Day 135 - "Another Turning Point, A Fork Stuck in the Road"

Happy 2010!

All I can say is thank goodness that 2009 was over. It stunk, and that says a lot considering that I've only been on this planet 22 years and 345 days.

The year 2009 brought a lot of changes for me. I turned 22, my grandmother passed away from lung cancer due to second hand smoke, I finished my thesis (after two years,) I graduated from college and entered the work world, and made a decision about what I wanted to study in graduate school. I did a lot of soul searching, a lot of smiling, a lot of crying, and a lot of working for a year that, well, wasn't that great for many people.

However, I have resolved that 2010 is going to be better, despite me falling asleep at 8ish last night because I worked a lot at both jobs yesterday and didn't get a chance to take a nap. This year is going to rock, and if it doesn't, I'm going to reach back to this year from 2011 and give it a stern talking-to.

I've never been one for making big resolutions, but I feel like, since this is the first year of a new decade and a new beginning as my first full year of being a college graduate, that making some kind of goal or resolution is fitting. After some thought, this is what I've come up with:

• get into graduate school at all costs (because I desperately need this - no jokes)
• spend more time blogging
• stick to my schedule for my Suite101 articles as much as I can
• get up and move, even if it's walking laps around my house while I'm waiting on something

I think four is a good number of goals, mainly because I like things in even numbers and I usually make lists of four. There could be other things that I could add to the list, such as quit stressing out about student loans or stand up to my dad about my writing online or lose 100 pounds, but I feel like I can be at peace with these goals.

My big goal is just to be at peace. You would think, after I spent an entire school year interning with an organization that promotes nonviolence and peaceful living, that I could be at more peace with myself. Sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not, and when I'm not everything blows up and it gets very messy.

That's surprising, considering how much I enjoyed that internship.

Well, here's a toast to 2010 - may this year be a hell of a lot better than the last.

-AA