Turning Another Page

I know when I get an email from Carol asking me where the hell I am that it is time to show my face around these parts again :-) Happy New Year! I've been pretty busy with work. There's a lot of stuff on BnM needing to be done to finish off 2004 and embrace 2005. And I've got a pretty big PR campaign on the go for a new client. So, I've been bogged down in media research mostly.

So, it's another new year, huh. God, I love closing the book on one year and starting a new page with another! It's invigorating, so full of possibilities. This is the time of the year when I set new short term goals and evaluated how I did last year. Actually, I start doing this sometime in November so I've already started working on the next stuff by the time New Year's Day rolls around. They're always pretty simple things, relatively easy to achieve . . . yet things that could go by the wayside pretty easily if I didn't focus on getting them done.

The things I wanted to do in 2004 were:

1) Attend the WFNB AGM no matter where in the province it was held

2) Be able to wear a particular pair of jeans by April that I couldn't get above my ankles at Christmas

3) Visit Sackville in the summer to see if it was a place I wanted to move to

4) Attend the Alden Nowlan Literary Festival in Fredericton in the Fall

Pretty easy stuff to do if you put your mind to it, pretty easy to let pass without doing if you weren't focused on doing them. I'm happy to report I did do all these things in 2004! And I had a great time too!

Looking ahead to 2005, the tasks I've set for myself are a bit more tricky financially, and there are more of them. So, I'll have to stay really focused and dedicated if I hope to achieve all of these things. Some are carry-overs from last year, things I did that I want to do again. Here's the plan:

1) Drop one size by April and maintain it throughout the rest of the year

2) Attend the WFNB AGM in April no matter where it is held in New Brunswick

3) Attend the Northrope Frye Festival in Moncton this spring

4) Move to an apartment by June

5) Go to a U2 concert no matter where in Canada (hopefully Toronto)

6) Attend the Alden Nowlan Literary Festival in Fredericton in the Fall

7) Submit my fiction to magazines at least once a month

8) Finish writing my novel, to have a complete draft done by the December

So, the list has doubled and includes lots of trips and stays in hotels, not to mention rent on an apartment . . . Maybe I should have included look for a higher paying job in the list ;-) Just kidding. It's going to be okay I think. I don't make much, but I seem to pick up extra just when I need it most. Anyway, there's my list. It'll be interesting to look back next year and see how I did.

What about you? Anyone set some goals for 2005?

Mood: Optimistic
Drinking: King Cole Tea (not steeped nearly enough) with half n half
Listening To: Bon Jovi, 100,000,000 Fans Can't Be Wrong album, Always (Demo)which is quite different from the one that they finally put on a record
Hair: Time to dig out the dye bottle again to cover those grey on top that only people taller than me can see