I Resolve

Do you make New Year's Resolutions?  My family does ours together, gathering at midnight with champagne or some other sparkling wine (or, you know, sparkling cider for those of us who don't like wine) and sharing what we hope to do for the new year.  In the past there have been resolutions like write music and get in shape and finally find the perfect lamp for the living room.  Mine this year were a little different.  

I resolve to go to every Friday at Four.  Friday at Four is a Reed College institution - a musical performance at the aforementioned date and time.  I've only been to one so far, and I think it's a good idea to get out and actually hear music for a change, rather than playing it on my computer speakers in my dorm room.  Besides, I definitely have half an hour a week.  

I resolve to practise the piano every day for at least an hour.  I have never been "the musical one" in my family, but my entire family is musical.  At school, I find playing the piano incredibly relaxing, even though I have to cross campus to get to the music building (soooo hard, I know).  It's lovely to play, and even lovelier to see myself making progress.  Practising piano also holds for sight reading and theory work.

I resolve to work harder in biology.  Biology is my hardest class, mainly because science does not come naturally to me.  I'm naturally a fast reader, which is helpful for humanities, but I find graphs and diagrams (which our biology textbook is full of) difficult to understand.  Still, I think if I can do all of the readings before lecture and really work, I'll do better.

I resolve to keep my room clean.  I'm usually kind of good at this at school - less so at home.  My dorm room is tiny, and letting it get super messy interferes with my studying and productivity, so it shouldn't be that hard to just make my bed and put things away.

I resolve to go running even when I don't feel like it.  Like an idiot, I left my trainers in Portland over the break, so that means that in the early Northwest mornings when it's chilly and my bed is warm, I get up and run through the canyon anyways.  Even when it's dark and raining.  

And finally, I resolve to brush my hair every day.  It's easy to forget about brushing, to just throw wet hair in a braid and go about daily life (what I do practically all the time) but brushing hair is good for it and makes it shiny.  Besides, making an effort is a good idea, no?

Do you have New Year's Resolutions?  What are they?

(Above: a clean room.  From here.)