Happy New Year

So I've been musing over what to do about LJ and the great fannish migration to DW, coupled with the great social migration to FB. I'm not a technophobe or luddite, even though tech doesn't always like me back, but I just don't see FB being a decent journaling tool. The timeline and archive will make things a bit easier to find, but no real tagging system, and the clunkiness, and having to put up with the advertising and weekly format changes just all add up to a not-very-user-friendly experience.

I really don't want to have my non-fannish people stumbling into my fannish posts, and I really don't want to filter because I've found that I have collected up a few subscribers over time due to some points of commonality, and I think that's really cool. If I filtered all my "fun" stuff, it would be much harder to make these interesting semi-random connections. And I feel awkward asking strangers for access when I might only want to read one thing, or visit one link. I know some people filter just about everything and then grant access when asked, but how do you know if the stranger who is asking is going to be welcome?

Anyway, it's a new year, so I'm going to try a new thing. I haven't been journaling much in the past two years anyway, so I guess I can resolve to do a little better on that topic. I'm going to keep posting the entirely generic stuff at LJ and link to those posts (not crosspost), but add more personal stuff here. Mainly because I do enjoy hearing the personal things my fannish friends have to say, I appreciate the glimpses into your daily lives and I think I should reciprocate.

I don't typically do hard and fast resolutions - and mostly I commit to things that are more about self improvement than self-flagellation. ie, try one bite of everything offered (which led to a whole new level of foodieness). The past few years' goals have a similar vibe though - a desire for more connection with more people. I think I've done well in the more people department (people from all over, not just one group or age range), but not so well in the deeper connections. Although I have to say that I've got a couple of bright spots on that horizon. A couple of grown up women and a man, all completely outside of work, and all my age or a bit older. That age bit is the strangest because I'm forever making friends way outside of my age range. As a kid, all my friends were adults until I was a teen, and the last few years I've been taking a page from DH and collecting much younger friends (it's a fannish thing mostly). But anyway, I've also become closer with some extended family, so maybe I should be putting that particular goal in the win column after all. However, relationships take work and constant vigilance, so it's not like I will ever say "I'm done!"

I'm also going to try to do something active everyday. I have an actual selection of activities available now: Wii, dancing, yoga, walking (with and without dogs or companions), and in the summer I want to add back canoeing (it's been TWO years since I've been on the water!). Last year I had spurts of activity and stretches of not, but I did add something entirely new (East Coast Swing), and I'm looking forward to taking a couple more dance classes. I might manage an actual yoga class as well.  sun_salutation  is a lovely community and has helped keep yoga in my awareness, and encouraged me to keep at it, but I need to stretch myself (no pun intended). Plus it would be nice to have something to share with the community myself.

For work, I want to get better at finishing things, closing projects, knowing I'm DONE with something so I can really move on.

Financially I need to get my house in order. I've been poking at this for a couple of years, and done some good things, but also have let some bad habits creep in. I'm going to take care of that. I have no excuses for what I've let happen. I am really blessed with good fortune, a good job, and the ability to do better than just pay my bills. So I should be acting a little more adult about that--I should show my appreciation for my blessings by being a bit more responsible and careful with them.  My milestone tattoo was to be a reminder of a particular achievement, but I'm also going to use it as a reminder of this insight. Oooh! I've never posted a pic here. I'll have to fix that.

 

The rest of today is going to be divided between more chores (I split the kitchen with DH, and have half the laundry underway), checkbook and bills, football (go Cocks! go Badgers!).

I also need to get iTunes onto my personal computer, transfer a bunch of the girl's music to her computer, transfer a bunch of pics from her computer, work out her tuition reimbursement for the first semester, and rework my bill payment schedule to align better with my income receipt schedule.  All that may not happen today, but it's got to happen before Jan 15.  That's when the girl goes back to school.

New Tattoo!

I totally forgot to provide pictorial evidence here (I posted on FB but it's not the same).

This is my "Woman in the Maze" tat, based on a traditional Hopi symbol, and surrounded by sprigs of rosemary and basil.  The maze symbol is all deep green, and the basil and rosemary are various shades of green highlighted with yellow.  The woman has her arms raised to symbolize achieving a goal.  The basil and rosemary symbolize love and abundance.  The secondary meaning for this is to remind me to show my appreciation for all that I have been blessed with by being more careful with my gifts.

     

It's been just over two weeks and it has healed nicely.  I like the location, but wow, I was more sensitive there near the shoulder than I expected to be.  It wasn't terribly painful, but there were a few moments of gritting my teeth.  I was very pleased to see my art made the brag wall (just like were_duck 's!)

Okay, I'm off to assemble a spinach salad to go with DH's roast pork shoulder.  Go, Badgers!