Friday, January 04, 2008

Finish

(A stream of consciousness blog - because I've been away for a bit.)

That's it. One word. Finish.

That's my New Year's Resolution for 2008.

It doesn't mean finish everything, but it does mean getting some things OFF OF MY 'TO DO' LIST !

I've been EXTREMELY busy over the last few months (as you know) with school and learning the ropes as a bartender.

Well, seven A's out of seven classes put me on the Dean's List, but it also put some things in perspective for me.

I never see my friends. The house goes for weeks without a good sweeping, cleaning, ordering, etc. And all of my hobbies get shuffled around from room to room.

I worked diligently at some important things, but this year I'm working on some higher goals. The bigger things need to be finished, while maintaining a good school record.

How do you eat a whale? One bite at a time.

So....this year, I'll work toward my New Year's Resolution one bite at a time.

I really want to finish the downstairs this year.
I want to finish some paperwork. (Mostly taxes.)
I want to finish the PRAXIS stuff and get into the teaching program. (Two test scores successfully received, one to go.)


So, rather than looking at the entire list of stuff that needs to be done, I'll be looking at individual small things that I can fit into an evening or weekend here and there. - For instance, the living room needs to be painted to a sellable color - and toward that end, I cleared bookshelves today that need to be moved away from the wall.

I'll still knit. I want to finish this Cobblestone sweater. Then I have some tweed to do something with, and one skein of some neat blue and green silk blend I got for Christmas. But what do you do with ONE skein?

One major bit is taxes this year. That's going to happen whether I have time for it or not. I have lots to do in that area, but rather than looking at the sheer weight of the task, I'll focus on the individual little bits and pieces that need to be gathered before the big day in April.

So, one bite at a time I will finish things this year. Last year, my resolution was 'simplify.' And I didn't do that very well. Yes, I quit my D.C. commute and now I work 3 blocks from home, but I also tacked 7 college classes onto my list and reduced my income by a HUGE amount. Perhaps I'll carry that resolution over to this year too. I'm on my way with only 4 classes for the Spring semester (however, one is a doozy).