DawgNotes

• End 2008 weighing less than I do today. I'm not quite in the weepy state Valerie Bertinelli is in her most recent Jenny commercial, but I am tired of not fitting into my clothes, feeling achy and stiff all the time, and generally feeling blocky and frumpy no matter what I wear or how I "decorate". I put on nearly 40 pounds in the last five and a half years. I'd like to give them back.
• Have secure "funding" for the part of the year that comes after May, particularly the part that comes after August. The uncertainty of next year is severely distracting.
• Have the entire dissertation, my part, drafted by summer. Rather than thinking of it as one whole project, I prefer to think of it as 8-10 seminar papers in the making. 8-10 papers in five months. Why not?
• Revise and submit the articles I've been meaning to revise and submit for publication sooner rather than later.
• Go to at least one of the museums in Syracuse, and attend at least one of the local festivals sometime during the year.
• Bone up on and get actually proficient at html and related online skills.
• End the year owing less than at the beginning of the year. See secure funding item above.
• Post thoughts and observations to this space more days than I don't.
• Get a walk in more days than not.

In my former life, these would be called "wishes" more than "goals" because they are not specific, not measurable, and not broken down into daily to-do components. Right. That's the idea. Because if I've learned nothing else in graduate school, I've learned that I can only control certain things, and the rest of what happens has a lot to do with other people, and how I respond to those other people. But if everyday I can remind myself that I'd like to have more good days than not when this year is over, the rest will be manageable.