School Year Resolutions

To be honest, the school year's start seems to have more of a sense of change and beginning than the calendar year's start. I mean, on January 1st, the only thing that changes is the year. When school kicks in, your entire life kicks into a whole new mode. And that's why I tend to make School Year Resolutions. I actually have a lifestyle change with which I need to align myself (horrors of horrors...I almost wrote "a lifestyle change that I need to align myself with", but luckily I caught that preposition at the end. Winston Churchill would have been ashamed).

I love writing lists. Therefore, I am going to put my resolutions in a list, which is the commonly accepted format for resolutions.

1. Don't regularly stay up any later than 10:00 pm
2. Get into the habit of regular devotions
3. Get responsibilities done as soon as I can, not as late as I can
4. If I can't find time to study, then I also shouldn't find time to watch baseball or hockey
5. Perform some form of exercise every other day (yoga, running)
6. Prefer fruit to sugary snacks
7. If my schedule's too tight, I need to skimp on free-time, not schoolwork

A lot of those resolutions are more like reminders, and I think all of them were ones I needed to acknowledge last year.

I find my brain power is greatly reduced if I keep on getting to bed late. I actually found that out this summer in a debate mini-camp with my public speaking group. Let me tell you, I went to bed early that night because I didn't want a repeat of the bleariness and brain-fog (which, dare I add, does not help in debate).

I'm sure that by reading through my blog you have discovered I am a worrier, a stresser, and an anxiety-er. I find that regular devotions really help me get my focus back on the eternal. I'm a big-picture type of person, and I think best when I have a broad view, so when I'm busy pondering God rather than the messy details of my life I become less frustrated.

For #3 on the list, I'm actually not a huge procrastinator. However, I have become wonderfully talented at making excuses...

...such as, wasting a couple hours watching sports. 'Nuff said.

Ah, now here's an interesting topic. Exercise. I love running, but it takes so long to get ready, get out, run, come back, shower, and get my mind on track again. Yoga is much more do-able in a tight schedule, I find. I can do it for fifteen minutes in jeans and a t-shirt and then go back to my work.

Um...I was going to offer more commentary/footnotes/long-windedness on my list, but it's about time to get a-move on in the real world. Oh well. Be happy I actually posted something.

What I'm Thankful For This Year

1. My family. Duh. (Galdor's standing here. I patted him on the head and he punched me in the shoulder. Good thing he can't read what I'm typing!)
2. God. Okay, another 'duh' inserted here because if God wasn't here, we wouldn't be here. If God wasn't here, even if we did exist it would not be a wonderful life.
3. My friends. It's not easy being my friend, after all. I'm kind of grumpy and kind of annoying sometimes.
4. You really cool followers/readers of my blog who've stayed on even though my posts have been random and far in between!
5. Safety, or at least as much as I can have in this world.
6. A really solid education. Three cheers for my mom and dad!
7. My great-grandma, who I love talking to and who has cool stories about college and WWII.
8. Food. =)
9. The freedom to be able to say my thoughts, shoot guns, worship God, own property, and all the others.
10. Getting my learner's permit on the first try!
11. NaNoWriMo. *cue melodramatic sigh* Without it, I would never have found my wings!
12. My speech chapter. Public speaking really uncorked my bottle, so to speak. I never knew all the things I would be able to do until I gave a speech.
13. My church. I love my church because we're like one big family! Everyone knows everyone, and it's so encouraging to go to a building every week that's stuffed with friends. =)
14. Lastly, I'm thankful for the comfort of home. We're staying home for Thanksgiving and having my grandparents and a friend from church over. It's so nice to have a life. =)

And with those random thoughts, I'll leave you all with a Happy Thanksgiving!!!! ringing in your ears!

My Speculative Bucket List

Number 1. Run the Marine Corps Marathon. [wow. I'm setting the dial to 'pretty much impossible' and we're only on number one!]

Number 2. Hike the Appalachian Trail. [biggie. That thing takes about 6 months to hike. I'm going to do it with Peter. Spending 6 months with Peter...hmmm...we'll see if my sanity survives this one]

Number 3. Sell gelato. [finally something easy!]

Number 4. Earn my 'Expert' certificate in air-rifle. [it's the goal of every air-rifle shooter in our club. A worthy aspiration indeed, and a tough one at that.]

Number 5. Read the complete Bible. [benefits--countless!]

Number 6. Memorize one book of the Bible. [already started on 1 Peter!]

Number 7. Finish my first NaNoWriMo book. [it's been almost three years since I wrote it and I'm still planning on rewriting the thing. Again. Just call me the re-writin' queen!]

Number 8. Build myself a winning streak of 10 years on NaNoWriMo. [2 years down and 8 to go!]

Number 9. Ride the biggest roller coaster in the world. [this might take a while, seeing as I'm not even sure what it is.]

Number 10. Win a scholarship. [this would be great for college!]

And that's the first draft of my bucket list. Seeing as I'm Izori the Rewritin' Queen, I'll probably be happy with this thing on draft number #2,346.

