2010 resolutions, revisited.

Posted on
Jan 10, 2011

2011, it seems, is hell bent on keeping me from getting stuff done. Last week I was waylaid by a wicked cold. I was determined to catch up this weekend, posting like a mad woman, but the internet has been down for the last 24 hours.

I know that doesn’t sound like a long time, but during that disconnected day, Rand and I nearly went Lord of the Flies on eachother (remember the SNL sketch Wake up and Smile, where the teleprompter breaks and Will Ferrell eats the weatherman? It’s kinda like that.) I am pleased to say that the internet returned before I decapitated my husband. So, we’ll file that in the win category.

The downtime (due to illness and Comcast’s incompetence) has given me plenty of time to reflect on 2010. In particular, the 10 resolutions and predictions that I made in 2010, and that (I won’t lie her) I basically forgot about until just a few weeks ago. At the risk of being way too meta, here they are, with some updates … 

  1. Resolution: I will improve my Italian.
    Reality: I’ve been making more of effort to speak Italian, and for a while I was even taking class. But those of you who know me well are familiar with my terrible attention span. I easily get distracted by … DOES ANYONE ELSE FEEL LIKE BROWNIES?
  2. Resolution: I will eat one entirely new and unusual food.
    Reality: Two words – haggis pakoras.
  3. Resolution: My camera will not be lost.
    Reality: I didn’t lose either of my cameras. Though I, personally, got miserably lost on numerous occassions.
  4. Resolution: I will get at least 250 blog posts up in 2010.
    Reality: I got 244 posts up on the Everywhereist this year (including guest posts from awesome contributors). I was really satisfied with that number, until I realized that I was forgetting all the guest blogging I had done for other sites. If I only count the travel-related ones, I hit a grand total of  … 250. Exactly. HOLY CRAP.
  5. Resolution: I will appear in more photos (since most of them are of other people and random crap. Besides, it’s not like I’m getting cuter as the years go by).
    Reality: This counts, right?
  6. Resolution: I will get my EU passport.
    Reality: Um … no. Put simply, Italian bureacracies put ours to shame.
  7. Resolution: Yoga will be attempted, by me, in a country that is not the U.S.
    Reality: Portland counts as another country, right?
  8. Reality: I will teach my husband Italian. Sort of. A little, at least.
    Resolution: He picked me up, said, “Troppo pesante!” and put me down. When I started yelling at him, he swore he had no idea what he had said. Right.
  9. Resolution: I will stop over-packing.
    Reality: I never said “I will stop over-shopping.”
  10. Resolution: I will stop pouting when I don’t get upgraded.
    Reality: I had no intention of doing this. I can admit that now.

 All in all, a pretty shockingly productive year, with the exception of completely failing to get my Italian citizenship (more on that later, but the story, I promise, is delightful). Oh, and one thing I said last year which is so prophetic, I still kind of can’t believe it … Regarding my resolution to pack less:

“In my attempt to not over-pack, I will freak out that I did not bring enough (or enough appropriate) clothing for a trip, will proceed to shop with abandon, and ensuring that my bag, at least upon my return, will be over-packed.”

Naturally, I was amazed at my precognizance on that front, but Rand wasn’t. He made this clear to me when we were out to dinner last night. “You predicted you would shop a lot? That’s like me predicting that when we are going to finish this meal, get a bill, pay it, and then walk home.”

He also suggested I man-up for my resolutions and predictions for 2011. Sigh. Okay, Fishkin. Challenge accepted. I promise my resolutions for 2011 will be more exciting … I just need a little help coming up with them. I’m utterly stumped. I don’t know what I want to do this year, besides “eat a donut with bacon on it,” and that just doesn’t sound all that ambitious. So, what do you say, folks? Care to help me out? Help me think of some fantastic things to do in the new year, and I’ll add them to my list for 2011. And if it happens to involve bacon or shopping, well, that’s just fine by me.

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