Cliche Resolutions Post, Party Time, Excellent!

Yesterday I joined a friend in utilizing a 7-day pass to Bally Total Fitness and we took a Zumba class. If you aren't familiar with Zumba take latin dancing, through some cocaine on it, lots of hip and leg movements, tribal dancing and masochism. It looks like this, except our instructor was faster (if I recall correctly she said she had been doing it for 12 years and was in the Air Force), harder and maybe a dominatrix on her off time.

My body is giving me a talking to this morning but I'm glad I did it. They say an hour of Zumba burns about 500 calories, but that didn't really matter to me since I had already negated that by drinking a grande green tea Frappuccino prior to the class.

I digress.

The thing about the class though, is that it made me think about making some resolutions. And I figured since I'm here a lot I could stick to them better. Hopefully.

So here they are- Amanda's List Of Resolutions

1. Not feel like I'm torturing myself when I take a Zumba class. Which is to say- exercise more. Last night was more of a wake up call as to how out of shape I am. It was embarrassing and I want to change that.
2. Drink about 50x more water than I do now. It's really a no brainer. I've been getting better at it by just not buying soda or juices but occasionally I slip and go on a Hansen's Mandarin Lime bender. It's really unfortunate to watch my husband see me slip into a sugary spiral of empty calorie consumption.
3. Start collecting for my store! This one will be fun, but it means that what I'd usually spend on treats for myself will have to go to the store. But I think it will be worth it.
4. Take the blogging to a whole new level. I'm perpetually inspired by so many blogs and there's really no reason I can't fulfill my own desires to have my own unique place in the blogosphere. This means sitting down with one of my computer savvy friends and creating Lullabies To Terrorize 2.0. Set your VCRs to "stun".
5. Call and write people more often. I'm kind of embarrassed about how much I rely on technology to keep in touch with loved ones and friends. Sure I keep in touch but it feels more superficial. I want to pour my heart into everything more. I think the results will be better and my life will feel richer for it.
6. Submit an opinion piece to the Tucson Weekly. People have been telling me I should do it for years but I've always been too...something. Meek, scared of rejection, unexperienced. No more. I'm perfectly adequate and I can only get better, so I need to start taking some leaps if I want to get anywhere.
7. Become a better cook. I know I could survive on spaghetti almost entirely but the world, and my family, think differently. And since they deserve the best, that means a more well rounded wifechef.
8. Take the clothes out of the dryer on time. The dryer isn't an expensive laundry basket where you pick out shirts as needed, Amanda. Realize this now!
9. Try to communicate more effectively with Greg. At best we are on the same wavelength about 75% of the time. At worst we are oil and water with fire on top, fire usually fueled by my temper/tone (I'm usually very soft spoken and consequently I haven't quite learned how to use an assertive tone without it sounding angry and combative, it's always one extreme or the other so I need to work on that).
10. Find Devendra Banhart. Marry him. I already got clearance on that from Greg (even he has a dude crush on him I think, or appreciation, I don't know what you'd call it in dudes terms).
11. Ease up on the coffee.
12. ....Nevermind. I think I'm going to need coffee to deal with a lot of these.
13. Bust out the camera more.
14. Bust a move more.
15. Put more in savings.
16. Pet more animals. It really is calming.
17. Have more jam sesh's with Jack.
18. Use more patience.
19. Use less salt.
20. Smile more at strangers.

I think this is a good start. I'm usually not a resolutions maker but I felt I should break out of the box this year, which is really what this whole list amounts to anyway. Breaking out of my self-imposed comfort zone and shaking it up more. Not expecting results with minimal effort and actually making efforts. Great efforts. Looking for goals instead of waiting for them to find me. Being less pessimistic because lets face it, I've done it for 23 years and it hasn't really done too much for me other than providing bitter punchlines.

"Lets fuck it up boys/lets make some noise."

I hope you all find yourselves in a New Year of prosperity, whatever that means to you. In relationships, in creativity, in family or jobs. I wish you all the love and happiness in the world. Goodbye 2010. It was nice knowing you.