Two Thousand and Nine

So I took a trip back in blog time to see if I had written any resolutions in January of 2008, but it turns out I didn't start this here blog until February, so alas, there is no history to depend upon.

I gotta be honest, 2009 freaks me out.

Jessica said on new years eve night as we sat by the front door of the Hideout "Can you believe next year we will be saying 2010?" and my only response to that is "nope, I can't believe it." It sounds like the freaking future and we are there and time keeps passing and the only consolation is that if I look back I can deduce that I'm typically doing a better job of things than I had done in the past.

In general, 2008 has been a good year. I feel like I have accomplished a number of things that I have wanted to (namely, getting out of debt, finding ways to cut my cost of living, running the 5k, bringing my lunch to work daily rather than going out to eat all the time, being more comfortable relaxing and enjoying doing nothing, generally getting a bit more comfortable in my skin) and remained stagnate with regards to a few things that I should have moved forward on (umm, remember when I worked out for about two months and then stopped?) But, overall I would be silly to complain.

I of course have some ideas of ways in which I would like to proceed with 2009.
-Now that I'm not paying money out to the man all the time I want to develop my savings. I actually have already begun to do this, but I want to be more vigilant about it.
-This was a previous resolution that I sort of succeeded with, but would like to do a better job of this year. I want to live on a tighter budget that involves me buying items of quality rather than things that are cheap. I'm a sucker for a sale of any sort, but this means my house fills up with things I don't care so much about and frankly don't need. I also have the habit of purging things regularly so that results in me just giving away all the things I buy. I want to buy better and buy less.
-Further to that point, I want to continue to cook more. I really have done a much better job of buying groceries and eating my own food more often, but I would like to learn to buy better groceries and make some quality dishes so I'm not doing the same thing all the time. I also think this would lead to having people over for meals more regularly. I also feel strongly about buying organic more often than I do. It is not the cost that prohibits me, but rather the laziness of not wanting to shop that often and the produce going bad.
-I have an idea for a blog/magazine that would involve interviewing people in my life. I keep thinking this is a good idea, but I never follow through with it. I want to get my butt in gear and do that. To this point, I also have an idea for a series of articles that I would like to write and I simply need to sit down and do that.
-Pursuing more voice students is something I always mean to do. I really love teaching and I think it is something I have a knack for. I know the students who I have taught thus far have been complimentary, so I want to reach out more and actually get a solid base of students... rather than just teaching here and there.
-This gets a bit loftier, but I am feeling strongly that I need to keep working on a life plan. Point myself in a direction. Don't let time just pass me by. Be in the moment. Be engaged. Be real. Be involved. Be honest. These are qualities I want badly to posses.
-Finally, I want to do a better job of staying in communication with dear friends. I have totally fallen off the wagon with this one and it can simply be linked to my laziness, so if you are someone whom I have not written, called, seen. I apologize. I think this is a really unfortunate rut I have fallen into and I plan to fix it.

Oh!
I almost forgot.
I need a new camera and a new bike in 2009 as well.

Writing this out is really for my benefit more than yours. I mean, I would be grateful if you held me to some of these resolutions, but I believe resolutions are a bit silly other than the fact that it is important to regularly throw out into the universe goals that you have for yourself. If you keep them entirely to yourself, I would argue that they don't necessarily exist. So, there they are. I think they are realistic and I think I can make it to 2010 and have made headway on most of them.

I'm off for now. I will share a few pictures from my time at home, but I just opened my work email for the first time in two weeks and nearly had a heart attack due to the amount of email that sits waiting for me. Monday is reality, I'm afraid.