New Year's Resolution Watch

I am back. Nederland Ned lay dormant while I got situated this semester but I am committed to doing interesting things and writing about them.

My first post will be a New Year’s Resolution watch. I will dedicate at least part of every post to my progress in achieving my New Year’s Resolutions.

As you may recall, I had three of them: 1) Learn Spanish, 2) Play more guitar, 3) Run a marathon.

1) Learn Spanish

-I have been doing my Rosetta Stone lessons nearly every day. The weekend lessons have been sparse but I make time for lessons during the week. I have supplemented the lessons by watching Spanish language movies with English subtitles. Y Tu Mama Tambien and Pan’s Labyrinth are the only ones I own so far but Amores Perros is on the way. I welcome any other suggestions. Most Europeans I know say they learned English by watching American television and movies with subtitles. The movie plan seems to have had an impact on my performance thus far. Granted, this may be due to the fact that I have been extremely focused on Rosetta Stone and have been doing it for at least thirty minutes, sometimes up to an hour per session. Regardless, I am pleased with my progress.

2) Play more guitar

-This one should be modified to, “play guitar every day.” I have been doing just that and its effects are profound. Guitar soothes me. Even a few minutes worth of mindless strumming can be therapeutic as it takes me away from my reality and into some parallel universe full of mediocre music. Like Spanish, guitar is more fulfilling with practice. I have learned to play “our” song, I’m Comin’ Home by Robert Earl Keen and have been working on some simple picking.

3) Run a marathon

-This one is going to be the most difficult. My knee is already sore and I only have three workouts under my belt. I think the same knee that was mysteriously hurting in Prague is acting up once again. My workouts have been slow with plenty of time between them because I do not want to hurt myself and get set back like I did on the last marathon attempt. My new shoes feel good and fit well and I am in good spirits. I subscribed to Runner’s World magazine and have been doing some core strengthening exercises as recommended by the magazine.

I will give myself an A- so far. The first few days of the new year were not particularly productive since I was in New York and more interested in spending time with Jami than accomplishing any of the above goals. Jacksonville has yielded greater progress.

My only real criticism is that school and my job search have not been given appropriate attention. I need a job and I need to graduate from law school so these two things should be given greater focus.