2010

So, the new year is here.

2009 gifted me with many good things. Some I will carry with me into this next year, some will become memories, good for taking out in later years and reexamining. I made several new friends who are likely to fall under my bff category. I learned under some fantastic teachers and became close with many of them. I received straight As in my classes (not without several breakdowns over finals week and a lot of pimples). I experienced several touching moments with my horse and grew closer to him than ever before in the five years I've owned him. I made it through my college applications and have so far been accepted to two out of the three schools to which I sent them. And so the list goes on...

Despite all this, I struggled a lot last year with keeping myself motivated, and because of that it feels wonderful to have a clean slate, a brand-spanking-new year in which I can accomplish some of my goals. This is the first year I've actually made New Year's resolutions. I decided on ten. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Become a vegetarian (I'm currently reading up on nutrition and good recipes)
2. Get back down to 125 lbs. (This may or may not include joining a gym. I've never been to one and I'm terrified)
3. Keep an idea journal (basically a collection of the random inspirations that come to me at odd moments)
4. Finish a novel (I'm hoping to participate in NaNoWriMo in November)
5. Finish a feature-length screenplay (I'm about twenty pages into an adaptation of a book)
6. Edit and send out my old writing (to contests, publications, etc.)
7. Be more environmentally aware (This is general, but it includes stopping my water bottle consumption and setting up recycling for the barn and my neighborhood)
8. Remain a straight-A student (I suffer Hermione-like stress over schoolwork and come down with severe cases of procrastination)
9. Vlog (at least) once a week and become involved in the YouTube community
10. Keep a regular blog (meaning write every day when possible so you'll be hearing from me a lot)

If I believed it possible, I would have put down "stop procrastinating" but I am forced to accept that it is just part of my nature. I have several other things in mind but these ten are the ones I want to concentrate on. I will probably be adding things to the list (and hopefully checking some off) throughout the year and the goals on list will be constantly morphing. But my life has mostly consisted of having wonderful ideas and occasionally executing them. I'm leaving for university in the fall and I want to make this last year count.

This blog will most likely chronicle my attempts to fulfill these goals, as well as random moments and thoughts I wish to share. I predict that I will cry many times, eat loads of Dove chocolate, and waste most of my time on the internet. But I know that after the storm comes the calm, after the rain comes the blue sky and the clear air and the green hills and everything lovely. So I have great hope that after many a meltdown and discouraging day I will find again my inspiration, my purpose, and my truth.

2010, here I come.