Resolutions

January.  A time to start anew.  To aim high.  To take second chances.   On the whole, New Year's resolutions really are just resolutions for most people...not achievements.  However, I do think that everyone should have some New Year's resoultions so that they are forced to self-reflect and develop some loose sense of purpose.  The alternative is to meander, and life's just too short for that.

Here are some of mine.   They're humble, achievable, and meaningful.

• End the beginning - In 2008, I decided to write a book.   I'm calling it Greecings and Such, and it has three parts.  The goal is to finish the first part this year. 
• Color the world - One of the parts I liked about being back in Houston over the holiday break was sleeping in my room surrounded by my paintings on the walls.  It's home.  Time to buy some new paint supplies and canvases to spruce up my flat in London.  Hopefully, they are not ungodly expensive because I can't justify having two sets of expensive supplies on either side of the Atlantic.
• Twelve in twelve - My reading queue is way too long.  Besides watching Ted videos all day, reading is what I would choose to do on a leisurely Saturday.  A book a month is the goal.   
1. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
2. The Prize by David Yergin
3. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
4. No Apology by Mitt Romney
5. Luckiest Guy in the World by T. Boone Pickens
6. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
7. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
8. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris
9. Molokai by Alan Brennert
10. Twilight in the Desert by Matt Simmons
11. Emma by Jane Austen
12. Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen
• Aim for 20 - This is really my "get back in shape" resolution.  I was in the best shape of my life when I was twenty.  I could run really far and for a really long time.  While I likely won't reach that level of fitness again, I can get back into running more consistently and lifting weights more regularly.  Fall 2010 quarter at LBS was just too jam packed with courses to come up with a routine.  This quarter is a different story.  My friend Dina invited me to run the Prague marathon with her in April.  I really would like to, but my left knee can't take it anymore.  This resolution is not marathon or P90X fit but rather feeling healthy again.