Do you like the new format, first of all? Any tweaks you'd like to see? Please drop me a line and let me know -- now's the time to make your voice heard, since Jed is patiently answering all my little e-mails with tweaks here and there and everywhere.
I see Heather has a new journal format too, similar but prettier. I guess it's just that time of year, for cleaning up, starting afresh. My only real resolution is to try to exercise every morning (and continue to remember to take my medicine). That shouldn't be so hard, with just one resolution. Hah! We'll see. I'm not implementing it until I get back to Salt Lake because a) I'm a lazy bum and b) it'll be a lot easier getting into a routine there.
There are other things I'd like to finish off soon. Some SH things: Getting the graphics cleaned up, by someone. The POD book, which I had to woefully put on a back burner. The final details of the fund drive (which I think will end up being semi-annual, so look ahead to June. :-) Though contributions are always welcome.) Some academic things: Maybe apply for a fellowship, if it's not too late. Revise at least one of the three relevant papers. Decide if I can live with two A-'s on my transcript. (In grad school, A- is not good. Trust me.) Get a good start on this semester. Revise some of the creative nonfiction from last semester.
When all that is done, write like a fiend, now that I supposedly have the time. I'm officially setting a goal of having a rough draft of my dissertation by the end of the summer. I have said it. Let the record show.
Other than that, be mellow, I think. The last month has been rather a frenzy of parties and socializing. Enough, I say, enough. They were fabulous (including New Year's with Tim and Ellen (of U Chicago) followed by New Year's with my cousins -- two very different parties (first: casual, good food, interesting conversation, second: dress-up, good drinks, fun dancing)), but exhausting. Today I'm taking it relatively easy, with an internet morning, followed by lunch with a grammar school friend (I've known David T. since we were both 7!) and possibly a visit to the local Museum of Fine Art. Then dinner back here with Todd and Debby -- they're such lovely hosts. I think tomorrow, I may just relax at their house and try to get over the last lingering trace of my cold. I could rush down to UConn to try to meet up with a professor about a book, but I think the logistics are going to be too complicated to handle in my current frazzled state. Which is too bad, but ah well. Sometimes, you just have to make choices, eh?
The holidays really have been terrific, though, with only brief and occasional spates of missing Kev. They rise up and crash over me like waves...then recede, leaving me gasping on the shore. But eventually I catch my breath and am okay again. I'm going to get used to this someday, I'm sure.
One things that makes it easier is presents. :-) This journal is a terrific one, as is my new and fabulous computer -- purchase in part by me, and in part with Christmas money from relatives. I have an iBook! I'm not actually using it yet, because I have to get home to transfer the info from my old computer. But still -- I have an iBook! It's small and sleek and light and reasonably pretty, with a massive memory that will hopefully have lots of room for pictures and music and doing stuff without crashing all the time. I'm going to try to sell my old Powerbook G3 -- it's three years old now, and I think the market rate is around $400. If interested, lemme know. If not, I may venture into the wild world of eBay.
Also much fun is giving presents. I don't think I've pointed you to the gift I made for Karina; a little book of photos of us and poems I wrote to her. It's called Karina and Me -- isn't it pretty?
Making books take time, but they're exceedingly satisfying. One of you asked how I learned to make them... I learned out of a book I picked up at the art store, Hand-Made Books, by Rob Shepherd. It's not a difficult craft, but it does take a certain finickiness, and attention to detail. Experiment at first with cheaper materials, before you try the more expensive ready-made bookcloths. The Japanese bookcloths do have a lovely shimmer, though, and if you're making small books, you can get quite a few books out of each roll.
I think that's all the things I had saved up to tell you. I hope you're having a good new year; I think this one will probably be a bit better than my last one. Fingers crossed...