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Monday, December 31, 2007

New Year's Resolutions, Revolutions, and Revelations

As I'm sipping wine and thinking about the changes I want to make in my life in the New Year it occurs to me that I have it pretty good...
I'm living in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with a warm apartment to come home to, a cat who greets me, food in the pantry, and piles of books and boxes of craft supplies to keep me entertained. If I can't find anything to watch on the 4 TV channels I can get without cable I pop a movie into the DVD player and enjoy an old favorite. My '99 Bravada gets me to work and back. I like my job at Wilderness Awareness School and my office has a window!

That window is important...I worked the night shift for many years as a nurse's aide at a small Missouri hospital, and then worked for 15 years or so in the storeroom. There weren't any windows in the storeroom. The only natural light that came in was through the back door when trucks came with freight to unload. Those all-too short glimpses of the outdoors came with diesel exhaust. So, I don't have much to complain about. Still, this day is traditionally the one day when we all resolve to do better...be better. With no further ado, here are my New Year's Resolutions, version 2000.8
  • I will get Mom's birthday present in the mail so that it will arrive by Jan. 7th.
  • I will talk to my friends back in Missouri more often, for no reason at all. For a while, we only spoke on the phone if there was bad news to relay. After Cheryl had called me for the 2nd time to tell me of the deaths of other friends, we agreed to phone on Monday evenings. Sometimes she calls me, sometimes I call her, but we do call, just for fun.
  • I will write every day...OK, every other day...every third day, for sure...and I'll be brave about asking people to read my stuff. There's just no point in writing unless someone reads it.
  • I will drink more wine. The glass I'm having tonight is from a 4-pack of single-serve bottles that I bought to celebrate my graduation from WAS - in June. I still have a bottle left.
  • There's no doubt that I'm going to continue to eat ice cream, so I'm going to allow myself to have the good stuff. No guilt allowed. Hot fudge sauce on special occasions.
  • I'm going to stop reading a book if it's not good in the first 3 chapters...there are way too many books to waste time on bad ones.
  • I'm going to take more bubble baths.
  • I will visit the new Cabela's in Lacey, Washington...it's dangerous. I could happily spend every penny I ever make in that store. It's the one thing about Kansas City that I have missed... and the barbecue, of course.
  • I will use the fishing license that I bought.
  • I will be grateful every day for the remarkable opportunity I have here in my new life.

Life gets complicated if we let it...and the world keeps turning. It only turns in one direction, so there's no use trying to go back.

See how profound I can be with a little wine?

Happy New Year! Please celebrate sanely.




4 comments:

  1. Thanks for inviting me to read your blog. It's good! I have always enjoyed reading your stories. Remember the one about the cat and the bag of pecans? Someday you will have to share that one again. I have always considered you a good friend and am glad we have stayed in touch. Wishing you the best in the new year. margaret

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey, fellow rez' graduate. Love your blog and look forward to reading it lots in the future. I also have a blog... or two.

    One of my joint travels with Jen:

    http://jnfperu.livejournal.com/

    Another is my personal nature one:

    http://heartinnature.blogspot.com/

    The nature one has not be updated in a while.

    Anyway, a suggestion for something you can put on your blog... a book list! I know you are really love to read, as do I. Its a great way to get to share stories we love.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Haha, oops. You already have a booklist at the bottom!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great story so far.

    I love the color scheme of your page.

    I've only just started, but anxious to keep reading.

    ReplyDelete

My Favorite Fiction Authors and Books

  • Suzanne Arruda- the Jade del Cameron mysteries: "The Mark of the Lion" "Stalking Ivory", "The Serpent's Daughter", "The Leopard's Prey" and "The Golden Cheetah"
  • Ken Goddard - "Balefire" and others
  • Stephen White - the Dr. Alan Gregory books are all great. "Kill Me" is my favorite.
  • Harlan Coben - anything he writes is great
  • Elizabeth Peters - Amelia Peabody mysteries

My Favorite Nonfiction Authors and Books

  • "Coyote's Guide to Connecting With Nature" by Jon Young, Ellen Haas and Evan McGown- 2nd edition coming soon!
  • Gavin De Becker - "The Gift of Fear"
  • "Deep Survival" by Laurence Gonzales- the best survival book I've ever read! Not a how-to, its more of a who does,and why.
  • Candice Millard - "The River of Doubt -Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey"
  • Anything that starts with "Peterson's Field Guide To..."
  • Tom Brown, Jr. - "The Tracker" and others
  • Mark Elbroch - "Mammal Tracks and Sign" and "Animal Skulls"