Resolutions

Last year I broke with tradition and actually made a couple of New Year's Resolutions, then posted them on this blog. Having them in a public place made me more diligent about keeping them, so I thought I'd try it again this year. But before I make this year's, I should review how I did in 2006.

The first resolution was to exercise more. I actually managed to do well on this one, at least for a while -- I got to the gym four or five times a week for the first five or six months of the year. Most importantly, I'd put on a few pounds since college, and I was able to shed those. Things kind of fell apart the second half of the year, though. Although I bought a fall semester membership to the gym, I don't think I went once. Good thing the memberships are heavily subsidized by the university. I'm glad all of those fee hikes are going somewhere.

My second resolution was to write more. Of course, I write a lot of academic stuff: grant applications, papers, etc., but I had in mind something a bit more creative. Well, I don't know what I was thinking. I enjoy writing, but it's never really been a habit, and it certainly didn't become one in the year I started writing my dissertation. I did manage to keep up this blog relatively well, which I should be happy about, but that was about it. I think that tells me that it's important to have a plan of action before making any resolutions. Which brings me to...

My 2007 resolutions:
1) Start going to the gym again. This one I'm optimistic about. Since I don't know where I'll be after the early part of this summer, I figure all I have to do is match last year's performance and I'm set. So far I've either been to the gym or gone running nearly every day of the past week. (Special side note: as far as I'm concerned, New Year's resolutions don't start to count until after Epiphany.)

2) Play the guitar more. This is an explore-your-creative-side resolution that has a slightly higher chance of success than last year's because I've actually been intermittently in the habit of playing the guitar since I was in high school. In fact I have two guitars sitting at the end of the couch. I actually bought a new acoustic guitar last summer, and was pretty good about playing it for a while. Now that I've resolved publicly to do it, maybe I can keep it up. So next time you're over, I'll be taking requests. As long as it's a song by Iron Maiden or the Grateful Dead.