January 4th, 2011
I started to write this almost a week ago and stopped. And I have realized that I need to make a New Year’s resolution on this issue. I keep starting things and not finishing them. Lately I’ve been beginning a blog and then after I’m about ½ way through writing it, I stop. Then pick it up about 2 weeks later. So I’m left with this unfinished thing in my life. One unfinished thing piles on another unfinished thing and pretty soon I’m wallowing under a mound of unfinished things. So no more! I must learn to focus and finish what I start. I had a handle on this for awhile, but it seems it was fleeting and I’m back to doing it again. I could blame it on school, on work, on being tired…. any number of things. But there’s nothing to blame it on. In this multi-tasking world, I’ve discovered I’m actually more efficient doing one thing at a time. And I like it that way. It’s actually easier and I get more done. I’ve read studies recently that prove that the human brain cannot open multiple windows, like Microsoft Office can. We can only focus on one thing at a time. I think there’s a reason for that – a self survival reason. And I actually miss just doing one thing at a time. It reminds me of a simpler time, like Mayberry. 🙂
So I made it through the holidays, but it went by so fast, I barely remember them. I hope that next year during fall semester I can organize myself more so that I can enjoy Christmas. I didn’t get to see any lights in San Francisco this year. I’m sure there were holiday things to do but I didn’t get to them, working on my papers and reading. I didn’t even buy my tree until December 20th! Oh my! And that was an experience in itself. I got a beautiful tree, got it inside my tiny apartment, and then couldn’t get it into the stand…. Trunk too thick with knobs on it, aargh. So shades of Christmases past, I had my old kitchen knife, chopping away the lower branches and the knobs on the trunk, thinking, didn’t I do this before, and why didn’t I just bring the stand with me when I got the tree??? I did reach one of my neighbors and borrowed his little hand saw, which I nearly bent, (oh my) but eventually got the tree in the stand. I had the wonderful men at Delancey’s shave off the bottom branches but I guessed a little bit short. Bringing the stand with me would have been perfect. Why do I think of solutions after the fact? There’s a song in there, isn’t it ironic… tee hee.. So next year by golly…. I’ll have this down.
I spent 3 days of Christmas in Sacramento and it was just lovely. Couldn’t seem to get myself out of the house on Christmas Eve though and didn’t arrive in Sac until 9 pm. But Chris, bless his heart, had a fire going in the fireplace and made me stir fried Szechuan Shrimp over rice that was to die for! What a BFF!!! I even took a picture of it for posterity. I could then relax and we watched Sherlock Holmes and I was in super heaven with Robert Downey Jr. A wonderful way to begin the holiday! I got incredible Estee Lauder perfume and Dennis again cooked a magnificent meal, only this time the main course was a honey-baked ham, and we ate and ate and felt a feeling of fellowship that made me grateful for the family I created out here. Now that my parents are gone and my brother estranged, I’ve had to create a family. But they say that the best family is the one we form, so I have the best. I got to visit lovely Dana and see her FIVE TREES that she decorated in her home, 2 full size and 3 smaller ones, all themed, all adorable; her home is so much like walking into a store. What a collection she has and a talent that does not even resemble hoarding… 🙂 Her house is full, but so well organized and so homey, it all appears as if it’s meant to be. I’ve known her since 1991 and it was so wonderful to catch up over homemade butternut squash soup and yummy bread. I don’t know how she finds the time to do all the things she does, but she does. And she FINISHES them! So that is my goal this 2011, to finish things more on time.
I’m also getting more exercise and that started with a wonderful hike Chris and I took on this little secret path behind Cal Expo. With the leaves all fallen down, it made such a linear panorama of lines, looking through all the branches of the trees at all the ducks swimming underneath. What a wonderful hike, and I’ve got a good start at re-exercising myself. I had been doing so well and then school invaded my schedule and I never exercised again. My hope is that I incorporate daily exercise into my schedule while I’m on break and then it will come naturally even when the semester starts. How did they do this in Mayberry? There seemed to be so much more time than there is now to do the things that seemed more important than we do now. I heard once that I should do the things every moment that I will want to have a memory of and I have realized that playing spider solitaire over and over is not on that list of memories. So this new year I can begin making many more new memories intentionally. I made a wonderful start on New Year’s Eve, by attending an event that was really magical. This gala had different stations to rid yourself of the old and bring in the new. 4 were titled Fire, Earth, Water and Air. I wrote the things from 2010 I wanted to rid myself of and put them in a burning bowl, then ate 12 gin-soaked raisins (boy were these yum!), one for each month to savor one at a time to feed each future month of this new year, then washed my hands while thinking of all the things I wanted to rid myself and Rabbit said a blessing over my hands as she dried them, which was very inspiring. Then lastly we wrote a wish that we wished for 2011 and put it in a bowl and when we left we took another. My wish I chose upon leaving said, ease in manifesting great results. What a wonderful wish I took home with me! I had my tarot cards read by a professional for the first time, how fun was that! And apparently I picked the best card in the deck! Yay! I picked the Emporess and she gives me the world as my oyster for 2011! Double yay! The significator card I chose (whatever that means) indicates balance in my life and I actually feel balanced. (I’m sure some would disagree) 🙂 Then there was 2 stations on either side of the room, where you poured black water into a bowl of earth to ground all the things you wanted to rid yourself of in the past year and then lit a candle and wished for all that you wanted to happen in the coming year. We drank champagne at Midnight and so began my new year here in the Bay area. It was an exciting and hopeful way to begin a new chapter. I have one semester under my belt and 3 ½ years to go. Part of me wants to wish it away and be a graduate. The other part of me doesn’t want to miss a single second of this experience. And therein lies my greatest joy, I know, if I just let it happen. Patience will give me the experiences I will cherish. Each day I learn more and more about my faith and what it will take to be a minister. Part of it scares me, intimidates me, invigorates me. The other part is acquiring patience. I savor my break and look forward to next semester and see what that will bring. So happy new year and wishes of excitement and expectation! No wonder they portray a new year as a tiny baby. There is so much potential in what is to come.
From my little piece of Mayberry, begin a wonderful new year,
Jo