New Year, New Me

Who is good with New Years resolutions? I mean, let's admit it. If everyone held true, every year, to every new years resolution they ever made, I think the world would be pretty much perfect. It makes me wonder who came up with the crazy idea of New Years Resolutions in the first place? Probably just a manifestation from the general party small talk.

"So, seen any good movies?"
"Nope"
"Man, this weather is crazy huh?"
"Yep"
Silence...
Awkward silence...
"So, what are your New Years Resolutions?"
(Ah, finally a question you need more than one word to answer!)

Well, be that as it may, for the past few years most of my New Years goals have had to do with being healthy, working out more, snacking less, blah blah blah. Well, those never really held water. However, I think this year will be different. I have shifted focus from the health perspective, to the self education perspective. Here is my short list:

1)Begin learning another language (French, German, or Russian)
2)Make an effort to step out of my comfort zone to meet others while in Italy
3)Learn to play a musical instrument (Piano, Guitar)
4)Practice my writing skills

The last one is especially important to me. I think I write well, but I am not very use to writing. Reading, well that is something I am very use to. Writing however, requires more effort. My blog is not a very demanding exercise, but lately I have had this idea for a story in my head. It started coming to me around June of last year, and I would slowly work on it in my head, sorting out details, characters, plots, etc, while driving to or from work, listening to music, or right before bed. I started to get ideas down around late August, but every time I put a few words down.. well my mind go the better of me. I would look at what I had written and think "Oh God! This is horrible and silly. This doesn't look like the work of a real writer, just some inept person scrawling out some gibberish." So, I would put the small words away, until my ideas were spilling over my head again, and I was forced to write a little more. So, I am not a natural born storyteller, but hey, I have known this my whole life. The only natural storyteller I know is my dad. But, I am telling myself that this story I am writing is just an exercise; practice to ease myself into the habit of writing. Lately, it has been better. I try and write a little every night, and if I have seemingly no creative juices, my rule is to write at least three sentences. Generally, I always write a little more than this, but it helps. I think this is the start of a very interesting year...