It's cause I watch One Tree Hill, isn't it?

I just checked my blog's reading level. Read it and weep, baby. Weep at the zillions of dollars apparently wasted on my higher education:

TV Reviews

Okay, seriously, I worked in business. What do they drill into your head? That you must write at a junior high school level. That it's the most effective way to communicate. That you should communicate to be understood, not to try to impress people with your copious vocabulary. Hee, did you like that "copious" instead of "large"? Is it still funny if you have to explain it? I always get confused about that. Or should I say obfuscated?

I'm aiming for "junior high". That my story and I'm sticking to it.

(This was test was snagged from Postcards from the Edge...hi Deb!)

If only reading was a workout!

I've been continuing to go to the gym in the wee-hours of the morning. No rational person should be up so early. So of course I have to worry about the zillion other people at the gym, because clearly they are irrational and not to be trusted.

Anyway, I've been continuing to tell myself that I feel good...more energetic and healthy. You would think with all the lying to myself I do that I'd be better at it by now. But, I persist. The past two gym visits, however, my subconscious mind has had different plans. As I was driving by the library, both times I nearly turned into the parking lot. Blinker on, starting to turn the wheel, when it suddenly occurred to me I was not going to the library and that I had to continue on down the road to the gym.

But how I wish I was going to the library instead. Why doesn't the library open at 5:30am? I think I could trust people up that early if they were up to read. And why doesn't reading improve my physical health like it does my mental health?

Random unrelated thought: We've been listening to Laurie Berkner and Dan Zanes all afternoon and while they are certainly the more enjoyable of the kids' CDs, I was starting to lose my mind. There are only so many songs about snack food one can listen to. So I just put on Regina Spektor. B-man is singing along. N-man is playing guitar. I guess there is some hope for their musical tastes.

2008, here I come

Good thing procrastination isn't on my list of things to attack this year. Well, better late than never. Here, in all its glory, preserved so I can't forget it, my goals for this year:

• Write at least 160,000 words. That's 10,000 per month, except 50,000 in November. This means I also have to keep track of my writing, so I'll start an excel spreadsheet to track my word counts.
  • As a subgoal of that, I want to win NaNoWriMo 2008.

• Take one photograph a day that somehow represents the day for me. I know some people do 1 picture a day of themselves, or of something arty. Well, I'm not all that arty, I'm more looking to have a photo-journal of 2008.
  • Pictures of my kids don't count, because I'm going to post the pictures online but I don't like to post pictures of my boys online. Heck, if pics of them counted, I've already taken a picture a day (or more like 20 pictures a day) since they were born two and a half years ago!
  • It's January 2nd, and I have two pictures already (not downloaded yet, but Jan 1 is a couple of ornaments lying on the ground as we un-decorated the tree, and Jan 2 is tissues, a thermometer, and medicine since my son and I are sick).

• Post a minimum of 120 blog entries in 2008. It's kind of fun...a neat way to get some ideas out of my head, or just to have a place to let my random ideas flow. Good escapism, and another good way to keep track of memories.
  • This doesn't count toward my 160k word year goal above!
  • Dare I say, I'm considering NaBloPoMo next November on top of NaNoWriMo? If anyone doesn't know, it's like NaNoWriMo, except you commit to writing 1 blog entry a day during November (so, it's far, far easier than NaNoWriMo :)

• Start planning our great cross-country adventure. In 2010 or 2011, we're planning to spend a month or two driving across the country, seeing all the sites that strike our fancy.
  • Start a savings account!
  • Start a file of places we may like to visit, and research some of those areas.
  • Learn about camping...and try to decide if that's something we want to do on our trip. Try to find some outdoorsy people to befriend who can teach us all about camping.

• Live healthier!
  • Join the Y and take a class. Go to family swim times.
  • Join a CSA or otherwise plan to go to a lot of farms this summer to pick fresh veggies.
  • Stock healthy snacks in the house instead of chips and chocolate.

Random unrelated thought, What I'm Reading edition: I'm currently reading Moth Smoke for book group on Wednesday. I'm really enjoying it so far. My book group is really on a winning streak recently. We've read a ton of books I've been pleased to have had a chance to read.