Moving ahead, bold and confident

I'm not sorry to see 2011 go. I have officially dubbed it the Year of Insanity, and so far 2012 is turning out to be pretty good (okay, so it's only the third day of January, but I'm trying to be optimistic). I've got a volunteer position at a crisis center in Kent, and I'm actually really excited about it (does that sound morbid?). I don't have any rose-colored visions about what it will be like...I know it's painful work, and it will take a strong person to hear others' tragic stories and not have their hearts shatter into smithereens. I consider this like a 'sneak preview' of what my eventual career will be like...and if I discover that I can't handle it, well, I have plenty of time to change my plans if absolutely necessary.

Looking back is unwise, but nostalgia isn't necessarily a bad thing. This time last year, I was so sick I could barely talk...it broke my heart to realize that the city of Paris hated me  after making me violently ill for the second time. Not how I imagined starting my final semester of senior year.

And then began a chain of events where I was tragically depressed, survived a summer of spiritual bootcamp in Colorado and had my heart broken again (but in a different way this time), got a little bit of hope back...and I realized my calling was to start a ministry to counsel abused women. I got three tattoos (probably as rebellious as I'll ever get). I got accepted to a graduate school...but only God knows where I'll really end up.

And finally, I met a boy who makes me smile every day...never in a million years saw that coming. I feel so undeservingly blessed.

Anyway, on to my list of New Year's resolutions (ones I actually intend to keep this time!):

1. Read about the life of a saint every day.
I found one of those yearly devotional books at Last Exit for only 4 bucks. It was so meant to be on my bookshelf :)

2. Write more letters!
I'm bringing old fashioned handwritten communication back. Facebook is convenient, but nothing says "I was thinking of you" like a personalized letter or greeting card (and no, I don't mean the ones with cutesy sayings inside, where all I do is sign my name at the bottom. That's cheating!).

3. Start a movie collection.
I've always been more of a book nerd, and the only movies I've owned before this year are VHS, which really saddens me because I remember saving up my babysitting money to buy my own VCR and it still works just fine...I boycotted the DVD movement for a while, but since it's here to stay, I'm giving in.

4. Choose a grad school
...and with that, my first apartment (with wall-to-wall bookshelves, of course). Maybe, if I have any money left over, I'll splurge on a rabbit or a guinea pig.

5. Completely clean out my closet of all the clothes I never wear and give them to charity.
I don't want to be one of those girls with constant "So many clothes but nothing to wear" syndrome. I actually get overwhelmed if I have too much "stuff" that never gets worn, or used.

6. Finish my book!
As for getting it published...well, maybe that will be next year's resolution :)

That's all I've got for now, but I'll probably come up with more later.