Tiffany and I performed our annual rite of selecting resolutions for the New Year on Friday night. I've listed them in the blog title in the order of achievement difficulty starting with the ones that I think will be hardest for me to achieve.
The book thing will be very hard for me to achieve. I realized earlier today that I missed buying a book that I need to have a whole series in my buying spree last week. I guess I'll have to wait for next year or get it from the library. I'm only 2 days in and I'm already fighting temptation! Tiffany's promise to get a belly-dancing outfit and perform for me could prove crucial. It's one thing to miss out on achieving a resolution. It's something else to miss out on a performance like that!
I'm not the only one with a resolution to look better naked. I've been going to the gym on Sunday afternoons around 1 for a couple of months. It's usually pretty slow. Not today. The place was packed. I had to wait 40 minutes to get on the rowing machine. I used that time to get in a good weight workout, but I really wanted to push it on the Concept 2. I was too worn out from lifting to do much more than hang on to my usual pace for 15 minutes or so. Exercising will be important, but eating right is actually a much bigger step towards getting a sexier body. I did better today than I normally do on the weekends. I know what I need to do to lose weight. I just need to follow through.
Three twenty for a 1000 meters on the rowing machine is very attainable, but I put it in the third slot because I know how much work it takes to shave just a second or two off of a PR. Balancing school work, reading, and working out will be tricky this semester. Short intense workouts should be enough to get me where I want to go, but those kinds of workouts are hard. The garage is cold this time of year too. I was out there doing the Spartacus Challenge workouts this time last year, but I could focus on that and only that in the evening. I'll try a few things and see what works.
I've always sucked at pull-ups. Even when I could bench 400 pounds, I could never do more than a handful of pull-ups. I've been doing them more and more during my gym workouts. I've gotten better at them. I can do five or six at a time. Getting to 20 will be tricky. Getting lighter will help.
I was adding Dickens books to my Goodreads.com page last night. I still have three or four novels to go. Martin Chuzzlewit, Oliver Twist, Little Dorritt, and the rest of Dombey and Sons are all on my book shelf waiting to be read. Oliver Twist is short, but I've read about half of Dombey and Son. Little Dorritt is supposed to be one of his best. I don't think I'll be making the choice of which one to read until the summer.
I took a look at how long it takes me to read a book during the semester to determine how many books I could realistically read this year. I read a book a month during the semester. Given the breaks between classes, I figure I can manage 15 books with that pace. I hope to read more, but I'll be happy to read 15. I would like all of them to be from my library, but I'm sure there will one or two from the VCU or county library. I already want to get a book on the psychology of science from the VCU library. It's something I could read while I'm at work. I don't think they would look too favorably on me reading Clash of Kings during work hours.
I included the foundation classes resolution because I wanted to do something school related. I felt like I was tempting fate by doing something grade related. Finishing up the Foundations classes will require me to take 5 classes this year. I may feel a little burned out by the start of the fall semester. This resolution may keep me on track. I also want to apply for an advanced certificate program. I think I'll do the Leadership program. I'm going to take the required classes anyway. I might as well get credit for my interest.
I will likely expand on this exploration of my spiritual side in another post, but I want to give some background on the origins of this one. I have a complex relationship with religion. I kind of want to be religious, but I don't feel anything when I think about a deity or higher power. The more I experience in life, the more I pull away from my more atheistic views, but those views have not been replaced by a greater spiritual existence. I've been reading a poetry anthology with several poems about God. It's strange to me that the notion of God was central to intellectual life for the vast majority of people like me for hundreds of years, but serious commentary on the nature of God and people's religious views have all but disappeared from serious discussion today. Is this an improvement or an regression? My political views also have me questioning the origins of my notions of rights and the purpose of government.
I need new clothes. I'm pretty much wearing the same clothes that I bought when I started working 4.5 years ago. It's time for an upgrade.
I can manage once a week. Not every post needs to be as long as this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment