New Year's Resolutions 2011

That's right, even though my brain is currently semi-mushy due to cold viruses scurrying around and rewiring connections so that nothing really makes sense, I have in fact been pondering New Year's resolutions. This mostly took place prior to getting sick, so the resolutions are generally doable and more or less make sense. I think.

The only obstacle I'm seeing to these resolutions, currently, is logistics, but I'll think about that when my brain is working again.

1. Start going to the gym regularly again. I've been exercising with reasonable regularity, mostly going out running with Rob a few times a week (2 or 3 miles each time, usually), and also using the exercise bike, but, as always, the craziness of the holidays threw a wrench into the works. Well, wrench begone!

2. Do more artwork. I have not been leaving enough time to really work on my visual art lately, other than the occasional figure drawing session. I even have very specific ideas for a new body of work I want to start experimenting with, but haven't had the time, and when I've had time, I haven't had energy. This must be remedied.


3. Start brand-new novel project that I was supposed to start during NaNoWriMo but didn't. Speaking of specific ideas, I have some good plans for that project, too. (In case you were wondering, it's the much-hyped steampunk-ish novel that I was talking about months ago.) I still have a lot of world-building to do, but I'm itching to start writing.

4. Re-incorporate at least one long-lost hobby into my life. Over the course of the past year or two (coinciding quite neatly with my freelance business and writing work picking up) the following beloved hobbies have fallen almost completely by the wayside except for the occasional token foray: playing video games, knitting (I hardly knew ye; I have yet to finish a knitting project), practicing the piano, learning languages and (this one is really more chore than hobby) sewing. It's mostly due to lack of time and energy, although I should also add that there's nothing worse for the self-esteem of the amateur musician who plays for enjoyment to have friends who are professional classically-trained musicians.

Sadly, I'm seeing a running theme with all of these resolutions, and they all depend heavily on improving my time management skills. Therefore there's an unspoken resolution #5: Become a whiz at time management. I don't seem to be very good at it, and I'm constantly misjudging the amount of time it will take me to do things, and the amount of energy. I usually underestimate how long things will take me to do, and I also tend to assume I have infinite energy reserves to boot, such that I won't need a break between tasks but can simply jump to the next one. And I almost never factor in time to deal with unforeseen stuff.

So I'm not sure how this will all happen. I'm hoping some time will magically appear once Rob is done spending all his free time in the art studio preparing for his show at the end of the month. That should free up at least a few hours a week in cooking and cleaning time, if nothing else. So...one hour more of exercise, one hour of artwork and one hour of hobbies? That sounds a little sad. Must think of a better strategy...