7:44 p.m. - 2004-07-23
New Life Resolutions
Life right now is hectic but good. My days are filled with rehearsals, parties, weddings, trips, work, and packing. Always, always packing. I feel like I haven't gotten a single thing packed, but I think if I actually cleared all the boxes and stuff out of my room I'd find less there than I think. Which is good, because we get the keys to our apartment on Tuesday. That is four days from now. Dear God.
We've now been to two of the four weddings this summer, both of which were delightful and fun. I still can't quite get my head around the fact that Foreman is married, but I think that one's going to take a while.
Plans for our wedding are going well - we've come up with a lot of good ideas and have even started doing a little bit of the legwork involved rather than just having vague discussions about things. I think we're going to take a little bit at a time, rather than trying to plan the whole thing in large clumps. But, this week we came up with the menu (thanks to our reception site, who agreed to rearrange it pretty substantially for us and have a buffet even though they prefer not to), the table names theme, the processional (which, God, I love so much), at least one reading, and a few other random things that most of you probably don't care about.
Lengthy emails have appeared between me and Canoegirl, as we both start to get things organized for our weddings next summer. In an odd coincidence that I only realised earlier tonight, both of our priests are currently on sabbatical which is slowing down some of our plans.
Work is great. If it weren't for the renovations causing occasional bouts of being high on glue, it would be near perfect. I like it there so much. I like what I do, I like the people I work with, I like (most) of the people who come in, I like being surrounded by books all day, I like the variety and the minutae and the programs I get to do. I like knowing that I'm doing something that matters to me, that I'm doing something I've cared about since I was very small.
Which leads me to my next point. Wandering around the Internet earlier today, I found a link to a website that's collecting stories of libraries for a book. I immediately thought of seven thousand things I could write about, and I knew I had to submit something. Shortly after that, I read about another writing contest that is perfect for me as well. And I knew that finding both of these things in the same day was not a coincidence. I need to write both of these submissions, and I need to do it soon. I've been languishing in laziness with my writing lately, and if I'm seriously talking about wanting to do anything with it, I need to stop that. Immediately.
And so I'm making plans, doodling outlines, forcing myself back into the lifestyle I slip out of too easily. I think back to some of my writing classes and how much those professors and classes influenced me, and I know I can do it. I want that lifestyle, and I have no excuse not to adopt it. I have a job that pays well enough that I can afford to work 17.5 hours a week and still squeak by. (I hope!) I'm moving into an apartment with my friend who understands being a writer. I'll have a new neighbourhood to explore, new writer's haunts to discover.
And so I make some new apartment resolutions. I will take advantage of the on-site swimming pool and work out room. I will eat better. I will sleep more civilised hours. But above all else, I will write. Every day, for at least a little while. Because there's no excuse any more. The rest of my life is verging on perfect (which is just asking for trouble, I know), and I need to whip this last element of the life I want into shape.
I don't know if that will mean more updates here. Maybe. Maybe it will mean working on my novel from time to time. Maybe it will mean submitting all those articles I have half written on my laptop. All I know is it will be writing, in one form or another. I can do it in November, why can't I do it all year round?
There's no good reason why not. I can. And I will.
