Sing the Old Year Out, Dance the New Year In

2009 be gone, 2010, come on in.
Yes, we must look back, we cannot help it. And yet I am not a pillar of salt.

Continuing Belief: Somewhere there’s a job that’s not awful and is only 8 hours a day.
Lost Belief: That President Obama can unite legislative branch of the U.S. government to accomplish anything good, healthy, and straightforward.

So what has 2009 wrought?

1. The launch of my blog.
2. I wrote a bunch of reviews (films, plays, dance pieces) and "published" them on said blog!
3. I wrote my first short-short stories. I still don’t quite know what to do with them, but I like them.
4. In fact I’ve started several short (not short-short or microfiction) stories, none finished to my satisfaction yet.
5. I continued working on my first mystery novel.
6. Submitted one short story to a magazine. Still waiting.
7. My love of performing was reignited when I read Ophelia in Matthew J Wells’ delightful Countrie Matters. Let’s do it again.
8. There are even more pounds of fat on my belly and butt.
9. My first ever tetanus shot (good for 10 years!) due to the first of two infection-inducing bites from my doddering old cat. I’m sure he really meant to bite the vet’s assistant.
10. My latest review at work seemed to be a good one, but in fact was really a directive to stop doing what I do well and only teach the young’ns to do what I do. As if my boss knows the increased commute to the new building in spring 2010 will kill me. As Elizabeth I said, “Balls. If I had ’em, I’d be King.”
11. My acid reflux was verified by two medical tests by two different doctors. Ain’t that swell.
12. 1 friend stricken with cancer seems to be doing just fine.
13. 1 friend stricken with cancer in ’08 had a recurrence in ’09 that made us all wonder just how important that first place one is treated really is. She’s doing just fine now, but wondering continues.
14. Tried “progressive” glasses and hated them. Need bifocals in 2010.
15. I saw an opera (or was it an oratorio?) I actually thought was fabulous (Kepler, by Philip Glass). Does it explain the persistence of opera as a theatrical art form (which is the reason I go to the opera at least once a year, in my quest to “get” the form). Well, if it was really an oratio as Matthew suggested (and I agree), no. My quest goes on to understand this form with its bad acting, pointless repetition, and great sets. Opera is like a James Cameron film post Aliens – “Looks 10, Plot 3” (see http://matthewslikelystory.blogspot.com/2009/12/blue-christmas.html)
16. A delightful production of Love’s Labour’s Lost that made me finally appreciate the “play” for whatever it is.
17. My goddaughter got engaged.
18. 2 other engagements
19. 1 wedding
20. 2 separate vacation weeks away from my apartment
21. Started weekly allergy shots in hopes of someday being free of allergies. My single act of faith for the year.
22. Writing group fell asleep and has yet to be revived.
23. Saw many films, 5 of them at the Tribeca Film Festival
24. According to my calendar, I experienced
    8 live musical evenings
    5 dance pieces
    16 plays
    5 readings
    2 documentaries
    Participated in 2 readings
25. New heating system – I no longer wear shorts in my apartment through the winter!

That's enough looking back. Let’s move forward.

Plans for 2010

• Learn to meditate in order to be able to fly again – what else can I do for an hour at the end of a flight when not allowed to read a book or scribble in a notebook.
• Exercise minimum 5 days a week. (Plan for execution: Bought a Wii console on New Year’s Eve to facilitate.) Plan within a plan: Alternate Yoga & Cardio via Wii, and still walk at least 30 minutes a day to build up breath.
• Build up Resiliency for me, not my employer.
• Write and/or edit on the bus either to or from work each day. No more napping.
• Write more Story, less back story.
• Create Time out of none.
• Create clear, flat surfaces in my apartment, on which to lay out storyboards comprised of index cards, chapter by chapter.
• Visit my friends more.
• Do some readings in addition to attending them.
• Cut down on taxis! Think how much reading/editing can be done on subway.
• Leave the office by 6:30 latest every night.
• Leave office by 6 once a week.
• Maybe learning to delegate isn’t such a bad idea.
• Find that job that’s not awful and is only 8 hours a day.
  
  That’s a start. Happy New Year, everyone!
  
  ~ Molly Matera, signing off. Must plug in that Wii! Thanks for stopping by.