Confession: I have never made New Year’s resolutions in my life. I’m not very good at meeting my short term goals, unless there is a hard deadline forcing me to do it, much less ambiguous year long resolutions – as Parkinson’s Law tells us, work is like a gas. It expands to fill the available time. Even things I actively want to do, like reply to a friend’s email, seem impossible at times. So committing to and executing a year long goal seems absurd to me. And this year will be year three of a global pandemic! Back in January of 2020, I thought I’d be moving to Texas. Needless to say, I did not move to Texas. So no resolutions for me. However, I do have a few things that I’m looking forward to this year. Maybe they’ll pan out and maybe they won’t, but hey, gotta look forward to something!

1. Starting grad school
   I actually applied and was accepted last year, but I deferred my admission for a year. I’m really, really excited to start in August.
2. Moving to DC
   Two years after I was supposed to be moving somewhere, I’ll actually be moving somewhere else! Eeeek!
3. My sister’s wedding
   My older sister is getting married in a few months. Translation: pretty clothes and good food! What’s not to love?
4. Remembering that I have a blog
   I don’t know what I’ve been finding so hard about writing things – responses to emails, answers to texts, blog posts. But I think I’ve finally been hitting more of a stride, so I may actually remember to do these things. That’s fun.
5. Garlic
   So, something about me…I kill just about every plant I ever touch. I’m a danger to the world around me. However, in the fall, I planted some garlic. They look like they’re doing okay so far! So with a little luck, in a few months, it may just turn out that I’ve managed to grow something that can be eaten.

Happy New Year, everyone. It just might be better than last year.