Friday, December 30, 2011

2012 Resolutions

This year I am setting monthly resolutions. I read that this is a good way to get a lot done. I'll use some months to set new practices in place that in theory will continue past their designated month. Other months are self contained. Last year I did my resolutions faithfully until May. A net gain, and also a failure. To keep on track this year, so that my last 7 monthly goals get a chance, I am doing something kind of finicky with mail, called remailing:

At the 1st of a new month, I will sit down with my resolution and write it and draw it on the front of a postcard. Then on the back of the postcard I will put my own address, and draw a little calendar of the month. Then I will put this postcard into an envelope and address that to the postmaster of a US town with a relevant name. From what I've read, this will get the postcards postmarked with that town's name. I am not sure this is correct, because letters posted in my town get the postmark of the mail sorting center, not the town, but I am willing to try it. And every day I will yearn for the postcard to turn up, and that will keep me on track to completing my goal. When it does turn up, I can record my daily progress on the calendar I've drawn.

January: Learn to cook new healthy foods. Focus on having very balanced nutrition.
Hershey, PA

February: Practice yoga every day. Learn about yoga resources or theory.
Half Moon Bay, CA

March: Go on an adventure.
Globe, AZ

April: TBD
Truth or Consequences, NM

May: Wake up at sunrise, because it is sunrise.
Morning Sun, IA

June: Take time to meditate every day. Do not learn any more meditation theory.
Bliss, NY

July: Swim! Swim until I am worn out, until I can't get out of the pool without using the ladder.
Neversink, NY

August: Spend 40 hours on my current artwork. (track hours)
Paint Lick, KY

September: Be a better global citizen. Conserve resources, share wealth, pay attention to what is happening to everyone.
Blue Earth, NM

October: Take ice skating lessons.
Snowflake, AZ

November: Practice cello 20 hours.
Stringtown, OK

December: Submit JET app.
Satsuma, AL

This method does not seem to promise the wonderful cumulative effect of working on something consistently for a year.


Monday, December 5, 2011

One of the job boards I check is the one the unemployment office referred me to, caljobs. I lost my caljobs password, and I forgot my security question answers.^ I know I haven't forgotten my first car or the job I wanted when I was a kid, so maybe I am capitalizing differently. I feel like it's rude for the unemployment job board to ask about my dream job. Anyway, the website was down tonight so I felt free to hang out on the swap bot website.

I haven't looked at who is sending to me in the Christmas Card and a Teabag Swap but I thought they might be international since I haven't gotten anything and domestic mail is the quickest (On swap bot the swaps are a round robin or random or something- you don't exchange things with a partner). I sent three cards to the US, one to Finland, and one to the UK. I planned not to look at my senders, so as to be surprised, but I am glad I looked because now I can anticipate mail from the US, Spain, Thailand, Australia, and the Czech Republic.

I was reading my senders' profiles, not for any reason, and two of them stated really strongly that they don't accept unwrapped tea bags. I read all the profiles of the folks I sent unwrapped tea bags to, and none prohibited unwrapped bags so everything is fine, but I feel bad because I have changed my perspective re the appropriateness of unwrapped tea bags. Factory wrapped is the way to send tea to strangers. I was just so excited to share the seasonal Trader Joe's Candy Cane Decaf Green Tea. It is so good. It tastes a little bit like a candy cane and not really like green tea. I guess I don't know what it tastes like. It is my favorite flavored tea, and last year I never stocked up and I had to hoard my last box for months and when I had used it up I didn't throw away the box until I moved. I just kept the box in my cupboard-- it has a narwhal on it whose horn has an ornament tied on with string-- and when offering tea to guests I would point it out.

I have a new project in mind and pretty international stamps will help it lots. The project is a stamp collecting album dollhouse book, made from a dozen oil paintings. The stamps will fill picture frames and so on. I have got as far as ripping the pages out of a book and drawing bricks on the spine and back cover.

^Okay, I figured it out. I made a super hard password to spite the uber demanding password requirements. So, that will show caljobs. Like, it said my password had to include characters from 3 sets, but wouldn't accept my password until I added a character from a fourth set. It was at the limits of my password generating abilities, and people who are a lot less computer literate than I are relying on this service.