2009 is here!

So I haven’t blogged for a while. The office has been kind of a drag lately, with some people getting laid off and all our pay getting cut. Especially since my office and my surveyors are very busy, have plenty of backlogs (especially considering that it is winter with a lot of snow already) and we're making good profits. Why hamstring the one group that’s supporting itself AND contributing support to the rest of the company. Very frustrating. Anyway, my mood hasn’t been such that I felt like writing.

On a positive note:

For the last 3-4 years I’ve written a list of life-goals that I’d like to achieve over the coming year or years. Some are just habits to incorporate, whereas some have specific beginnings and endings. Last year, I stepped it up, and actually DID a great deal of the things on my list, and it felt so good, that I’m on the same path for this year. I made a few resolutions to add to my routines and better myself this year, some of which are well on their way.

1. I want to SPEAK Spanish with real people, to develop my language ability. So I signed up for a Conversational Spanish night class. I’m excited.
   
   
2. I want to re-discover/redevelop some my artistic abilities. I’ve begun sketching and painting again. I make a point to do something at least a couple times a week. I get so into watercolor painting, that time flies by at lighting speed and all of a sudden it’s midnight and I’m both exhausted and exhilarated. I need herbal tea just to calm down to get to bed.
   
   
3. I like to write, so I thought I would explore writing as a way of expressing myself. To add the artistic touch I bought some nice ink pens and a fountain pen. Tracy bought me a leather-bound journal of blank un-lined pages. I’ve been writing every day, using sienna colored ink. The same effect as with painting…exhausted exhilaration. It also hits another goal, which was to improve my handwriting. It’s downright illegible, or has been, which says something about a person. The care I take in writing now actually makes my handwriting look good, artistic. That also says something.
   
   
4. Publish some of my thoughts. So here I am publishing a blog, which I hope to keep updated every 1-2 weeks. (Now I just need some faithful readers. It would be fantastic to have a weekly or monthly article published in some magazine or paper. That’s the next step. I guess this is just practice. Of course, I need to have something worthwhile to say first…A topic to discuss and discourse on. That will come.
   
   
5. I want to write real letters on real paper, share news and thoughts with people that I’ve befriended internationally. I want to expand my world. Haven’t hit this one yet

There are a lot more things on my list, but these are the ones that I’ve already begun and are new…not the same old lose ten pounds, get in shape kind of things. There are more. I’ll let you know how they go.