Melanie is currently running a guest-post series titled “Toy Stories.” Stop by her site and check out my post.
January’s almost over, so I thought I’d take a look back at my goals and see how I’m doing, reassess (wow, “reassess” really has a lot of s’s, doesn’t it?) if necessary, etc.
- Cut out sugar/sweets for a month (January): I lasted about a week without sweets, but I’m happy to say I reduced my refined sugar intake by about 75% for the month — and it was actually pretty painless — so I plan to just stay at this one-quarter sugar level for the foreseeable future.
- Have kid(s): not yet (this is more like a five-year goal, so no rush)
- Write a polished/publishable work of fiction (short story, novella, screenplay, etc.): My wife and I have been working on a screenplay. We have lots of notes, outlines, ideas, scene kernels. Now we just need to carve out some time and write an actual, honest-to-goodness scene from start to finish.
- Visit Nepal (or Bhutan or northern India): not yet (this is also more like a five-year goal)
- Get in touch with the really real — continue my fledgling meditation practice: Hmm…meditation? I should really do some of that.
- Continue to swim/exercise regularly: I haven’t really been exercising regularly. A partial excuse: my back went out mid-Jan. and is only now returning to normal (this is actually the third year in a row that my back has gone out in either Jan. or Feb. — weird)
- Go backpacking/camping at least once a year: not yet
- Sit less: yes, a bit less
- Say “yes” more: yes, a bit more
- Be the change I want to see in the world: This one’s a bit amorphous — I’m working on it.
And my Year of Creativity goals:
- buy a high-quality amateur camcorder: I’ve been researching camcorders for a few weeks now. I plan to order one today or tomorrow.
- film a short (or two or three…): not yet…soon!
- write a screenplay together with my wife: we’re working on it (see above)
- take “Video Production I – Film 130” at the local community college: I had my first day of class this week. I think it’s going to be fun.
Know where I can score some raw milk?
Sunshine Farms was our past source for raw milk, but they had to close down because they couldn’t realistically comply with new, stricter state regulations.
But word on the street was, there was a new player in town, and by “in town”, I mean here in Santa Fe, not an hour-and-a-half away in Bosque Farms.
So we get in touch with the new dealer (a.k.a., the Milk Man), only he says he’s in Texas. And we’re like WTF?!? But the Milk Man’s cool, he actually drives to Santa Fe once a week to deliver the goods. Sweeet! All we have to do is purchase a cow share — because if you own the cow, you’re allowed to drink the milk. As it turns out, we’re going to Texas for Christmas, so we just need to stop by and sign a bit of paperwork. We know the Milk Man is based in Abernathy (it’s all over his website), only we don’t know where in Abernathy and now we can’t get hold of him.
Thankfully, after several tries, we get in touch and he gives us directions to the farm. So I drive out and meet his wife and the cows and pay for my cow share and even purchase a couple of gallons of raw milk, but I don’t sign a contract. That’ll be emailed to me.
A few days go by. We receive the contract. I’m supposed to print it out and mail it back to them, only I don’t know their address (I have directions to the farm, but no address). So I email them. A few days go by. They email back, and I send it off.
A week goes by. We’re running low on the good stuff and we don’t want to go back to ultra-pasteurized skank milk and we haven’t heard anything from our dealer. We call. We email. A few days go by. We receive an email from a Sarah M. (name changed to protect the innocent) about a Sunday, 1pm delivery. We’re excited, but there’s no mention of a drop-off/pick-up location. So we email. We call. No response. We start looking through the phone book for a Sarah M. — and find one. I think it’s a long-shot, but my wife’s willing to call, so she makes the call, and lo and behold, Sarah M. is a raw milk devotee. She set up the mailing list for the Milk Man (so Sarah M. is both a real person and an email alias for the Milk Man), and she knows the drop-off/pick-up location.
So we’re set. Only the drop-off time is changed at the last minute from Sunday, 1pm to Monday, 5:30pm. So last night, at twilight, I follow the instructions given to me by the real Sarah M. I find the house. There’s a plain-white van parked in the gravel drive and 7 or 8 people forming a line. I get in line. The Milk Man announces there’s no cream or butter (it’s been too cold, the cows aren’t producing much), but he’s got milk. And now I have it (exactly one month from first contact), and I’m drinking it, and loving it.
Thank you Milk Man.
I dub 2010 the Year of Creativity. I really want to be more creative this year — particularly in the “making of stuff” sense.
It’s very easy for me to think creatively (imaginatively), but just sort of cruise along and not actual produce much of anything.
I’d like to change that.
And I’d like to thank my parents for their out-of-the-blue, over-the-holidays, get-your-ass-in-gear encouragement. Thanks Mom & Dad!
