CaySwann
A "G-Rated Journal" That Even My Mother Can Read (because she does!)

Effervescence is a state of mind. It's about choosing to bring sunshine to the day.
Every person I meet matters.

If it's written down, I know it (If it's not written down, I don't know it)
If it's color-coded, I understand it (If it's not color-coded, I don't understand it)


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Daddy-do and me, 2010


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Wrapping Up the Month

Wrapping Up the Month - I like to joke that I have an extra set of holidays that I celebrate: "Happy Flip the Calendar Day." There are thirteen of these holidays for me, per year, since I prefer monthly calendars. There's the monthly "turn the page and celebrate" moments and the "OMG I have a new calendar to hang up!" once a year. I suppose there's two of those, when I keep a Jewish Calendar on the wall plus a "standard" calendar on my desk... that's not bad, to have fourteen extra holidays per year. *grin*

I flipped the wall calendar at work yesterday, because I needed to move several more stickie-notes to December and there was only one day left in Novemeber. So I'm looking at a lovely December motif at my desk today, thinking about how much happened this past month, how much happened this year, and my current habit of saying, "Ooo! Let's put that on the list for 2013!"

Do you plan for activities and goals you want to accomplish in specific years or months? So often I hear the phrase, "Someday we should do that." Some of my friends are immediate goal setters. If you say "we should do that" to these friends, they have their calendars out and start planning "will that be next Monday or the following Monday?" And here I thought I was just saying "someday" to them. I didn't know I was getting out my calendar!

Other friends have "someday" much fuzzier than even I do. We say "someday" we should get together, and I haven't seen them in years and years.

And I'm not just pondering the notion of visiting friends and family, or fuzzy goals like "someday I should improve my fitness." It can be things like, "what do you mean, you've never seen any James Bond films?" Most of my friends know that when it comes to movies, I've been living under a rock most my life. I almost =NEVER= get around to seeing movies. My Sweetie is a HUGE movie fan, and so for the past two and a half years, I've actually seen a ridiculous number of movies =in the theatre= (compared to the rate at which I used to see movies).

I think I'm learning to strike a balance between "someday I might climb Mount Everest" and "I have this inked on my calendar for next Wednesday, and I plan to come over to your house to teach you about weaving" (D'vorah, I'm thinking of you *grin*). Probably, I should chalk up the balance to the ability to sync my to-do lists between my computer at work, my personal laptop, my phone, and my tablet(s). [Don't ask why I have two tablets. It's a birthday gift thing. *g*] Having one list that can show up electronically on any device has MASSIVELY simplified my ability to get things done. Having one calendar sync in every location also makes goal-setting easier.

First Thoughts about 2012 - When I came into this year, I decided that my "word for the year" would be DANCE. I have both a necklace and a bracelet that each have a charm that reads "Dance" that I wear every day. Clearly, this goal and priority has been the theme of my year. Since I started keeping records 10/15 last year (in fitocracy --> did you know you can get CSV export data of everything you've entered! data heaven!), I've logged 259.12 hours of bellydance. Almost 260 hours. That's 41 minutes per day, every day. I've had times when I've gone more than a week at a time without a day off, I've had times when I've taken 3-4 classes in a day, and I've had times when I couldn't believe I could still lift my arms over my head.

Now, I've put the deposit down for a 20-hours in 4-days intensive certification course in April. I'm one step closer to my long-term goal (to teach someday). There's a major part of my heart that feels so thrilled to see some of the "light at the end of the tunnel" marks for my journey. Yet, that metaphor doesn't work. This has not been a dark tunnel. Instead, I'm fairly certain I'm climbing Mount Everest, and I see the next Basecamp ahead of me. So exciting.

I keep pondering what I want to focus on further in 2013. One advantage of changing jobs in June and reducing my commute: I've been more and more caught up on so many information feeds in my life. I tend to remain caught up on Twitter, on Facebook, on my Google Reader, on my listening to my podcasts. I've been caught up on the news and been able to start listening to books again on my iPod. I've been caught up on Pinterest and Tumblr and silly internet enjoyments. I've re-organized all my language learning podcasts and had time to listen to some of my Mandarin lessons again. I've emptied several email inboxes and am getting close to Project Inbox=0 on more than one account.

So I'm tempted to make "decluttering" or "minimalizing" some sort of ancillary theme for next year. I really do "live out of my car" most of the time, since I spend half my time at my Sweetie's and half my time back at the house I share with other friends. My things live at the home where I spend the least amount of time. And during 2012, I really let the clutter build up. I have visions in my head of ruthlessly organizing and purging my art supplies, library, and things "at home."

What I =DON'T= want to do is just say that I'll "declutter someday." I think it's time for my alternate superhero to suit up and take charge: Incremental Improvement Girl!

At the same time, I don't think I want the THEME of my year to be "declutter." But it just might be "Focus." I hope I'm not tempting Lady Destiny with that idea. I may mull this over for a while.

What have your themes been this year? What do you have planned for next year?

* * * * *
Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Heatlh. Fitness. The ability to focus. The continued ability to improve. My Sweetie. My Family. My Dance Instructors. My Dance Sisters. Our amazing musicians. My supportive friends.

* * * * *
Notes: Other interesting facts I found in my Fitocracy records. Since January 18, 2012, I've logged 605.00 miles walking. Since 9/18 this year, I've climbed 516 flights of stairs. I even did 200 situps and 80 pushups since this summer. But dude. 260 hours of dancing and 605 miles of walking. Neat!


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