Wrap it up

The year, that is.

How are you all feeling about the fact that there are a mere 2.5 days left in 2011?  I’m ok with it, personally.  As far as years go, this was a pretty decent one, I have to admit.  Unlike 2010 which blew goats, 2011 didn’t get up my arse quite as badly.

Wow, that sentence was just full of all kinds of class, wasn’t it?

Anyway, 2011!  It’s almost over!  What did I accomplish?

Well, according to my Goodreads page, I have read 48.75 books so far this year.  I about about 3/4 of the way through Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence which I totally thought might perhaps be a cheat, in that I had read it before, but it turns out I had not!  I have seen the movie which I remember being kind of meh.  But the book I’m kind of enjoying.  As much as you can enjoy a bunch of sexually repressed and “appearances before all” New Yorkers mid-19th century, I guess.  Seriously, I can’t even begin to explain how fucked up these characters all are.  Society life, man.  Messed.  Up.  Still, it’s a good read.  Wharton, she’s got a handle on it all, that’s for sure.

So that is kind of an accomplishment.  I pledged to read 50 books this year and after I finish TAOI I have one book left to read.  What should it be?  How shall I end the year?  I’d love to say I’m going to read something amazingly profound and relevant and all that, but since I only have a short time left, I’ma gonna say it’s probably going to be a Sonic the Hedgehog comic or something along those lines.  But whatever, right?  50 books is 50 books and I’m actually pretty excited to be able to accomplish this. 

Still trying to decide if I’m going to up the ante for next year – 60 books?  75?  Maybe just up to 52 – that’s a book a week, right?  Still pretty significant.  So we’ll see.

2011 was also going to be my year to get my shit together, and I actually think I might have done just that.  Perhaps not entirely, but a good chunk of it came together and so I am leaving this year behind feeling pretty good about the one to come.  I’ve got a better handle on what’s what with my life and I’ve continued to prioritize – to weed out the crap and focus on the beautiful and the positive – and make time for what’s important.  This is a process, of course.  It’s not something that can be changed overnight or even over the course of a year.  It’s ongoing and forever, and as long as I can keep the process and the plan firmly in my head, it can only get better. 

Christmas 2009 was my mum’s last Christmas – we didn’t know it at the time, of course.  She and I were out shopping at local gift shop and the shop had a series of wooden carved words available to be purchased – your typical “dream” “laugh” “live”, etc.  But the one that caught my eye was “simplify”.  My mum went back another time and bought it for me, and it now hangs in our hallway – it’s one of the first things I see when I walk in the front door.  I love it, and one of the reasons I love it so much is that it hasn’t become “part of the furniture”.  Every day when I open the door I see it – I really see it.  And it reminds me to do just that.  Simplify. 

When life seems to be becoming  increasingly complicated, sometimes all it takes is a little reminder to do the exact opposite.  It can be grounding, it can help you focus.  Or, simplify.

In case I don’t get back here before the ball drops (heh….ball drops) on New Year’s Eve, let me just say thanks to all of you for reading another year of drivel and cussing.  Wishing you all the very best for 2012, may the new year bring you everything you need during this next trip around the sun.  Cheers.