The New Year

This is going to be long.

I had an awesome New Year's Eve. It hit a chilling 30˚F in Phoenix last night as some friends and I went to dinner and the Tempe Fiesta Bowl Block Party. The experience has humbly forced me to admit that I seem to know nothing abut dressing well and still being warm. Eventually the outfit pictures from it will get posted. The biggest surprise for me, though, was finding out the night before that Jimmy Eat World was going to be playing! One of my favorite bands since high school, and I was going to get to see them live for only $20! Let me gush a little and say that they were so good live. "Hear You Me" in particular was just heart-wrenching and I'm so glad I got to see them live, even if I was freezing my ass off the entire time. That being said,

Happy New Year!
May all your guys' 2011 wishes and resolutions come true! This blog has introduced me to some truly awesome people and I'm grateful to them, and to all of you guys who've been reading/following me for helping shape and inspire the progress of this blog. I can't wait to see what this new year brings!


On to the self-reflection: This was not a good year for me, generally speaking. Some really great things have happened, that I won't contest, but overall, I wasn't as happy with myself and my actions and achievements as I was in 2009. For me, this is truly disappointing because I'm kind of obsessively ambitious. I'm a strong believer in the idea that each person has the ability to start winning and bettering, and when you start winning and bettering, it snowballs. Up till now, I allowed myself to condition this with the notion that I needed to catch some sort of break in order to set this snowballing in motion, but in the last month or so, I'm realizing that I'm just going to have to make my own breaks here, because that's the only way to guarantee them happening now, when I need them. So, I've made my resolutions in the spirit of making my own breaks:

• Be kind, polite, and more sociable. Don't waste time worrying about little things and just get right out there.
• Don't get behind. That isn't to say don't procrastinate (because if there ever was an impossible goal, that'd be it), but don't leave things to the point where you're going to have meltdowns.
• Interact more with other bloggers. Have features, guest posts, and more email interaction with these people you think are awesome.

And lastly, accept things that are long past changeable. As the frame I have above my dresser says,

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