New Year thoughts

Today has been a quiet day...R and I went to the live simulcast of the Metropolitan Opera's production of Hansel and Gretel. With my uncle. My uncle and R are opera fans...I am not so much. Meh, I thought with this one...I find opera frankly ridiculous much of the time, especially when it is narratives about mundane things..."Have some berries, Hansel..." That kind of dialogue, sung operatically? Does not compute.

Anyway, I thought I would like to note some goals for 2008, which is also my Prophet Year (since I am newly turned 33).

WORK - RESEARCH
I am excited, actually, about finding a kind of solace in work. I have turned to some interesting...stuff recently. And am about to set out to write the first chapter of my book (have some conference papers to build from...) I feel estranged from the particular rigours of research and writing, I have to say. That makes me question what the hell I am doing in this profession, as I am doing too often lately. It makes me feel alarmingly stagnant. Instead, I want the unique excitement I feel when I am getting somewhere new with my work.

Write at least two chapters of the book.
Find publisher for co-edited collection.

WORK - TEACHING
Find constructive ways to deal with the frustration I felt in November, if indeed it returns. Also, since I'll really be working with grad students this term, work out a protocol for teaching them. (I actually find this somewhat scary...)

LIFE-LIFE
Get my ass into therapy. Figure out some stuff .

EXERCISE
- Half-marathon in April. Since late September, I've been running only about 2x per week, and my 12k weekly long runs (maintenance when I'm not training for something long like a half) have fallen by the wayside entirely. NO more of that.
- Get out cross-country skiing at least five times this winter!
- Do some goddamn core strengthening so I can protect myself against back injury! Why do I resist this so much??

FUN
- Make sure to get to Nearest Metropolis at least three times before C moves back to European City in the spring.
- Cultivate my new wine-drinking friendships in Scary City.
- More phone talks
- Get to at least one dance weekend, and week at dance camp in the summer.
- Chill the hell out.
- See Susan in New York
- Meet a couple of blogfriends
- Swim in Scary City in the summer!
- Holiday on the Big Island in Hawaii (after a conference that takes me there)
- Eat pastries in Paris (during research trip in May)
- Enjoy the cat I am adopting for one year starting this weekend