Ave, 2007, vale 2006.

[truepenny]

Heretofore, I've always liked New Year's more for the champagne and staying up 'til midnight (not that I'm not awake until midnight most nights, but it's a carry-over from childhood, when this was the one night of the year staying up 'til midnight was not merely allowed, but actually approved) and the tiny brilliant jewel of numerological symbolism than for any strong feelings about the NEWNESS of the new year.

I theorize (because, as you may have noticed, EVERYTHING in my life needs an intellectual apparatus) that this is in part because up until May 2004, my life was structured by the academic calendar, in which the lump of winter surrounding Christmas and New Year's was more in the nature of hitting pause on the VCR to get up, go to the bathroom, get a snack, than it was hitting eject to put in a new tape.

If that metaphor makes even the slightest sense, which I doubt.

However, comma, I'm not an academic any longer, and that fundamental truth may finally be sinking in. (What can I say? Deprogramming takes a while.) And I do actually have strong feelings about things I want to change, things I want to do better about, things that have--frankly--sucked; this particular New Year's is feeling like an opportunity to at least ARTICULATE these things, even knowing that I'm not going to wake up on January 1st and miraculously COPE with them all.

So.

1. Physical health. I need to exercise. Despite the boredom of it all. And despite my chronic health problems (no, they're not serious, just tiresome, and no, I'm not going to talk about it). In 2007 I want to find workarounds so that I can maintain some sort of exercise regimen.

2. Piano. Part of the suckitude of the last quarter of 2006 was that I got very weird and depressed and defeatist about the piano. I want this to change. Note to self: buying new sheet music is really not a crime.

3. Finances. Keeping up with the bookkeeping of same. I know WHAT needs to happen, and have for years. I need to work on noticing when I start to backslide, and then, you know, NOT.

4. Summerdown. Due August 1st. 'Nuff said.

5. Housekeeping. I am a slatternly housekeeper. The house deserves better.

I could go on--I'm a perfectionist: there are always more flaws to work on--but I think those are the important things, the sources of welling discontent with myself.

No, okay. One more, and the reason I chose the particular user icon I did:

6. I will not try to "keep up" with other authors of my acquaintance. I work as fast and as well as I work. Nobody else can be my benchmark. The creatures that mutter in dimly lit corners of my brain are just going to have to find something else to mutter about. This topic is off the list.

Comments

[torrilin.livejournal.com]

I'm a terrible housekeeper. This is ok as long as the terrible confines itself to things that don't bother me or the creature. If the sink is full of dirty dishes, neither one of us will cook. So one of the house rules is that it's not ok for the sink to be full of dirty dishes, because we've determined that it's really kind of important to actually eat (yes, we grapple with this every day). The creature tends to leave junk mail in cluttered piles whenever he brings it in. This drives me *bats*. So it's not ok to leave piles of junk mail everywhere. I have a dreadful habit of leaving my socks and shoes under the computer desk. This drives the creature bats, so I try not to do it.

I find it's much easier to bring up the general standard when you can point to something very tiny and specific and say "this needs to change".

The same thing goes for excercise. Find something tiny you can do to change, and make the change a habit. My change was going from driving to get around to mostly walking. Your change will almost certainly be different, just make sure it's small enough that you will stick with it. And forgetting about it once isn't the end of the world :). Some days I don't have the time to devote most of a day towards walking to do my daily errands, so I'll grab a bus ride or two to speed up some of the longer trips.

[quietselkie.livejournal.com]

In other news, comma, I saw Melusine at my GROCERY STORE yesterday. Go you!

Happy New Year!

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. Too awesome.

Thank you for letting me know!

[heresluck]

...the lump of winter surrounding Christmas and New Year's was more in the nature of hitting pause on the VCR to get up, go to the bathroom, get a snack, than it was hitting eject to put in a new tape.

That's it EXACTLY.

As for your list: all good (if sometimes dull) things! and many of them remarkably similar to items on my own list, substituting "article" for #4 and suchlike. We should start a support group. *g*

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

I still think in the academic year. Things stop in the summer, people go away for weeks on end. The winter break is just a few days, and since much of it involves being sociable (including having houseguests, making beds, cookingf, maybe even cleaning house) it's too busy to feel like a real break. Not in a bad way, you understand, but still.

So the calendar can do what it will, but I still think of autumn as when things change round. The Jewish New Year is well timed.

[allaboutm-e.livejournal.com]

:: good follow-thru vibes ::

[smills47.livejournal.com]

Your books bring me so much reading pleasure. Thank you! and happy New Year!

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

Happy New Year &c.

[adnara.livejournal.com]

Your VCR simile describes it perfectly. The academic calendar really does warp one's perception of time..

Bluthner

[(Anonymous)]

Hi! I'm bored and instead of doing the mature adult thing and performing the multitude of weekend chores I need to be doing, I let out the inner child who's been googling Bluthner. That's where I ran across your journal. I purchased a new Model 4 (the seven-footer) three years ago and it awes me as much today as it did when I first discovered it.

How are you doing with yours? Aren't they incredible? If I were a religious person, which I'm not, I'd say that angels would choose to play Bluthners. And they really do sound bell-like, which everyone says about their grand piano, but non-Bluthner owners lie when they say it.

Anyway, just stopped by to nod knowingly at a fellow Bluthner fan.

Shelley - Aurora, CO

Oh! Before I got my Bluthner, before I even contemplated buying a grand, I took lessons from a piano professor who had a monster Bosendorfer in his studio. Of course I knew nothing about them, and the sound never appealed to me. Later, when I began the process of determining which piano was going to be mine, I wondered if the reason I didn't care for the Bosie was because my lessons stressed me out so badly that I associated the Bosie with a negative experience. Not so, however, as since then I've had opportunities to listen to them. And I still don't care for their tone. Don't know why I brought that up.