Known Knowns

**Note: I actually wrote this post on New Year’s Eve. Then, my computer ate it. Three days later, after much mourning and even after writing half of a new post, WordPress coughed up the original out of nowhere. Happy New Year to you, too! (I am going to backdate the timestamp.)**

I have actually been thinking about writing my 2008 Goals for several weeks; it is now five hours until 2008 so here goes nothing. The first thing I’d like to do is re-evaluate my goals from last year to see how I did.

Goal: Expand my food palate and, in particular, eat more fish.

Outcome: Good! I now consider salmon to be one of my favorite foods and try to eat it at least once a week. I even order it at restaurants where I can’t watch how it’s prepared. I also like other fish: halibut, swordfish, tilapia, and mahi mahi. So, great progress there. However, I still hate onions, so no progress there (but I wasn’t really trying.)

Goal: Do the Pike’s Peak Ascent again.

Outcome: Yes, I did it again, and you can read all about it here. All I have to say is that at one point, I seriously wished someone would just shoot me in the face. I did NOT train for it, but I did complete it. So there.

Goal: Get Roland his Canine Good Citizen certification.

Outcome: Not even close. He’s not even in any formal training right now due to my weird schedule. Also, mentally he is very much a puppy (even though he’s one year old) and very silly and nowhere near mature enough to be certified. I don’t mind though; he’s still doing really well and this is just going to be more of a long term goal.

Goal: An unstated GPA goal for nursing school.

Outcome: Well, I got all A’s, so I guess I did okay. I’m still not so good at letting the pressure off myself, especially now that I’m two semesters in and still doing so well, academically.

Goal: Improve bowling score from a 56.

Outcome: Rocked it. I bowled a 62 a few weeks ago. Boo y’all.

So, all in all, I’d say I did really well on these resolutions. In fact, 4 out of 5 ain’t too shabby at all, and I have to say I’m proud of myself. What do I have in store for 2008, you ask?

• Exercise. I know, I hate to be one of the one gazillion people vowing to go back to the gym in 2008 but maybe if I do it now, I can just maintain it and never have to use it as a resolution again. The truth is I’ve already started, so it’s not quite as cliche since I won’t be officially starting on January 1, 2008. I’m trying out this new program called CrossFit and plan to re-evaluate in three months. If I hate it, I’ll try something else, but I want to really focus on staying active.
• I’d like to make a gift to Harlaxton College, where I studied abroad and had the most amazing semester of my life, bar none. I don’t know when I’ll make that gift, and I don’t know how much, but this year I’ll do it.
• I would like to start composting. Also, I’m not going all hippie, but I did get some reusable grocery bags for Christmas, and I think I should be using the bus a little more. I’ll work on that.
• I’d like to continue the success I’ve had in nursing school in several ways: keep my mind open to things that may not initially seem appealing (like pediatrics) and refrain from gossiping.
• I will make a real effort to clean the litterbox once a week at least. I plan on doing it when I do my own laundry,which is every weekend almost without fail.