New Year's Resolution Check-in: February

1. Lose 20 pounds. (177 -> 157)
March 1: 175.5 - Still to go: 18.5 pounds

Ha. Sure, someday I'll get there. No seriously, I'm going to be halfway there, by the end of this month. February was... a strange month. I had some really really good stretches. In fact, I had about a week of perfection that got me down to 170, but that brought on another sabotage mission. The bright point of February was exercise, but I'll get to that.

2. Exercise at least 45 minutes a day, 6 days a week.
The Excel spreadsheet is still working wonders for me. I didn't quite get all of the workouts in, but I'm proud of what I did. I ran four times a week every week but one, and that one I ran three. I'm back up to running 30 minutes at a time, pretty easily. I'm proud that even when my eating went crazy, as it did quite a few times in February, I still stuck to exercise as my habit.

3. Run 11k in the Naju Marathon.
Not sure if I'm going to run the 11k or the 5k, but training is going very well. After the Naju Marathon I might amend this, because I have big plans to for a half marathon in September!

4. Blog at least once a week.
Again, so far, so good. I'm really proud of this.

5. Read 50 books.
Pace has slowed down, but I'm still ahead of schedule, and Tim just returned with a lot of books that look interesting to me, so I should be set!

6. Write regularly.
FAIL. I'll try again to get started this month with a regular schedule. It might be easier once I have my class schedule.

7. Save $800-$1,000 per month.
I haven't received any money to save yet, but hopefully I'll have at least $1000 in the bank by my next progress report. Didn't manage to save much from the vacation time, but at least I'm not negative. At least, I don't think I am. I sure hope not.

The breakup has caused me to start thinking really hard about my future lately, and to re-evaluate some things. Well, that's not true. My goals are the same as they've always been, sort of. They're just in sharper focus now that I don't have that distraction, so I'm expanding on them. I'll be writing about the new life plan here soon. I wonder how many life plans there are in this blog.

New Year's Resolution Check-in

1. Lose 20 pounds. (157)

Hmm... the weight loss was going really well for those last two weeks. I saw the lowest number I've ever seen on the scale, 172, and exercising everyday was relatively painless. Then I started snacking, just a little, and the scale started creeping up, inexplicably. Then I had a whole day of insanity before we went to Maryland, and a no-holds-barred meal at Chili's with Carrie. That's not entirely true... I shared a bad appetizer and a bad dessert, but for some reason stuck to a grilled chicken sandwich for my entree, as if that mattered? Plus my period is coming up, so I'm really not looking forward to getting on the scale when I get back to Fort Myers. But I've lost at least 4 of the 20 pounds already, so I'm on pace.

2. Exercise at least 45 minutes a day, 6 days a week.

This is actually going surprisingly well. I may have finally found a system that worked with an Excel spreadsheet to help me track on the computer. I'm back to running regularly and feeling really good about it, including a freaking amazing 35 minute run today, including a big hill. I've done three weeks of the 100Pushups and 200Situps programs, and I can definitely tell a difference. It'll be a little harder when I go back to Korea and don't have great weather or an elliptical machine, but I still have the treadmill. I am a little curious about where I'll be living and what access I have to a gym, but we'll see.

3. Run 11k in the Naju Marathon.

I should be in pretty good shape for this one. Training is on track.

4. Blog at least once a week.

So far, so good. I've even done a good job of updating my 2009 book and movie lists in a timely manner.

5. Read 50 books.

Way ahead of pace, and reading some really good stuff.

6. Write regularly.
This is the only resolution I'm really failing at. I'll need to see what kind of schedule I can set up once I get back to Korea.

7. Save $800-$1,000 per month.

Well, the money situation is not as bad as it's often been. It might even be pretty okay, although I can't say for sure because I'm not sure how much cash I left in Fort Myers.

Okay, I'm pretty happy with this February check-in. Some people don't even make it to February with their resolutions... I know I usually don't. So this is progress.

Happy new year! (eight days late)

So, it's 2009. How did that happen?

The year has gotten off to a rather inauspicious start, but I'm hoping I can turn it around quickly. Wait, apparently inauspicious implies boding, negative connotations. In fact, I really just meant to say that 2009 is off to an unremarkable start.

Another year, and another ill-fated resolution about blogging more regularly. But before I get into new year's resolutions, five important things you might not know:

1. I've decided to stay in Korea until August 30.

2. I won't be a Fulbright grantee anymore... I'm signing a contract with my individual (same) schools. It has to be a six month contract, starting in March, which explains why I'm staying until the end of August.

3. This means I get about 400-500 dollars more per month, and an apartment.

4. I am, however, coming home for about a 3 week visit to Florida. I arrive on January 15 and leave on February 10.

5. I'm not applying for TFA this year, obviously. And somewhat perplexingly, I also won't be teaching public school when I get back, because I'll be returning to America too late to get a job. Which means I have to... do something else for at least a year. Which is a bit of a scary prospect in this economic situation, but a little exciting too.

There's a lot of uncertainty in my future this year. I'm not sure what exactly I'll be doing when I get back from Korea. All my previous goals are sort of on hold now, at least for one year, while I pursue something else. I'm still not sure exactly what kind of goals I want to set for 2009, but I have a few resolutions, anyway.

1. Generally, I want to get healthier. My goal is to exercise at least 45 minutes a day, six days a week. I'm always exercising specifically with the end of losing weight in mind, but for awhile I'd like to focus on just exercising for the sake of exercising. Because it's good for my health, and can be a stress reliever. I can only imagine that exercising seriously, coupled with eating right, will lead to more weight loss, but that's not my primary goal anymore. I'm hoping to run 11k in the Naju "Marathon" this year.

2. I want to blog at least once a week. I probably can't count on two hands the number of times I've said that before, and it was one of my resolutions last year, with mixed success. But I can only hope this time will be different. I've merged my diet blog with this blog, so now all the entries I've written over the past year and a half, since I came to Korea, are all here, and it's so neat to look through them. If I really want to consider myself a writer, at least one blog entry a week should be easy enough. But we'll see. You know what they say about good intentions.

3. Although I didn't finish keeping track (I think I stopped at around #43), I'm also certain that I achieved my goal of reading 50 books last year. It is, I think, the only resolution that I kept all the way through, and I'm really proud of it. So I'm hoping to read it with 50 more books in 2009.

4. Living in an apartment and preparing dinner for myself will introduce new expenses into my budget. This year I need to budget better, ahead of time, and keep track of my expenses. Especially because I won't have a job lined up when I return home, I definitely need to build up a sizable savings during my last semester in Korea. This is entirely possible... I make plenty of money. I've just never actually been able to do it before (in the previous three semesters). But hey, fourth time is the charm, I hope.