Axis Mundi X discussion

I find it easier to break my resolutions down into neat little quarters. That way the disappointment is almost tolerable.

But, I've been thinking... The weather is (finally) starting to turn and I can almost almost go to sleep at night certain that I won't have to dig myself out in the morning.

So, what do you want to accomplish this spring?

Mine are (in no particular order)

1. Hike. I haven't really hiked in years and last year I chaperoned my 9 year old on a trek up Snake Mountain. I realized how much I missed this. If mud season isn't too bad, I hope to hit some of the smaller mountains around here

2. Plant things. Be certain, I have absolutely no green thumb, toe, giant... nothing.. so this will be a pretty big undertaking. I'm thinking some herbs on the deck. Start small.

3. And the biggie... Read The USA Trilogy. This should make the husband happy. He's been bothering me for years to read it and I think I've got my head together enough to devote the time to it.

I like this question.

1) Meditate more.

2) Lift weights more. I'm on a cardio kick since a shoulder injury. Have to start with the weights again.

3) Not get too caught up in work.

4) Post a poem every Saturday.

Plants keep me sane, Kim. Starting with herbs like sage is a great idea. Plus, you can burn it in the fall.

Insert pot joke here.

I don't have any specific goals for spring, but this year I want to:

1. Visit some dear friends in VT.

2. Get my PADI certification so I can dive somewhere beautiful.

3. Cook more meals at home. I still eat out way too much.

It's a small list so far; hopefully I won't let myself down.

1) Go bike riding on sunny weekends, no matter what.
2) Finish painting the stairwell, so BOTH sides are Ionian Blue.
3) Sort through all my books, and give the Friends of the Library the ones I honestly won't ever get back to. It won't be easy.

Good luck to everyone on accomplishing their goals!

1. Walk my dog more. We both need the exercise.
2. Keep the house tidier. I don't have a job. I have no excuse.
3. Beautify my yard.
4. Get a little braver.

1.) Don't kill my teenage daughter
2.) Don't take out a contract on my ex husband's head
3.) Don't empty my bank account, jump on a plane, and go live on a small tropical island somewhere where no one will bother me ever again.

That's it. Reach for the stars Charissa.

My fee is 15k Charissa. 20 if you want a souvenir. Like a hand, or foot.

damn, Nick, that's a bargain for certain. Tempting, to say the least.

Jackie... sometimes it's the small goals that make the most sense in the short run. Next quarter I'll think about cosmonautery.

I'm with Charissa en route to a small tropical island and with Maurice to survive long enough to get there...

Other than that, I swam again for the first time since last summer and I am beyond relieved. So:
1. Swim nearly daily
2. Write nearly daily
3. Read nearly daily
4. Get my kids out of the state
5. Get myself out of the state

Sorry, Charissa, that was a little flip. Whatever gets you through the night, it's alright.
But I hope you make some time for yourself - to take a walk, dig in the dirt, go to the Bahamas in your mind, whatever.

no worries Jackie... I wasn't offended. My reply was spoken with tongue firmly in cheek as well.

Luckily I just returned from a week at the coast... I have de stressed just in time to deal with the returning stress of my daughter being shipped home from Ireland early as her father is an incompetent twit.

I'm considering locking her in the basement until school starts... but I think the law frowns on that sort of thing. ; )

And I suppose spiking her cereal with Valium is out, too. Stupid laws.
Maybe you could hide all her hair care products. That would keep most of the teenage girls I know off the street. Of course, you'd still have to interact with her...

You could just tell her that she gained a little weight in Ireland and she may want to burn some calories before her friends see her?

"And look honey I bought a new treadmill, it's in the basement go have a look!"

my daughter is a punk rock skin head girl, her hair care products consist of a shaver. and if I started a sentence with "you gained some weight" she might actually punch me in the head.

:::sigh:::

the valium, however, is a good idea. for me, at the very least. if only I weren't a recovering addict. damn. I hate it when that happens.

See you what you get for raising your girl to think for herself, Char? If you only had pushed that conformity thing she'd be putty in your hands.

Mother/daughter relationships terrify me. When my wife and her mom start up fighting I grab my kids and we run for the door...."Code Wicked Witch! Grab the keys!."

This is a good one. I am in need of a little motivation, and seeing other people writing down their goals is helpful. Good luck, everybody! Except for maybe Charissa... I don't really want to hear about you being arrested for murder, Char. A girl can dream though, I hear you. :)

Anyway, mine are:
1. Figure out what I want to do about grad school and start working towards that goal.
2. In that vein, start my studying for the GREs pretty soon(taking them in September).
3. Stop eating crap. It flushes any work I do at the gym down the tubes. Damn cookies.
4. Have a better attitude about my job. It may not be what I want to be doing, but I still need to do well here to get to a job I actually like.
5. Be a little braver in my choices, all around.
6. Get my mother's voice out of my head a bit.
7. Learn how to cook more than three things.
8. Write more. I've been letting that slide.
9. Be more sensible/better about money. (I hear you about buying too many books, Donald.)

