Hey, Look! A Bunch of New Projects to Ignore!

Every couple of years I go through a sort of...awakening. I get all excited about a bunch of different things. I start projects, start reading books, start taking lessons, start writing, start working out. I'm sure by now you've deciphered the pattern. You're quite shrewd, aren't you?

I start on these goals and projects, but I don't actually finish any of them. I suppose part of my problem could be that I rarely get excited about one endeavor at a time. I go from watching reruns of "Friends" and screwing around on Facebook every night to writing a novel, becoming a wine expert, learning to play the guitar, reading every book I never read, taking up hiking, beginning a gym routine, and coming up with a cure for cancer, all at once. And then, predictably, I'm hanging out with Ross and Rachel again, not having accomplished any of the things that were so important to me last week.

Well, except for the cancer thing. I totally did that.

As you might have guessed (you clever thing), it's happening again. It started with an interest in food and sort of snowballed. If you read this post you can see where it all began. Since then I've (mostly) stopped eating meat, joined a CSA (We DO have them here! I'll blog about it in a day or so), decided to grow my own organic herb garden, make my own compost (which is looking unlikely for apartment living unless I can afford a hideously expensive device or want to live with an offensive odor pervading the air), and the list goes on.

For the first time, I think I finally have a passion that's going to stick. I'm having fun getting my random box of produce and figuring out what to do with it, hitting up the farmer's markets, trying to figure out what to do with all the peaches we got this week (Jam? Pie?), and getting creative in the kitchen. I still believe I will slip up on occasion, but I know that my dedication to feeding my family well will not disappear like the unwritten novels of the past.

I wish I could be as confident that my other present projects will receive the same kind of devotion and follow-through, but I know how these things usually go. Just for fun (and so you can laugh at me when I'm tweeting about television from the couch in a month) here are some of the things I'm working on, in no particular order:

1. My herb garden- I know I mentioned this, but since I haven't done it yet, it belongs on the to-do list. I'm probably giving up on the compost idea, but I'm working on getting the pots, seeds, soil, etc. that I need for this project. It's a small investment, which is pretty much the only hold-up at this point.

2. I'm writing a screenplay with a friend- We've only met once to work on it, and we don't technically have an idea yet, so this is high on the "Doesn't Look Promising" list, but I hope it works out because I think I would like to do more creative writing, and I think he and I might work well together.

3. Learning to play my guitar- The guitar was an amazingly generous gift from my father-in-law, and also one that meant a lot to me. I took lessons for a while, and then infertility took over my life and bank account, and I stopped. I'm not expecting anything ground-breaking here since I'll be teaching myself, but I'm hoping to at least re-master some chords and perhaps string them together in a recognizable way? Hopefully?

4. Obtain and regularly ride a bike- Don't hold your breath. I can't afford a bike. But, it's my new dream. In the meantime, I will have to be satisfied with any exercise I manage to do. Which brings me to...

5. Exercise!- I know, how very typical. I've been trying to get to the gym for weeks now, and it hasn't happened. I'm hoping when the weather cools down, I'll be able to get out for walks, which will turn into jogs, and maybe even runs, someday.

6. AIDS walk- I'm signed up. I just need sponsors.

I guess that's it. I'd like to say that this time I'll stick with it and accomplish these goals, but only time will tell. Especially since this is all on top of being a parent, a wife, and an aspiring writer. Oh, and there's that Master's degree I still need to finish...

I think I'm going to go lie down for a minute. Now where are those "Friends" DVD's?