resolutions for 2013

We’ll just start this new year a month late.

Buy champagne glasses.

I never think about it until we’re popping a bottle and we’re having to pour it into a stem-less wine glass. So not the same.

Be healthy.

Make regular exercise a habit. Drink more water. Drink less alcohol. Take my vitamins. Eat more fruits and veggies. Generally, make sure my diet is fulfilling all my body’s needs. Go for regular checkups. Get enough sleep.

Live well.

Enjoy every day. Remain simple in wants and needs, but invest where it will improve daily life. Keep a clean and organized house. Default to positive thinking, and try not to voice negative thoughts. Be grateful. Be kind(er) to strangers. Support those I love. Keep learning.

Make time for “me” stuff.

Figure out what it is that I want to do and do it. Also: Go to museums. Listen to music. Drink tea. Play with Spot. Cook new recipes. Preserve memories: Photos. Blog. Read Proust.*

*For the last few years, I’ve been a bit obsessed with the idea of reading all of the world’s biggest books. I’ve knocked several off wikipedia’s list of longest novels: War and Peace, Atlas Shrugged, and Les Misérables. It takes a long time, yes, but no longer than reading a bunch of throw-away books (Vampire Diaries!) and at the end I feel like I really accomplished something.

This year, I’m working on Proust. In Search of Lost Time is 4211 pages (thank you, my Kindle, for making this even realistic), which is so much longer than the longest I’ve read so far (1440 pages). It comes in six e-books; my plan is to read on it all year long.

So far, this is the only resolution I’ve managed to work on, and I just finished the first volume, Swann’s Way. At times, I have to re-read a bunch to isolate what was actually happening from the language used. And I can only pick it up when I’m not too tired or distracted and have a lot of time to spend, otherwise it’s pointless. Overall, I really enjoyed it – especially towards the middle and end when I started recognizing characters – which is good, considering how much is still left.