make 2009 as good as it can be

The last month or two really flew by. swoooosh Loads of commitments, things happening at work, I can’t remember when was the last time I just buried myself in a book for a whole day (or at least a whole afternoon). A friend commented that I’m very lucky if my main complaint is over-active social life, but honestly, at this point, I’m just counting the days until my days (especially weekends!) are all mine again. Plus I have two days to come up with a perfect outfit to attend a wedding, at a time when my shopping mojo is at an all-times low. Meh. Let’s get on with things.

1) paperwork – Ahhh, it’s so nice not having to worry about the legality of my being in any given country at any given time. The last time I went to visit my parents, I didn’t even have to search for my passport, as my ID was enough to cross the border – I just threw some clothes in a bag and drove away! What a lovely feeling. I managed to accomplish most of other, smaller goals here, except switching banks. Too much of a hassle and I’d rather wait another year or two to see if the economy is going to collapse anyway. :P My bank does get on my nerves oh so very much, like randomly making mandatory all kinds of services I’ve never wanted to use. Grrr.

2) health – Mysterious joint aches still mysterious, weight gain stopped but not reversed. I did manage to train myself to a different eating schedule (main meal after work, not during lunch break like before), so I don’t snack all the time anymore. I’m doing something meditation-like most days even if it’s just a few minutes and reading about stress and relaxation techniques. I’m not doing much running (due to mysterious joint aches, MJA from now on :P), but I’m starting an aerobics class today. Will I survive? Will my unfitness leave me collapsed on the floor, gasping for air? Will MJA show themselves and convert me into an arthritic old lady for the next 10 days? Stay tuned for another episode of “Getting back to fitness with Vex!”
Oh yeah, I scheduled my regular checkups during Oct/Nov. 4 different doctors! I feel like a hypochondriac. _{No, wait, I am one! Ah, it’s ok then. :)}

3) everything else – I’ve moved the rest of my stuff to my boyfriend’s place. Hm… Not much else done. I don’t feel like accomplishing anything, I feel like nesting. I want to garden and knit and cook and bake and clean and make my home beautiful and above all snuggle. I don’t feel like going to meetings, typing up reports, negotiating with bloody infuriating stupid customers, negotiating with bloody infuriating stupid bosses, worrying that I’ve missed something if no catastrophe comes up after 2 consecutive days of calm, negotiating with occasionally infuriating boyfriend about home improvements, trying to juggle friends, family, work, sleep, basic hygiene and food without letting any of that fall out. :P

So there. I just have to survive till the end of the year. It’ll be better next year: 1 month unpaid leave, 1 month paid leave, Tunisia, probably Corsica again, London at least once and maybe Barcelona. Q4, you’d better behave yourself, I’m not going to tolerate any more of this Q3-like dumping-of-things-to-do-on-my-head. ;)

The absolute, number 1 priority – paperwork – has been crossed off the list. Yay. I’ve moved and settled in and have a 15-minute commute again. Woot, free time. That leaves me with no. 2 on my original list – health. Ugh. I’m totally unfit, gaining weight and to make things even more interesting, suffer from mysterious joint aches. But now that I’ve dealt with my biggest worry, I can focus on my health properly again.

Yet again, I realize I should keep this in front of my eyes at all times. I keep forgetting and re-discovering these things.

1) Paperwork is still a messy tangle, although I can sort of see some bits untangling. But I’d rather keep quiet, so I don’t jinx myself. It’ll probably all come in at once and I’ll run around like the March Hare trying to get everything sorted before the deadline (except it won’t be March). C’est la vie.

2) Health. Ugh. Ok, at least I’ve started running again. And I’m eating much more home-cooked food. I’m impressed by how a switch to snacking on home-made muffins and cookies makes Snickers weirdly unappetizing. I’m still trying to switch to having my main meal after work, around 5 pm. I’m hungry all the time and have to snack several times during the day. All this snacking adds up, so I eat more than I expend in terms of calories.

3) Moved to my boyfriend’s place. _{Almost wrote boyfriends’ – that would be interesting!} We spent several weekends cleaning and moving and throwing stuff away and assembling furniture and making the place livable. It’s starting to look almost nice now, although there’s still so much to do. Soooo…. Now that there’s a place for me and my hobbies and projects in that apartment, I can’t justify putting things off anymore. But the time goes by so quickly, I get home from work, eat, and it’s evening already, and I’m getting ready for bed. I thought moving would give me a little more time, but I don’t feel like it did. I’ll have to keep track of things for a while, to see what I’m doing in the afternoons that “steals” my time.

I hope you don’t mind me jumping on your goal. ;) I just don’t see any way to make 2009 my “best year yet” or something similar. There are too many things that I want to happen that are simply out of my hands, depending on other people, on supernatural forces, on alignment of planets etc.

I’m still thinking about 2009 and my goals, trying to get a clearer vision. I don’t have everything mapped out, but I’m hoping I’ll gain some perspective by writing about it.

So, what are my priorities?

No. 1, leaving everything else far behind, is getting my paperwork done. I’m in the middle of switching citizenship (renouncing one citizenship and gaining another and then, if I have any energy for it left, getting the first one back) and, like that’s not enough (paper)work in itself, it’ll bring loads more with it (employment contract, driver’s license, bank stuff, tax stuff, urgh, I’d rather not think about all of that just yet). Europe without borders, my ass.

No. 2, essential for me being able to cope with everything from no. 1, is taking care of my health. There’s been an upward trend for my weight (gee, I wonder why :P) and a downward trend for my fitness (outside temperatures ranging from -14 to -7 degrees C are not helping). I want to keep my weight in the “not having problems with my body image” range. I want to eat healthily, so I wouldn’t get (or feel) sick. And I want to feel strong, active and fit, not keeping myself glued to the heater bundled in at least 4 layers of clothes like some disease-ridden anemic. Stress relief is also a big part of this, as evidenced by mini mental breakdowns now and then.

No. 3 a.k.a. “everything else” actually means simplifying my life. I currently have a pretty long commute to work, which is taking away a big chunk of my free time. Then on most days I go to my boyfriend’s place in the afternoon/evening and spend the night there, which means I have to prepare my breakfast and lunch for the next day and take it with me. Things would be easier (in some ways) if I moved to his place (shorter commute, more free time, no more lugging stuff from my place to his place and back), buuuut that’s a HUGE step I’m not sure we’re prepared to take just yet. Besides, I’d definitely need my driver’s license if I moved, and I don’t have it yet (err, at least not a legal one, but that’s a long story) – see no. 1. Making time for gym (see no. 2) is especially tricky with my current schedule, not to mention logistics of getting there and back (I’m somehow not keen to ride a bike in this weather). Anyway, it’s lots of little niggly stuff that has to be taken care of sooner or later. I don’t want to feel so “time starved” all the time.

I’m not sure how (if at all) will this translate to my 43T goals. I do know that making goals and keeping track and posting about progress is helping me in reaching them. Have to think some more about this.

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