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12/30/2006
Operation Resolution 2007
Wow, I can't believe there's only a day and a half left in 2006. Time has flown so fast!! As New Year's approaches, we all know what that means: New Years Resolutions! Actually last year, I don't recall even bothering to make any resolutions, but this year, not only am I going to make resolutions, but I have big plans. Or at least, elaborate plans. Or anyway, at least soon-to-be-elaborate plans. I have high hopes! So, like with any successful business venture, there's a business plan in the makings for a great 2007.
I figured I'd start off the year with a reasonably clean slate in a couple of ways, so I decided the first thing I wanted to do was clean out my closet: get rid of clothes that are worn out, I don't wear, or that don't fit. I thought I wouldn't come up with much, as I did something like this in the summer, but somehow that last category (things that don't fit) has actually turned up a lot of stuff this time around! It turns out, a whole bunch of my clothes are... too big!! I didn't realize so many of my clothes fit so poorly, but there are two reasons that I can think of. In the past, especially in late high school/undergrad, I liked to wear baggy clothes and didn't care what people thought of what I wear. So, as you can imagine, I tended to buy things roomier than they needed to be. The second reason is, and I only just noticed this now, I've actually lost weight since undergrad, about 10-15 pounds! I only very rarely weigh myself (maybe once or twice a year), so after I saw so many clothes were too big today, I decided I'd just check my theory. Sure enough, I'm physically lighter than I was. I'm not terribly sure why as I haven't been dieting, but I suspect it's because I do more dance and eat far, far less junk food now that I'm not stuck on campus eating cafeteria food.
Anyway, all that to say, I got rid of a whole pile of clothes that don't fit. Now I have room in my closet, but the downside is, especially with more business/formal type wear, I don't own much anymore! Things like my stash of t-shirts and exercise wear didn't suffer much, but the business clothes are supposed to be more tailored and classy, and most of that is either way too baggy now, or was picked up at Value Village before I knew the meaning of the word 'frumpy'. Theoretically the next step is to go shopping the Boxing Day/Week/Month sales for a few elegant replacement items which will complete my wardrobe and make me stylish at the same time, but there's one minor hiccup: I don't actually have lots of money. I don't really want to go back to Value Village, although once in a while there are some treasures there. On the other hand, I can't afford to buy very much at retail prices. Most of it might have to wait until later, or if not, I hope there are some really awesome sales in January!
Other resolutions for New Years include doing more exercise, staying in better touch with friends, reducing my to-read pile (which is currently huge), and procrastinating less. This last one just came back to bite me starting on Boxing Day, when it finally snowed. See, my family and I have different theories when it comes to shovelling the driveway. I think it should be shovelled clean any time it snows, so that way ice doesn't build up. They think it only needs to be done when it snows so much you can't drive over it with the car. What happens is, if I don't do the shovelling, it either doesn't happen, or they do a shoddy job of it. The problem with the it's-fine-if-you-can-drive-over-it theory is that the snow you drive over with the car compacts, and turns into ridges of ice - this makes it hard to shovel the driveway in the future because it's not a flat surface.
On Boxing Day it snowed, then it warmed up, turning things to slush; then it cooled off, turning slush to ice. So now we have some really nasty icy tracks from the car. Then it snowed a couple of days ago, and nobody did anything about it until yesterday, when I had enough and tried to do it myself. I couldn't use the broad scraper because of all the car tracks, so I did what I could anyway, then got the heavy flat shovel and tried to remove some of those ice ridges. That's hard work ("Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone..."), and I was tired, so I did about a quarter of the driveway and thought, well, it's not supposed to warm up til next week, so I'll do the rest tomorrow. After all, the ice isn't going anywhere! This morning, I woke up to find that... it has snowed again. Arrgh! So now I am going to have to shovel again, AND try to get rid of the ice that was originally there from before. This is the pain-in-the-butt part of snow, which is why I like to have some before Christmas, because at least for a while there's a bit of romance to it. Afterwards, it's just a lot of hard work!
Anyway, I'm off to shovel some more snow. I wonder if I can sweet-talk my brother into helping me...
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