...depending on whether the one who is counting started at the beginning of year one or at the end.
A decade ago today I was in London, at the Millenium Dome, and apparently we left the dome at most an hour before the security incident that made the news that same day. By then I was walking along the Thames with my then-boyfriend, to a bench next to the Thames Barrier, my favorite architectural landmark in London, and possibly the world. Ten years later, I have been out of the country only once, as far north as Whistler, north of Vancouver, B.C., Canada. So, decadal resolution #1 has to be TRAVEL. This next ten years, while the world is still relatively at peace and fuel and security concerns have not yet prevented average citizens from travelling overseas, I must at least get back to Britain. I really want to walk the length of Hadrian's Wall, and go hiking in Scotland. If possible I still want to earn a PhD in Aberystwyth, though perhaps I am straying away from rural ecology too much already. Hmmm. No idea what use a degree in political science earned in Colorado could possibly be to a life in Britain, but at least theory should be useful, I hope.
Resolution #2 is a bit more complicated. I am turning 31 this year, and while I might not exactly prefer to live in a classic romantic novel, I know I am missing out on a rather significant part of human life in not experiencing much romance. Unfortunately, romance is complicated, stressful and sometimes downright miserable. I am, for now, in a community that tends to value romance less than the general public, in a world that seems to prefe bickering and complaining to romance anyway. Getting a graduate degree is important, and so long as I am in school, it is important to focus on school. However, school and degrees are tools for life, not life itself. Eventually, in this next decade, real people and my relationships with them need to take precedence entirely over academic life and books.
Resolution #3, a fairly frivalous one compared to the first two, made its way into the list because it won't go away. I want to meet Josh Groban, the singer, and not just for a few seconds. My short-list of favorite celebrities has mostly formed recently, within the past two years or so, since I really hadn't had one before then. Most of the men on that list are actors, and I know little about who they really are. Maybe I would like them, any maybe not. I'd love to meet them as well, but the more I know about Mr. Groban, the more he seems like the people I already know and like. Right now our careers are opposite in shape, so that he is at the height of his career now, while mine is still building, and by the time I am the intellectual giant I am constructing, he will be winding down. Somewhere in the middle, maybe, there's a chance we might be able to meet as equals, and if the Universe wills it, maybe we might even strike up a lasting friendship.
The sun is now setting on the last day of 2009, and as the Universe eases into the new year, may life continue to improve with the ages.
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