I spent too much time during the holidays travelling (by train, plane, and bus), but it was good spending time with friends, family, and girlfriend. I: bowled for the first time (and found myself surprisingly good at it); caught up on gossip about fellow high school classmates (the ones who aren’t in jail – not kidding, by the way); watched an exciting hockey game (a come from behind effort for the Canucks to tie with the L.A Kings); received great presents; and found out just how hard it is to take apart an artificial Christmas tree.
It snowed nearly five inches yesterday. Driving was a gamble for the locals, especially for those silly enough to brave the hills of downtown Seattle without snow tires or chains. During the two hour trip home yesterday I passed at least four abandoned buses, half of them at funny angles blocking medians, or intersecting trees or other vehicles. Today it’s rained steadily and the snow seems to be washing away. So that ends the freakish weather for the season.
It’s a new year, and it’s time for resolutions. Examining last year’s, I realise the only resolution I actually fulfilled was buying a house. I didn’t even come close on most of the others. The number of Chinese characters I learned can be counted on my fingers (I remember “guo” – “fruit”. Why? It’s a box on top of a tree.) I can barely manage 5.10a climbs right now, haven’t been to the gym in months. I am still sullen (if not outright grumpy) on occasion, and even more of a hermit than I was a year ago. I did manage some chamber music during the summer but did absolutely nothing in terms of taekwondo or tutoring.
So with last year’s performance in mind, here’s this year’s somewhat more realistic resolutions, with more commentary:
- Learn to drive (and get a car). After moving to Fremont I’ve felt hampered by not having a car. The local grocery situation is lame (expensive organic food), and going to the climbing gym (or anywhere for that matter) is awkward; the local bus schedules suck. Getting a car will just make life easier and is way overdue, even if it feels like I’m somehow giving up a cool idiosyncrasy (“I don’t drive because my karma is better for it.”)
- Become a volunteer tutor. Same as last year. I need to do something useful for society (and no, my job doesn’t qualify). I thought I’d actually do it after moving to Fremont, but the closest school is B.F. Day Elementary, and I’d prefer tutoring middle or high school.
- Get the piano tuned and practice on it. The piano hasn’t been tuned or overhauled since I left Vancouver. This is horrible neglect and abuse for an expensive instrument, especially since I had it moved over a long distance twice. As for practice, I can feel my piano skills slipping away.
- Climb (top roped) at least 5.10a reliably by April, and be able to lead 5.8. I actually feel confident about the toproped part (since I was doing that pretty well last summer), but I need to learn lead belaying and climbing as well. The deadline is imposed by Roz’s plan to do outdoor sport climbs in Joshua Tree during spring break, and based on last year’s experience in Red Rock, top rope anchors are far and few in between.
- Blog better and more often. Looking over last year’s entries, I notice I’ve just reported on life, and have offered far fewer opinions or rants than in years past (okay, the geekiness has also dropped significantly, but this may not be such a good thing either). This has contributed to a drop in perceived amusement value for readers which should be rectified.
Last year’s resolutions are still noble, but hey, that was so last year. Let’s see how I manage with these.
