Is It 2011 Yet?

Still at work.  No, no one has let us go early yet.  We were all hoping for noon but I'm thinking three may be the best anyone will do.  *sigh*
I did manage to get another piece of the tricky-neat stunt programming code done earlier today.  It works, which is good, but needs more testing to make sure it always works.  Then there are two more pieces of stunt programming to complete before I can test the hell out of this thing then toss it over the wall to my QA person - and only two weeks in which to accomplish all that.  I may miss my due date on this one.  Granted, at the time estimates were given and dates were set I didn't know it was going to be so, well, tricky. 

Back to the gym on Monday (I took this week off) although I'll probably do some yoga over the weekend.  There are books to read and movies to watch (the ones I didn't watch last weekend).  Tonight will more than likely include drinking some wine, reading, and hoping it rains so the yahoos in the neighborhood won't be setting off fireworks.  I may clean the house when I get home - depends if I get OCD about starting the new year with a clean home or not. 

Here's to everyone having a wonderful, and safe, New Year's. 
*raises Diet Coke can*
Cheers

Goals For The New Year

Not resolutions.  I don't make resolutions because then I feel all guilty when I don't keep them. 

But goals?  Goals I can do as I usually try to make them incremental so even if I do slip, which I will, I can still say I've accomplished something.  Yes, this is me playing mind games with myself.  What?  At least I have someone to play with!  *ahem*

So here they are in no particular order.

1.  Work on my Italian.  This is a hold over from 2010.  I started learning Italian once I knew I was definitely going in September but then life got in the way, as it has a tendency to do.  I still didn't do too bad during my week there but I would like to know more, both speaking the language and understanding what other say to me.  I will be in Italy again, in Rome this time, for a couple of days in November.  I don't intend to be fluent but I'm hoping for closer to conversational. 

2.  Go to the gym at least three days a week.  I was doing great at this before I went to Italy.  Since coming back?  Not so much.  Some weeks I make it four or five times, others only once or twice.  This week, well, we won't talk about this week.  I feel better, and my knees definitely feel better, when I work out for 1-1.5 hours a day at least three days a week.  So my goal is to go Monday, Wednesday and Friday to do my regular workout of walking/elliptical, squats/lunges, weights, and stretching. 

3.  Do yoga at least twice a week.  Once a week in class (Thursday evenings) at the gym.  And no, this class does not count towards #2.  I've had a tendency lately to count my yoga class as one of my trips to the gym and thus give myself permission to slack off, which I don't want to do anymore.  The second yoga practice will be at home, either with a DVD or as a repeat of what we did in class.  I have a great mat and now that I got toe socks and rosin for XMas I've stopped slipping on it.  So time for me to make my home practice a regular thing as well.

4.  Paint/draw more.  With work and cleaning and the gym and reading and learning languages/history I don't always give myself a lot of free time.  It has been quite a while since I've worked on a new painting - and I can't remember the last time I just sat down and sketched.  So more of this, please. 

5.  Learn passable Greek.  I will be in Greece in October (the same trip that will take me to Italy in November) and I want at least be able to say simple travel phrases and read the signs.  I know it isn't actually necessary to know Greek when going to Athens.  I still want to do it.  The audio books from Survival Phrases dot com are already on my iPod. 

6.  Read more.  Not like this is a hard goal for me to keep.  I was thinking of making a goal to read at least two books a week, one fiction and one non-fiction.  But I know that is one I couldn't keep as I'm constantly changing my mind about what I want to read next.  My TBR pile(s) change often as I add and remove books according to mood.  Nope, better to just say read more and leave it at that. 

That's the list.  I think six things are enough, don't you?  So what goals do you have for the new year?