed intention of following through on all of them--I more expect to actually accomplish some of them, but not all. That's better than nothing, I suppose.

Physical Health
1. Keep going to karate class regularly. Aside from running and biking, this is the only exercise that I have found I really enjoy. It really puts my endurance, strength and flexibility to the test, and it's about time I put those aspects of my body to the test. I probably won't run regularly anymore--my knees are becoming a problem. But that's another resolution.

2. Start using the exercise bikes at the Y. It's not likely that I'm going to become a 4 season biker, but I think I can handle indoor cycling during these cold, messy months. It will also help strengthen some key muscle groups I need to work on, and I also won't suck so bad at biking in the spring.

3. Do some strength training around my problem areas--mostly my knees. I went to the doctor and she said I could either quit the strenuous activity or I could do some exercises to strengthen that area. Considering that karate is the first physical "sport" that I seem to be okay at and actually like, I don't think I'll be quitting anytime soon. Besides, I still have to wear that gi (after my mom hems it for me).

4. Eat less shit. For a while I was doing really well, eating more fresh produce and less fried foods. Lately I've been going out too often and taking shortcuts when making dinner instead of cooking full course meals that offer all the food groups. No more of that! Okay, well, less of that anyway. It's hard to eat right when I'm not home a lot.

5. Sleep better. I've been doing a better job at going to bed at a more reasonable hour (except tonight, I suppose), but I still need to try to do this more regularly. That way, I get up a little earlier, get to work earlier, and feel less disorganized and stressed when I get to work. Even an extra 15 minutes can make a big difference.

5. Don't sleep right away when I go to bed. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed during the work week that I don't take the time to "exercise" a little before I go to sleep. So, I'm going to try to, you know, "exercise" more often.

Mental Health
1. Work less! Somehow I have to either become more efficient or care about work less. Probably I will have to do a little of both. Naturally, it helps when I actually do more than 20 min of work on the weekend. Still, there's a time for work and a time for play, and right now I'm getting very little play time. In all aspects.

2. Write more! I seriously need to take more time to journal, write poetry/stories, and blog. It doesn't matter much to me which I do, as long as I take the time in some media to express my ideas in writing, not just speaking.

3. Read more! I'm sick of reading the same old crap. Right now the most I've been reading is the news online. While it is good to stay informed, my brain needs escape and to think about things more metaphysically at times--I need fantasy, adventure, mystery, and other genres to keep my imagination alive.

Spiritual Health
Honestly, my spirituality lately has been mostly a joke. For all I've done to develop and express myself spiritually, I may as well call myself an atheist. But I'm not an atheist, nor am I Christian or any other major religion. If I'm really going to call myself spiritual, but not religious, I need to take time to do some spiritual things.

This is hard to explain if you don't know me well enough to know my thoughts and ideas when it comes to my "faith," but here's sort of what I mean:

1. Meditate--I don't necessarily need to sit with a candle and stare at a wall for a half hour while sitting crosslegged and humming to myself. What I do mean is that I need to allow myself to sit or lay quietly for a while, with no other distractions, and just allow myself to clear my mind and exist for a while. Not to worry about all of the things I need to do, but to just let myself be myself and enjoy the fact that I am alive and breathing.

2. Appreciate nature--I always say that one of my major beliefs is in the "specialness" of nature. I can see the spiritual or divine in the beauty and wonder of nature. Well, if that is true, how come I spend so little time outside, or even looking outside. Despite the fact that it's friggen cold here, I need to take the time to go for a walk, observe my surroundings outside my window, stop at a park, or even do something cliche like watch the sunset or sunrise. I spend way too much time stuffed indoors and completely insular.

3. Help others--One thing I believe that all people should do is to do their utmost to be kind to others. That's simply a humanist thing. One could say I help others for a living, but I think sometimes I forget to be more kind when I leave work. I get so burned out from teaching that I don't feel like reaching out at all in my community. I'm not saying I'm planning to join a volunteer organization (I simply have no time for that at this point), but there are some activities and little, short things I could do in my neighborhood, even, such as stop at a block meeting or meet my neighbors more.

I'm sure there's some other things I should do. But I'm pretty sure half the things on the list are already not going to happen, so why add more?

Good Intentions

I think my brain is starting to fry. I spend so much of it doing work that I can't concentrate well on anything else during the week. Of course, blogging has definitely taken a back seat, as has using Facebook or MySpace. At the beginning of the year, I had such good intentions to blog more and make up some resolutions and shit. Not really a big surprise that I didn't. Sadly, work has just sucked up my life. The truly sad part is that I like it. I mean, I love it.

No, I am not a workaholic. Well, I don't think I am anyway. Are workaholics self aware? Despite my passion for teaching (though definitely not the office work or grading) I'm still being social, and I suppose that's the other part of the problem. Combine work with a social life, and I get just a couple hours a day for myself, if I'm lucky. That's necessarily a bad thing, except that it makes things a little stressful sometimes. Still, it's nice to hang out with people I don't typically see that often.

For instance, it's still f-ing awesome that Jenni is in town now. We don't live that close, but Jenni makes a really good effort in driving up here to hang out, even on week nights. I'll have to get down there soon. I'm trying to get a lot of time in with Karin too, since she'll be moving down to Madison after her wedding in mid-April.

Here are some things on the bright side:

• I finally finished putting together the online school newspaper. It's not online yet, due to having to wait for the tech guy to meet with me. I'll let you know when it's done. I would post about it, but I prefer not having the whole world know where I work.
• I'm still rocking karate class at the YWCA. I probably couldn't kick anyone's ass YET, but Chris did get my a gi for my birthday :)
• The Christmas tree is still up. I guess the tradition continues. Now it's a Valentine's Day tree.
• I have reestablished old ties--I now can play Super Mario World on the SNES again! Yay for used game stores! (And losing games I KNOW I own totally sucks)

That's about all I can think of for now. If I don't post now, I'll never post this year.