Random Thoughts - Free songs from Starbucks are pretty good. I got three of them over the past 2 months (which happens to also be the number of times I went in for a soy latte but they were out of soy), and I just downloaded them last night and listened to them today. Nice songs. Nice promo.

Getting behind on your bills and receipts is a pain in the butt. I should avoid that forever. But I'm all caught up again (whew!) and will be taking some serious steps.

New Year's is coming up way too soon, in my opinion. I can hardly believe this is the last weekend of the year.

Christmas (and Hanukah) Thank You's - I have some special thank you's and warm fuzzies from this December's set of holidays.

For all the gift givers... Nate: For the museum catalog of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Mel: For my orange knitted scarf (I love the frilly shape!) of my own hand-spun. Mom: The blanket, the retail therapy (hee hee), the cute penguin bag with Avon products, the stationery, and the calligraphy set. Robert: The Tori Amos music books, and the amazing castle / zen garden / candles set. True & Inga: the lovely earrings and my wonderful "parting gift" (a Pear chardonnay). Meala: Another canister of Meala-Chocolate.

For all the text messages and phone calls I got back, after I sent Christmas greetings over text message (and I apologize if I forget anyone here): Jon Thomme, Kristin, Mike/Drell, Wade, Patrick & Brenda, Eric M., Gauge, Teffan, Diego, Dain... It was so nice to hear from so many people, and of course it was fun to send greetings to several dozen friends in my cell phone.

Pre New Year's Resolutions - So I thought I'd share some of the ideas I'm having about "New Years Resolutions" in general, and in specific for 2008. Now, I live most of my life with the concept that every morning is fresh and new, and you can readjust your life anytime you want, right now. I often wonder "What am I in the habit of?" and "What habits am I building right now?" so that I can examine patterns and reinforce the good ones, adjust the less helpful patterns. One of my favorite radio people says, "Don't 'try.' 'Do.' There's no 'trying' to do something: Do it."

So rather than say I'll "try" to get around to something, I usually think "I'm doing this" or "I'm not choosing to do this." Now, that's not to say that my To-Do lists aren't constantly filled with things I never got around to, even though I'd planned to do them. *shrug* Sometimes I manage to pull it off, sometimes I don't.

Oh, but right. What was I talking about? Resolutions.

So, two Septembers ago I went to Rosh Hoshana services with Jeff and Adrienne, for the Jewish New Year. It was kind of nice to mark a New Year in September, since that's my birthday month, and that's the beginning of the academic year. Last year at this time, I left the services thinking "Gee, I should learn some Hebrew." So I did. I took a class over the summer (which turned into two classes, back-to-back, because several of us wanted to keep going) and by the end of the Jewish year, I had learned a little bit about how to read Hebrew. Recently I went to the first "normal" Saturday service ever, with Adrienne and her father-in-law Mike, and I went to my first Friday night service ever, in combination with their "Mini-Shabbat Course." Although I couldn't keep up with the Saturday services when the readings were entirely in Hebrew, I could put my finger on the page and follow along. It reminded me of all the language classes I've been in, when there's an immersion section -- like watching a film in the original/other language, or trying to watch an entire conversation in sign language without a translator. I can sorta see where they're at in the conversation, if I cannot actually follow along.

I got through September this year with the thought that I'd like to learn how to read Trope marks, which indicate how to sing or chant along in the Hebrew. I expanded the idea further, that I'd like to do some research on music history and musical notation throughout history. I'd learned some of the notation systems back in college, and would need to do some serious studying to brush up on and renew my skills with them again. That should pair nicely with research on Trope marks, too.

Of course, the other major thing about Jewish New Year and my birthday month this year -- I went through my fifth layoff. It took a month unemployed to land my current contract, and although it was extended for two more months, I still only have guaranteed employment through Feb 8th. I still need to figure out how to land another "permanent" full-time job, and soon. *sigh*

Oh, and now lots of my friends are starting to post their New Year's resolutions this week, in anticipation of next week. The things that I'm starting to contemplate include not so much "resolutions" but "things I should schedule and start, possibly even complete."

Here's some List-y Goodness:
Things I've Done Well Lately (And Shall Continue)

• Exercise every morning


• Drink less (or hardly any) Diet Coke


• Drink more water


• Eat smaller portions


• Use my online calendar more effectively (build the master-calendar habit)


• Consolidate my master phone/address list


• Post more regularly on my journal (grin)

Things I'm Working Toward

• Learn to read Trope marks (Hebrew song and cantillization notation)


• Research music notation history, especially for the SCA historical periods


• Continue my morning exercises and stretching, in 10-week "academic quarters"


• Add walking and/or running into my routine before the end of 2008


• Buy a new digital camera


• Get my debts back under control again


• Reduce the clutter boxes in the house to bare-necessities (esp. paper files)


• Post more photo albums on a semi-regular basis (perhaps bi-weekly?)


• Send more birthday cards and/or emails in 2008


• Record more of my music (and get my compositions registered with BMI)


• Complete "an artistic big project" per month (whether that's costuming or Pentathlon or a research paper)

That's all I can think of for today. Hmm. I might need a "My Projects" page to keep track of the overall pictures.
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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Eric and Lisa: May your family continue to be blessed, in all that you do. It amazes me to find old friendships after so many years.