... yeah, doing all that would make me much happier.

damn. i thought i posted my list and then poof it wasn't here...

1. drink less
2. figure out what to do with all the free time i have not drinking
3. write more poetry
4. read less poetry
5. read more other stuff
6. eat less sugary cereal
7. find myself in a meaningful relationship
8. figure out what a meaningful relationship means
9. get the toilet fixed (perhaps my meaningful relationship can fix it)
10. learn to fly

Things I should do:
1) keep the house neat and tidy
2) plant a garden
3) practice self-restraint

Things I may do:
1) keep the house neater
2) plant a garden

Things I will do:
1) plant more flowers
2) indulge myself

Ha, I like you seperating that out, J. Very realistic of you. :)

Kim! I thought I was the only one that broke resolutions up into manageable bites by making them quarterly instead of annual. I have to have this periodic check or I'd put everything off until winter and then realize that I can no longer achieve things like "plant a garden".

Spring '08
1. Plant a vegetable garden.
2. Put new flowers in the planters that have had dead ones in them for the past few years.
3. Find out where my financial cushion went and make a plan to fix it.
4. Pay off the car (will help toward goal#3).
5. Attend all classes (last quarter it was "attend class more often")
6. Clean, and I mean actually Clean the house.
7. Set up an office in spare bedroom.

My Spring Goals:

1. Learn how to change my own oil.
2. Keep up with my weight loss program (WW Online).
3. Do something about all the paperwork that needs to be filed.
4. Not give in to the desire to cut my hair off when it is 115 degrees outside (I had it almost to my waist last year and chopped it... dumb, dumb, dumb).
5. Go to the zoo at least twice before it hits 115 degrees.
6. Clean the garage so we can walk through it without tripping over things.

Goals for this Spring:

1. Herb garden as usual.
2. Actually use herbs in meals.
3. Lots of dog walking.
4. Finish removing hideous wallpaper from kitchen walls and paint.
5. Laugh as much as possible with boyfriend.
6. Beat more people at Scrabble.
7. Read something by Cormac McCarthy and decide if his writing is as "male-centered" as I think.
8. Learn to play Mexican Train in dominoes.
9. Shop as much as possible from farmer's markets.
10. Oh yeah, and get a real job.

Break up band?

Oh, now your "is it worth it?" posts make sense...

Yes RA... believe me, I regretting raising her to think for herself something fierce at the moment. She, in fact, threw that up to me last week. "You're the one who raised me to think for myself mom... you can't ask me to be a zombie now!" And I thought... hm... maybe a little well aimed brain damage would be in order...

:::sigh:::

No... I've worked too hard to destroy what I birthed now. Only one way through it... keep sitting on her head until the storm passes. Gods I hope it passes...

Char, I get the same thing from my kids' teachers..."He really loves to argue his point! He's like a little lawyer!" Except little lawyers grow to be middle school lawyers.

I'm proud my kids think for themselves. I'd prefer they limit that thinking for themselves thing to when we're not in conflict, however.

1) Work on the garden.
2) Ride my new bicycle as often as possible.
3) Increase my yoga regimine.
4) Get in better shape physically (mainly by fulfilling resolutions #2 & 3) so that I will be in tip top condition when a kidney becomes available for transplantation.
5) Get a kidney that works. I have already done all of the preleminary testing & jumped through all the hoops to get on the waiting list, so now I just have to practice the art of patience...
5) Paint more. Learn watercolor technique.
6) Work on refining my portfolio so I can apply to the Oregon College of Arts & Crafts.
7) Be thankful for each new day upon awakening!

Oh yeah, 8) Continue to research and learn as much as possible about the flora and fauna of my new home territory.

That's about it for now!

1) Clear the rest of my lot (so the wife can do her gardening thing)
2) Get back in shape, taking two years off has made me flabby.
3) Try to un-successfully quit smoking again
4) Drink more
5) Find a cute bunny suit that will fit a 210lb. 6'4'' white guy.
6) Float the Yukon River
8) Find a girlfriend for my friend that is a 32 year old virgin.

I think this list is long enough; I wouldn't want to set myself up for failure.

Wait, is your friend the 32 year old virgin or are you looking for a 32 year old virgin for your friend?

