Been away for a long long time...

[PK the Bookeemonster]

Currently reading THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Steig Larsson. I'm sure, as readers, you've experienced that moment when the story catches your imagination. At that moment of "clicking", you cannot read anything else; you must know what is going on in this world and you won't stop until the end of the story. I love that moment. I don't know if it is as powerful as falling in love, but it has the principal. It has that difference between "I could walk away at anytime and not care" and "who ARE you and I must know more." Each book, I think, that one chooses to spend time with has that moment. Why else would we spend time with that particular book when there are so many others? So last night I had that moment with the Larsson book. I read until 11 (yeah, I know it wasn't 2 in the morning but this is late for me) because there came a time that I didn't want to turn away from what was happening on the pages. I LOVE that moment. That "Ah-ha" of finding a compatible voice that you're hearing in your head as you read. More more more moments. Steve came to bed at 11 (early for him for a Friday evening) so I reluctantly set the book aside. I have things I need to do today like vacuum and laundry but I want to get back to losing myself in the story.

That is also one of the reasons why I can't be a writer. I have ideas for stories and I want to HAVE WRITTEN but I truly don't want to give up any opportunities of reading stories. Stories are everything. The ones that click with us as a reader are magical. They can cross countries, centuries, language. Isn't that amazing?

I've been reading blogs about resolutions. Yes, it's that time of year. I don't really do them because to me, they are just goals to achieve within a specific time period which I do anyway. And some things are not resolutions but are just things that have to be done like get a job. And of course there could be different categories like physical health always and quality of life, etc. And some can be so ambiguous as to be worthless or so specific as to defeat the point or really belong on a "To Do" list. But...

Resolution #1: Work on my website daily
Resolution #2: Get comfortable with social networks daily
Resolution #3: Write a workbook for the class I'm going to teach in July.
Resolution #4: Learn "flashy splashy" for websites.
Resolution #5: Leverage M-degrees and get nonprofit website clients.

Are you sensing a theme here? These are the goals that are out of my way currently and I want to complete this year. "So let it be written; so let it be done" (Yul Brenner in The Ten Commandments).

Let's see, other goals:


- Read an average 10 books per month (fell a little short here in 2008).
- Be current in world news and what it means. (i.e., get smarter)
- Ditto for nonprofit info, especially planned giving. BE the expert.
- Blog daily, even if it's stupid. :)
- Do reviews of all books I read.
- Other than daily walking Tug, work out at least every other day especially biking.
- Here's an impossible one: be a better housekeeper. (bwa ha haha)
- Though it takes away from the first three, watch DVDs more than you did the first 10 months of the year.

Oh, there are so many ways that we all think we must improve ourselves. Perhaps this is the biggest of them all:

TRY TO FORGET ALL OF THE ABOVE AND JUST LOVE YOURSELF FOR WHO YOU ARE TODAY. YOU'RE PERFECT AS IS.