Monday, December 31, 2012

Challenge Accepted!

Dear 2012,

I am grateful you are over.  It's not you, it's me.  I'm just tired.

No, but seriously, the past two years or so have been a bit of a rollercoaster.  I have had wonderful, fantastic, stupendous things happen to me.  But, on the other hand, I have had horribly disheartening, terribly upsetting things happen to me the past year or two, as well.  So maybe I will make a list.  Two lists.  Because it's more easily encapsulated than me sitting around and talking about them forever.

The List of Wonderful, Fantastic, Stupendous Things:

1.  I GOT MARRIED.  BOOOOOOOOOOM.
2.  I got a real job.
3.  I moved out of Phoenix.
4.  I moved to Flagstaff.
5.  I learned how to drive stick shift.
6.  I discovered the joy of Gordon Ramsay television shows and the subsequent need to cook food using good, honest, locally-grown produce.  Yum.
7.  I ate a lot of delicious food.
8.  I discovered the joys of destroying your core with exercise.  Awesome.
9.  I learned that I love 5th grade.
10.  I get 120 little minds to mold and have fun with on a daily basis.
11.  I got a whole new set of friends through my colleagues and co-workers.
12.  I got my first grown-up apartment, and a bunch of things that go with that, such as:
               a.  A couch
               b.  A fancy coffee machine
               c.  Outdoor chairs.
               d.  The Indiana Jones Trilogy on Blu-Ray
13.  My husband had a lot of personal success.
14.  My husband and I figured out our personal recipe for our finances.
15.  I got a fancy new phone.
16.  I completed my goal of reading 50 or more books this year.
17.  I was responsible with my health (i.e., I saw doctors and got vaccines and had cavities filled).
18.  My husband and I discovered a bunch of new games.
19.  A lot of my friends had a lot of personal success this year, as well.
20.  I got to spend a lot of lovely time with my friends and family.

Now, the doozy. . .

The List of Horribly Disheartening, Terribly Upsetting Things:

1.  I got fired.  Not only was that upsetting, but it very much destroyed my self-confidence and made me depressed for a while.
2.  I have had some really upsetting moments in school.  Kids being jerks, parents being jerks, me being a jerk, et cetera.  I've only had a few crying episodes, and none of them really in front of my kids.  Woot.
3.  I have eaten way too much of things that are bad for me.
4.  I have not exercised enough.
5.  I have had some interesting community interactions.
6.  I spent the first half of the year wildly stressed out because of my wedding, moving, and finding a job.
7.  I spent the second half of the year wildly stressed out because of my job.
8.  I didn't read as many books as I would've liked.
9.  My husband was very stressed out a lot of this year.
10.  I would've liked to spend more time with friends and family.

So, it turns out that the bad list is half of the good list.  Score!

Now I have three or four pithy, vaguely required resolutions:

1.  Eat better.
2.  Exercise more.
3.  Read at least 50 books.
4.  Write down one good thing in my diary a day.

And now for the most exciting thing -- THE CHALLENGE FOR 2013.

You may think that I will merely read 50 books.  YOU WOULD BE WRONG.  My husband challenged my to read Bleak House (by Charles Dickens) and a collection of Jules Verne novels (including A Journey to the Center of the Earth, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in 80 Days) by the end of summer.  So, by the end of summer, I will have my requisite Charles Dickens book for the year read, and I will have become a mild expert on Jules Verne novels.  I will rule all books mwahahaha.

Erm.  Anyhow, HAPPY 2013, PEEPS!

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