The syntax of that sentence is a bit blurry, but I think he means his friend is the 32 year old virgin. In which case, Nick, I fully support that endeavour and good on you for doing it. :)

... unless I have misunderstood you, in which case: chauvanist pig!

... but I don't think I have. :)

Well, see, that comment just tempts me to be not nice, but it's a Resolutions thread. It's hard to be mean to people on one of those!

... good list! Except I think impulse buying books is probably a symptom of being the kind of person who is on this site, not of being off caffeine. Isn't it usually a resolution for people to quit that sort of thing? :)

anything is possible Steve! (welcome!)


I'm sure I'll be carrying over The USA Trilogy 'til Summer...

No my friend is the 32 year old virgin, Let me tell you he needs a girlfriend. He was home schooled in the Alaskan bush, His father died when he was 7, so he was raised in solitude by his mother, I think she really messed him up. Almost criminal. The guy has no social skills at all; I worked with him for 2 years before I could get more then one word responses out of him, really sad actually.

I am however diligently schooling him on the way of the man. I have hope.

Steve, go for the triple shot. In for a penny, in for a pound.

Nick, you're kind of underselling this guy, you know? You maybe don't want to tell any of the prospective girlfriends what you just told us. "He's a really great guy! He just hasn't found the right woman yet" would be better.

Steve: you may want to be a little less obvious about that trap the next time. The whole 'tell her not to do something' thing is just a wee obvious. :)

Nick: I agree with Sarah. I think eventually a girl he's dating should obviously know all of that. Especially if she's wondering if maybe he doesn't like her because he doesn't talk a lot or something. But upfront, I'm with Sarah. If she asks for more, then tell her he's hard to get to know, maybe that he's had a bit of a rough past, but yeah.. oversharing right up front is probably not good.

Steve, from a triple-espresso-a-day girl, let me tell you, it's the only way to go. The problem is eventually you build up an endurance. I just finished my triple and I still feel like I need a nap.

Sarah... switch to French Press, baby. It has waaayyyy more caffeine.

I have a French Press, Char.

Sometimes I even go for cowboy coffee.

steve, you could always have your friend read a couple issues of cosmo and maybe a little bit of that HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU. at least then he would know what not to do when in fact he does like a girl, so as not to make her think otherwise. i've had many an awkward male friend scare off any number of terrific girlfriends becuase he had no idea that women actually take things like body language and subtle hints seriously.

although, i would say he should definitely invest some time in female friendships before attempting to date. the whole ritual is all so complicated now, it might be too much to throw all that at him at once. and then find him someone who is very secure in her self esteem, very forward and honest with her needs, and very persistant in the face of adversity. because he sounds like a man who could be quite upsetting for the faint of heart.

I had an Aga once. Then I got divorced. Sometimes I dream of that Aga... but all the Agas in the world aren't worth the agida.

Aga! Drool. I had no idea what that was so I just looked it up and now I want one. But it'd be silly in my little simple kitchen. Someday I will have the house of my dreams with a fabulous kitchen and an Aga.

back in 1995 the Aga was priced at 10k... I can only imagine it's at least twice that now. They are pretty damn cool... but are they really worth it?? I dunno. I'd settle for a Wolf Range quite happily.

I need to quit being lazy and start going for a walk every day.

Koeeoaddi, it would be awesome if we could find a way to leave the desert during the summer. I dream of the day when that becomes possible. Probably won't be for at least 30 more years though since that is how far I have to go until I can retire, buy a Winnebago, and get the hell out of the heat.

I had to start using my sun visor last week and cracking my window. Very depressing since it's only the beginning of April.

Did you know a window can blow out from the heat? Oh, yes, it can. We went to California last year in August for a relative's retirement party and came back to my car window being completely shattered.

Ah, the benefits of living in Arizona.

I have another resolution to add to my list as well...
Get to bed before midnight, so that I feel like a human the next day. Why do I keep doing this to myself? Sigh.

Dear friends,

I have resolved that after my eye doctor appointment this afternoon, I will spend the rest of the day off the computer and catching up on housework and reading.

So, I would be most grateful if you would all refrain from saying anything too terribly interesting until tomorrow.

Thank you.

Your friend,

Sarah

:::stands in one place and refrains from doing anything of any interest. picks her toe nails. does laundry. takes a nap::::

I'd like to annex the Sudetenland, annnnnnd then, let's see...oh yeah, sign a non-aggression pact with Russia.

Not Bill... are we feeling a tad bit Hitleresque today?

Hitleresque? Ah yes the old time favorite combination of Hitler and burlesque. Too tired for that kind of fun at the moment...check back tomorrow. That is an order!