Friday, January 1, 2010

That Resolution Thing

People have been asking: Do you resolve?  And yes I do.  Here were my resolutions for 2009:
1. Eat better (e.g., less fat, less white flour, less sugar, more vegetables)
2. Lose weight
3. More exercise (thanks to Coffee Jones and Dino Burger for the Wii Fit we received last month -- it's really increased the exercise for these chilly days)
4. Make four quilts
5. Be a better quilt guild member
6. Get organized with my legal work: more filing, more scheduling and use of the calendar, and more preparation for specific issues.

It goes without saying that I should blog more!
Okay, so how did I do?  Well, #1 is an ongoing process, but I definitely eat better than I did a year ago, so I'll give myself a check for that one.  #2 is also an ongoing process, but I weigh 12 pounds less today than a year ago, and 20 pounds less than my high point for the year.  Importantly, I've lost 10 pounds of the 45 I want to lose by next October 1.  That's almost on track, but I can do better!

Exercise -- yes and no.  Definitely can do better on that!

Quilting.  Well, *sigh* this is continues to be my Achilles' heel.  No, I was not a better guild member, and no, I didn't complete 4 quilts.  I'm going to drop the guild member thing (I could whine about how far away the meetings are, but who am I kidding? I just don't want to), but I should still be able to make four quilts in a year.  That resolution stays put until, damn it, I complete four quilts in a year!

Finally, I won't say my organizational skills improved over the year, but here's why I'm still going to give myself a check for #6:  I used to be deficient in my brief writing, a vital skill for a litigator.  Well, not this year!  As a result of the tragic appeal (for which I wrote three complete briefs in six months) I improved several times over (even if I did lose the case).  Ironically, I'm ending my legal career, but it's nice to know I actually tackled that demon to the ground.

Okay, how about for 2010?

Let's keep the first four in place:
  1. Eat better (e.g., less fat, less white flour, less sugar, more vegetables)
  2. Lose weight
  3. More exercise
  4. Make four quilts

    And here are the new ones for 2010:

  5. Complete, revise & polish two complete romance novels (not as daunting as it sounds; both are well underway)
  6. Do all that I can do to get published.  (See how I didn't resolve to get published?  But I play a large part in that, and I resolve to do everything within my power to market myself as a writer and my novels as publishable.)
  7. Be more confident
Okay, so that last one might seem like a ringer, seeing as how I don't come across as shy, awkward, or lacking in self-assurance.  But I've been in some situations recently where my first instinct was to run and hide.  Well, y'know what?  I ended up handling myself just fine, and I'm actually proud of myself for the way I got on.  It's not my actions that need adjusting, it's my attitude about myself.  

So: scorecard for 2009?  Three thumbs up, two thumbs down, and one thumb sideways.  Which, frankly, is not too bad.  The only resolutions I "broke" were the quilting ones, and while that's disappointing, it's not the end of the world.

P.S.  Oh, and did you notice that unnumbered resolution, about blogging more?  Well, here -- no, I did NOT blog more here at Narrow End.  Nor on the quilt or knitting blogs.  (Bad Magdalen)  But at my new blog, Promantica?  I kick ass.