Voices In My Head

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?