So yesterday I was in a lousy car accident. (It was my first legit one, and it was probably the most frightening thing I’ve ever experienced.) So now that I’ve had my dose of terror, anxiety and neck-stiffness for 2011, I decided to lay out upbeat goals for the rest of the year.
2011 aspirations:
- Read 2 books each month
- Books on my list include (but aren’t limited to): The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Let the Great World Spin, Atlas Shrugged, The Things They Carried, A Prayer for Owen Meany, You Shall Know Our Velocity!, The River Why, The God of Small Things, 20 Under 40
- Eat at a new restaurant in Baltimore each month
- Save for a camera and switch photo-taking methods from current default (cheesy friends/forced smiles/awk posing) to cool artsy ones like the weekly submissions on the BBC
(I love pictures like this, but I want to branch out)
After:
(By Natalie Bullock, from the BBC's weekly theme photo submission. The theme here was "text")
- Run a half-marathon and complete a sprint triathlon
- By default, learning to swim (dog-paddling doesn’t count)
- Go on a monthly date with my husband (I know most people manage this weekly, but we always default to bumming around the house or hanging out with lots of people.) Movies and other lame things don’t count.
- Judge less, pray more. I found myself becoming REALLY judgmental in 2010. My goal for 2011 is that whenever I open my mouth to judge, (or my mind) I shut up and switch to positive-thinking, prayer (mainly for myself to stop judging, but also for something positive for the other person), etc.
- Something else – spiritual/reflective, but can’t land on anything here that isn’t hackneyed.
- Cook/bake something new every month.
- Write a letter to a friend/family member bi-monthly.
Okay, I’m getting carried away.
Two more things! The poem that inspired the blog title (below), and a most excellent Op-Ed from yesterday by David Brooks (who is one of my freebie fives.)
Put Something In
by Shel Silverstein
Draw a crazy picture
Write a nutty poem
Sing a mumble-grumble song,
Whistle through your comb.
Do a loony-goony dance
'Cross the kitchen floor,
Put something silly in the world
That ain't been there before.