I’ve always been interested in film (aren’t we all?), so I’m going to pursue that. It may or may not lead anywhere, but I won’t really know unless I give it a try — and I’m sure to have fun along the way. So, in keeping with this new goal, I’m going to:
- buy a high-quality amateur camcorder (Red One will have to wait)
- film a short (or two or three…)
- write a screenplay together with my wife (we’ve already begun writing)
- take “Video Production I – Film 130” at the local community college
If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.Henry David Thoreau
Stay tuned…
Last February, my older brother, my dad, a family friend, and I built a 2/3-man igloo. It took ten hours. We finished well after dark, and by then I was too tired/cranky/cold to want to sleep in it.
On the First Day of Christmas (Dec. 26, St. Stephen’s Day), my old brother built his second igloo, a 7-ft. one-man, by himself, in three hours.
On the Fourth Day of Christmas (Dec. 29), my older brother, my younger brother, and I drove up to the Ski Santa Fe parking lot, parked our cars, and hiked into the woods. The car thermometer read 17° (-8° C). We thought maybe two of us could cram into the one-man igloo, and my older brother would sleep outside in his super-warm winter bedroll. But after perusing the interior, we decided all three of us might be able to fit. So we rolled out our sleeping pads, blocked the entrance with a backpack, lit a candle, and stretched out as best we could. It was actually pretty warm inside the igloo — so much so that we ended up not getting in our bedrolls. We just kept on our winter clothing and spread our bedrolls out on top of us as blankets.
We blew out the candle around midnight and tried to get some sleep. But it was pretty cramped, and sometimes chilly (somehow I ended up with my feet sticking out the door of the igloo), and there was snoring and the occasional drip of water from the ceiling. So it wasn’t a great night’s sleep, but it was an adventure.
Would I sleep in an igloo again? Definitely. But preferably not a one-man igloo packed with three grown men.
Arrival. My older brother kneeling near the doorway. Gear strewn about.
The branch-and-snow-capped ceiling (with candle lantern, goggles)
Departure. ~6:45 am, 13° F (-10° C)
Woods
Some of these are goals for 2010, some are goals for the 2010s, some are lifetime goals. I’m writing them here so I’ll see them and you’ll see them; thus, the whole universe will be watching my progress. I’ll try to keep you updated at semi-regular intervals regarding said progress.
- Cut out sugar/sweets for a month (January)
- Have kid(s)
- Write a polished/publishable work of fiction (short story, novella, screenplay, etc.)
- Visit Nepal (or Bhutan or northern India)
- Get in touch with the really real — continue my fledgling meditation practice
- Continue to swim/exercise regularly
- Go backpacking/camping at least once a year (seriously, do not let another backpack-less year pass by!)
- Sit less
- Say “yes” more
- Be the change I want to see in the world
Shout-outs to Ponies and Unicorns, Not Your Average Ordinary, and Profound Nonsense. Thanks for the inspiration.
P.S. Happy New Year!
I finished 21 books this year (one more than last year) — 12 fiction (including one book of poetry), 9 non-fiction.
Fiction Fave: The Raw Shark Texts
Upon finishing The Raw Shark Texts, I seriously thought about just starting back at the beginning and rereading the whole thing. It’s mysterious, ambiguous, hopeful, heartbreaking, and lots of fun.
Non-fiction Fave: Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism
Talking to the Dead chronicles the lives of Kate, Maggie, and Leah Fox, and their rapid rise to fame as 19th-century mediums. It’s part paranormal activity, part family drama, part how to cope with sudden fame, part women’s role in Victorian society. Their story is fascinating.
Biggest Disappointment: Perdido Street Station
I find there’s only so much of this sort of writing one can take:
…like a dirty smear, like a slab of carrion thronging with maggots…houses which dribble pale mucus…
Currently Reading: Cloud Atlas has been highly recommended by quite a few people, so I thought I’d give it a try.
What have you been reading?
We leave tomorrow to spend the (early) holidays with family in Texas.
Merry Midwinter! Merry Christmas! Merry Hanukkah!
My wife and I watched the original British version of “The Office” back in April and enjoyed it, so last month we thought we’d give the American version a try. We started with the pilot on 11/07 and finished season five on 12/12. That’s five seasons in five weeks! And now that we’re used to a season a week, we’ve caught up with a show moving at the glacially slow pace of a season per year. We don’t have tv (we’ve been watching via Netflix), so we could start watching via nbc.com or hulu.com, but the video quality isn’t that great, so I think we’ll just wait and watch the previous season each summer.
In other news, we went ice-skating last week (at the fabulous Genoveva Chavez Community Center). In my mind it seemed like a fun winter activity, but the reality didn’t quite live up to the dream. We discovered that ice is very hard, very cold, and very slippery. We hugged the walls, watched the zamboni resurface the ice, and fell. We both rather quickly decided we’d rather be swimming…
Check out the gorgeous Chavez Center pools:
Also, wildlife sightings! Twice recently, when opening our car hood, I’ve discovered a rabbit sleeping on the engine block! How crazy is that? I guess it’s a warm spot, but who knew rabbits could (and would) climb up on top of an engine block like that?
And last week we saw a weasel run past our back window carrying a mouse/rat in its mouth.
Our younger cat has taken over one of our clothes hampers. It’s now his house.
