Merry Christmas!

New Year's Resolutions

I know most people don't do this until after Christmas, but today I started thinking about my New Year's resolutions. Well, I'm not really thinking about them in those terms, I suppose, because when I think of New Year's resolutions, I think of ridiculously idealistic goals that nobody ever intends to see through. No, I want to set some real goals. Things I can realistically accomplish and feel good about. Things that are actually relevant to my life and the stage I'm at right now. Specific, achievable goals. Anyway, here's what I've come up with so far:

• Walk Max at least 3 times a week (but aim for every day). Obviously long periods of ice and rain would be reasonable exceptions. I'm setting this goal because both he and I need the exercise, and it's also a good bonding time for us.
• Save $1000 by the end of the year. I'd like to save more, so I might change this later, but I think this is a fairly reasonable goal for now because it's about 85 bucks a month. I plan to accomplish this by cutting my spending in the following areas: food/Starbucks (I've already started this by becoming bff with our little coffee pot), extraneous spending (stop buying clothes because I've got enough to outfit a small village, start checking out books at the library instead of buying them), gas (if I'm not constantly running to Starbucks or the mall, I won't need to fill up as often).
  
• Declutter. This project might take all year. Right now, my room is basically an unlivable space because clutter has taken over. I want to go through ALL of my clothes (including the ones packed away in the garage) and throw out/give away 50-75%. That's my goal. I've got an obscene amount of clothing, most of which I don't wear. Having less clothing will solve three problems for me: 1) I'll actually have room to put everything away; 2) I'll be forced to do laundry more often, so dirty laundry won't be allowed to pile up; and 3) This one might be a bit of a stretch, but I think it'll give me more confidence if I only have clothing that I love. As it is now, I get down to the last few articles of clean clothing, and they're not really things I like, and I end up feeling uncomfortable.
• Eat a more balanced diet. Lately I've been subsisting on coffee, Cheerios, and frozen pizza. It ain't good.
  

Aspiring to Goodness

Tonight at work I finished reading Pride and Prejudice, which I truly loved. I think I want to read Persuasion next, maybe. I'm going to Borders in the morning to wrap up my Christmas shopping (since Amazon is stupid and couldn't ship my stuff in time, even though I ordered it early enough), and I'm also going to pick up a new book to read (even though I've got about a million laying around that would probably do just as well). I have to say, reading 19th- and early 20th-century literature is completely retooling my idea of romance. As in, reminding me that romance actually existed at one point in time. And there's no reason why it shouldn't still exist. This is why I don't like most contemporary literature. There's so much sex and so little real romance. There's no courting. No passion. I'm sorry, but jumping into someone's bed is not an act of passion. I think it's sad that our culture is so obsessed with instant gratification that we sacrifice real, lasting, soul-stirring connections for temporary, physical "pleasure." Why does everything have to be now? Doesn't it make it that much better if you wait, if there's a build up of anticipation, if you spend time really getting to know someone? The more I learn about the past, the more I think we've just been passing time. Things have changed, but have they really changed for the better? Is it better that a side-effect of feminism is children coming home from school to empty houses, resorting to sex and drugs for attention from their parents who are just too busy to notice? Is it better that a result of sexual liberation has been a rapid decline in romance and even MORE pressure on women to put out? Is our society better off now that racism has been confined to private conversations between parents and children? Shouldn't we be striving to be so much more than this? Shouldn't our goal be to create a family environment in which children are nurtured, not neglected, by both parents? Shouldn't "women's rights" include the right to be respected, not pressured or harassed? Shouldn't parents teach their children about love and tolerance ALL of the time, not just when the cameras are rolling or the neighbors are watching? AND WHY IS IT SO HARD TO DO THESE THINGS? It sounds so simple, and so beautiful, and exactly what we should all want...so why isn't anybody doing it?

I don't know. Honestly, I'm not sure it's worth caring about. I can try to live my life in this way, but who will it matter to? The best I can hope for, I guess, is that it will influence my own children and inspire them to live this way too. Maybe by the time I'm dead, being a better person will be the new hot fad and everyone will aspire to goodness. But really, I doubt it. I want to be optimistic that we're just in the hedonistic extreme of a moral cycle in society. But who really knows?

P.S. Jack Johnson's new album is coming out Feb. 5th, the anticipation of which is almost enough to make the abysmally-long January a little more bearable.

Jingle Bells, Batman Smells

Oh lord, it's December. My holiday work schedule started today. Six days a week, 8-12 hours a day, for three weeks. Cha-ching! Tonight was a "light" night; I only had to work 7h45min.

Thursday was a big day for me. I got my oil changed and managed to play the dumb daddy's girl and still not get screwed over. After that, I went to the mall and bought myself some Christmas presents. I had every intention of buying myself a ring for Christmas, but when I was at Helzberg I fell in love with two and couldn't choose. So I bought both. A yellow gold smoky quartz ring and a white gold garnet ring. These pictures don't do them justice...they're so much more delicate & beautiful in person, especially the garnet ring, which sparkles like light hitting stained glass or red wine in a crystal glass. Right now they're both being sized, and I'll be able to pick them up next Thursday. I probably won't be able to wait until Christmas to wear them, though.

My grandpa is home & recovering nicely, and I'm also bouncing back from double ear infections. Things are going pretty well for me right now. Let's hope it sticks.