Picky makes perfect, you know. ;)

Izori

P.S. Thanks for the prayers, iGirl! =)

My Summer Schedule and Blog Wishlist

Whew! It's really hot out today!

I am going to be very busy when school starts up this fall. Well, maybe 'busy' is an understatement. Let's try "exhaustively rushing hither and thither until my hair turns frizzy". Let me count the ways...

1. I'm going to be starting high school, which means extra school work for a longer time.
2. I'm going to be participating in one co-op,
3. Not to mention another smaller one.
3. I'm going to be taking on 45 minute piano lessons,
4. And 30 minute voice lessons.
4. I'll be teaching at least one student, maybe more.
5. I'll still work on my books.
6. I'll be playing soccer.
7. I'm considering playing in another league of soccer as well.
8. Hopefully, I'll be published/in the process.
9. Of course I'll be blogging.
10. And I'll be a docent at a local historic sight.

Yeah. That's scratching the surface.

I figured that I would desperately have to make a schedule for my life so that I can actually do all of that listed above. And I decided that summer would be the perfect time to learn how to be on a schedule.

IZORI'S SUMMER SCHEDULE

6:00-6:30--Exercise
6:30-7:00--Shower, get prepared for the day
7:00-7:10--Bible reading
7:15-7:30--Craft and memorization
7:30-8:00--'Before Breakfast Chores'
8:00-8:30--Eat
8:30-8:45--Brush teeth and straighten room
8:45-9:00--Piano/Tin Whistle practice
9:00-9:20--Latin
9:20-9:30-Weed and other yard work
9:30-9:40--Piano practice
9:40-10:30--Script
10:30-11:00--Craft/cooking
11:00-11:15--Spanish brush-up
11:15-11:25--Bible reading
11:25-12:00--Creative writing
12:00-12:20--Latin
12:20-1:00--Reading
1:00-1:45--Before lunch chores and lunch
1:45-2:00--Woods
2:00-2:30--Research of J.R.R. Tolkien/C.S. Lewis
2:30-2:40--Piano practice
2:40-3:00--Soccer practice
3:00-3:20--Latin
3:20-4:00-Chores and cleaning
4:00-4:10--Bible reading
4:10-onward--Relaxation time

Yeah, I have a bad feeling that this will last all of two days. But I'm really hoping that I can get my life on schedule, because it will be SO less confusing in the fall when things REALLY start up. After all, our God is a God of order!

This next thing is an idea that I got from igirl, the Blog Wishlist! Sweet idea, igirl! I hope you don't mind if I borrow it. =)

1. To have at least 3 comments on each post
2. To have 80 followers by fall
3. To write meaningful, God-honoring posts
4. To be able to encourage other starting writers
5. To get to know other people
6. To make my blog a safe place where everyone knows no trash will ever be posted
7. To make people laugh, or sometimes even cry
8. To have fun!

Oh, BTW, in less then a week I'm going on vacation! Does anyone want a book excerpt while I'm gone? Tell me quick, because if more than two people say yes I'll put up a poll to decide which book I'll take the excerpt from!

See y'all!

Izori

Guess what's coming up!

That's right, summer! I"m really looking forward to it, particularly because, for basically the first time ever, I won't have to do school work through the summer! All I basically have to do is complete Latin, but we're right on track for everything else.

That's probably the only downside to home schooling: if we aren't careful, we get really off track because we don't have a rigid schedule. However, not being tied down to the public school year has way more ups then downs, including being able to vacation when no one else can. =) We can also take sporadic weeks off, like we did during Dad's cancer treatment.

I had an extensive to-do list for summer, including brushing up on my Russian and being more fluent in sign language. And there were some things even more ambitious than that! Then I decided that this summer I'm not going to be stressed out. I might not get as many things accomplished, but at least I won't feel like a spread a mile wide and an inch deep.

Here is my drastically toned down summer to-do list:

1. Completely finish and publish my NaNoWriMo novel.
2. Finish Latin.
3. Be able to run 4 miles.
4. Get my Vitamin D level up to normal.
5. Become a better swimmer (I'm a good swimmer, but not a fast one)
6. Become better friends with Luthien.
7. Practice soccer every day.
8. Cut down on sugar intake.
9. Read my Bible every single day.
10. Choreograph to 'The Butterfly' by Mairead Nesbitt
11. Relax and have fun!

And my before summer to-do list:

1. Finish the script for my friends (ha-ha, that's funny).
2. Do a good Gollum imitation (I'm actually good at that already)
3. Finish my school work

Yes, not a very long list.

Stuff that didn't make these lists were things like work more on two other novels and improving my foreign language skills. However, I still want to improve my sign language.

Well...now that I've made known my goals, I might want to start working on them. Like finishing my school work.

Can't wait 'till summer!



Izori

P.S. Thanks everyone for praying! I'm am 100% better now, and my mom, who had it on Sunday/Monday, is better too. Erestor has caught it now. Please pray for him, and also that no one else will catch the stomach bug. Galdor would be absolutely miserable if he had it!

Thanks!