Here is how I graded myself on my achieving my themes for 2024:
Have a Plan for Every New Moon: B
Make Plans to Write Each Month: D
Plan for Swing Dance: A+
Get to the Water: B
Fix What's Broken: A
Spend Less: A
Eat Well: B+
Move: A-
Here's how I feel I did against each of them.
Have a Plan for Every New Moon
I quite enjoyed imposing this theme on myself, it was a good challenge to consistently seek the Milky Way and remind me to get into nature. Here is what I ended up doing for each New Moon in 2024:
Jan 11 - Returned to Amboy Crater
Feb 9 - Overnight in Yosemite
Mar 10 - Weekend in Paso Robles
Apr 8 - Solar Eclipse!! Watched from work parking lot in Fort Worth.
May 7 - Copper Breaks - somehow missed the Aurora visible in most of the continental US even though I was stargazing at a dark sky site! 😕
Jun 6 - D'oh, looks like I missed this one.
Jul 5 - Sam was visiting, didn't stargaze
Aug 4 - Didn't stargaze again; came back from work trip to North Carolina and headed to the UK to meet up with Sam... Busy but totally worth it!
Sep 2 - At Camp Hollywood, no stargazing there except watching the swing dance stars perform!
Oct 2 - Back on track - went to Fairbanks, Alaska to not only look at stars but also the Aurora! Nailed it!
Nov 1 - Camped at Big Bend
Nov 30 - Left for Milan the next day, did not stargaze
Dec 30 - Total dark sky zone in northern Tasmania; Sam and I indulged in a beautiful display!
Make Plans to Write Each Month
I would call this a failure in most respects because I didn't really do much planning to write. I did, however, eek out 24 blog posts, so in average that's two per month. How'd I do?
Plan for Swing Dance
When I find out for sure I'd be moving to the Fort Worth area, I was sort of devastated and assumed that meant not attending the majority of the swing dance conferences I had intended on or was considering going to, namely San Diego Balboa and Lindy Exchange, BadAZ Balboa, Swingdependance, and even Camp Hollywood which I already had tickets to but would now require flights. After some consideration, though, I decided to make swing dance a priority and figure out how to make it work within my crazy move schedule. Instead of letting the move derail my plans, I used these events to structure a slow move to Texas. I ended up going to both the San Diego and Phoenix events, celebrated Easter with my friend Danielle and then drove to my parents' house for a week of remote work before finally making my way to Texas. I picked up a new dance conference there - The Big D in Dallas. And, I successfully made it to the full weekend of Camp Hollywood including a return to my favorite venue in the LA area, Lindy Groove. Not only that, but in Fort Worth I joined the Fort Worth Swing Dance Syndicate and danced frequently at their dance as well as the reciprocal Dallas Swing Dance Society and First Friday dances. My former dance instructor from Arizona encouraged me to check out Jubilee and that turned into me joining the newly forming Jubilee Swing Team, with whom I performed in December! I also joined some fellow Jubilee dancers downtown Fort Worth for dancing to a live band at Sundance Square. As far as fitting swing dance into my life, I'd say I killed it in 2024!
Get to the Water
Before moving, I spent an afternoon at a gorgeous beach in LA. At the end of the year, I found myself on a beach in Tasmania. In between, I didn't have as much beach in my life as I may have liked, but I did camp right next to the Rio Grande at Big Bend, spent time in the pool by myself and with a few different guys I dated, checked out the World Springs artificial hot springs, spent hours in the Chena Hot Springs in Alaska, and vacationed at Loch Ness. I am so blessed to have been able to do all those things, but I am very much looking forward to some solid beach time in Hawaii this year... (not to mention Sam is taking me to one of his favorite beaches near Sydney tomorrow!)
Fix What's Broken
John Mitchell, a writer, wrote in 1981 of Stonehenge, "One might almost suppose that it was specially designed to accommodate every notion that could possibly be projected onto it." I think the generality I laid out last year in my themes, especially this one, are of the same nature. I don't recall if there was anything in particular I had in mind. Perhaps there were some things in my house in need of repair, especially before selling it. Perhaps I was referring to my heart, having just half-ended things with Deric who had confessed his love for me not long before. Or maybe I was considering how my spirit had been broken a bit with the work drama I was dealing with, and my aspirations for career success and my fulfillment in my work had all but withered away. I may have also been thinking of my health, although at the start of the year I had not yet decided to pursue diagnosis and treatment for possible sleep apnea. Regardless of what it was that prompted me to write it this way, it did continually motivate me to stop self-sabotaging and to do the things needed to fix things both literal and figurative. My Palmdale house, for example, required some repairs of the roof and other items that came up in the inspection which I dealt with promptly. My new house in Fort Worth had a few issues and I got those taken care of. For my heart, I moved on from Deric and dated a number of men until deciding that Sam was the only one I wanted to be with. He encouraged me to deal with my snoring and I did a sleep study and got a CPAP machine, with which I'm still getting comfortable, but it is clearly improving my quality of sleep. My career has sort of found some reinvigoration as well. All in all, this was a tough one but I feel I mostly succeeded.
Spend Less
You might think that the lavish vacations I've taken this past year would put me in the fail bucket for saving money. I wouldn't fault you at all for drawing that conclusion. But the downgrade to a smaller home in Texas from California, the lower gas prices and cost of living, and perks I've received partially through work travel, have actually netted to less spending. I've also been fairly conservative on buying stuff - I need so little anymore - and eating out when I'm at home, so that supports this goal as well.
Eat Well
I've really focused on incorporating more vegetables into my daily meals, and Sam has also inspired me to eat less meat and more plant-based foods. That has led me to a plant-based ramen with which I'm obsessed. At home I eat it almost daily. Bringing healthy-ish frozen meals to work have also supported my aim, and I lost weight after the UK trip with these tactics. While in Italy for a work trip, I ate so much but still managed to lose weight, I believe because the ingredients are purer and free of the usual preservatives in American food.
Move
There is a double meaning with this one - I knew I'd likely have to move residences in 2024 and I'd say this was one of the least painful moves I've had despite not having a partner to share the burden. I have the whole process down pat. But also, I wanted to incorporate both dance and other forms of exercise and enjoyable movement - hiking or walks in nature, swimming, even stretching. Having invested so much energy into dance, I didn't do too much of the other, although I did go camping and hiking at two locations in Texas as well as returning to Amboy Crater in California before the move. Sam and I did quite a bit of walking in the UK and a bit of hiking around Dove Lake in the Cradle Mountain National Park of Tasmania.
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