Happy New Year

Say goodbye to 2007 and looking forward to 2008.

What I'm looking towards this year. I know we all make resolutions around our birthday or New Years but I just want to create a list of things that will be on my radar. I’m thinking more of like the "diet thing". We all know diets only work while you are on them and when you stop then they actually do more harm than good. Well, this is the equivalency to the non diet “life changes”. These changes won’t be instant and I know their will be some backsliding but by years end, the movement will be forward and the progress a result of the energy expressed. I hope ………

Go back to school. I left some open ended issues hanging that need to be resolved with my education. My occupation is becoming less and less stable and the job market shrinks more each year. Call it hedging my bets. I may just be taking a non core class but the mere act of resuming the academic cycle is a big step.

Plan for a vacation that may not happen until 2009. There is a lot of research and pre-exploration that happens before the vacation to eliminate the need for an iron clad itinerary and remain flexible enough to enjoy spontaneous changes.

Make a personal resolve to reduce the accumulation of yarn for the sake of acquisition. I have yarn that is ear marked for projects and yarn that is still looking for the pattern of best utilization from previously emotional purchases. No I’m not going on a yarn diet. I started this by stating a change in life. I know we are going to Stitches West in a few months and I will have some purchases.

This leads me to the next resolve. Take steps to personalize my fiber. Move from the hand spindle and produce yarn that I can use for my projects. Express my originality while developing my skills in the crafts of fiber prep, spinning, dying, pattern design and of course knitting. I know it seems so general but the canvas is clean and by being too specific here only limits or forces direction and I hope as I learn more this year it will lead me to places I don’t know about yet. The only way to fail in the resolve would be to ignore the fact that it’s just the first steps and not to be open and allow time to develop my skills.

Improve my body. Everyone sets goals of “I want to lose 25 pounds or some arbitrary number but I just want to improve my general health. I was at one point in my life in good health and I feel the age thing kicking my body all over the place. I have many physical activities I would love to do or learn but my health is or could be a limiting factor in these. What you say? I have a bicycle in storage that I wish I could resume riding and someday resume road racing. Ballroom dancing has been a long term goal but I may need some knee surgery or at least a good brace. Fencing, Yes I want to learn fencing. Last is to take a singles rowing class and someday buy a racing shell. Dancing and fencing are sort of considered a couples or non solo things but the cycling and rowing are things I can do to enjoy the solitude of exercise. I used to do a lot of thinking while I rode mile after mile. It’s the focus I get only when I’m alone with my thoughts as my mind competes against my body. I press myself to the point of exhaustion to feel the pleasure when I finish. That moment when I stop and know I’ve completed what I wanted. That last mile faster and harder than the first that just ends with that glorious pause. Yes I am a psycho when I do things physical in nature.

Return to my guitar. Play everyday even if it’s just 20 minutes. I need to pull them out of the closet and let them be available when I have a few minutes. My cousin at Christmas had three guitars just sitting on stands around the house to encourage the spontaneous play. That was my inspiration to begin again…

Read for pleasure. We all read for work or our crafts but nothing feels as good as the enjoyment of that mixed feeling of finishing that book that you just picked because you liked the last book by that author or because you loved the cover. You're happy that you found the last page and closed the story according to the author and also the bittersweet feeling that it’s over.

Last is to feel good about myself. No regrets…..