The new year is upon us! And rather than get sucked up in the trap of making vague, unrealistic new year’s resolutions (like last year, most likely), we Urchins resolve to make one specific goal that we’d like to accomplish in 2013. Wish us luck, and let us know what one thing you’d like to accomplish in the new year!
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Swim in the Ocean
When it comes to swimming in the ocean, I am by and large a weenie and a wuss. My hesitation mostly stems from my one fear in life: being grazed by an unseen fish while swimming. Not dying, not falling from great heights, not anything rational, but a cute little fish swimming past my leg. It’s shameful. So murky water of any variety is a steadfast no-go, but there are some beautiful, clear oceanic waters out there that I have been known to turn down for reasons varying from ‘it’s too cold outside’ to ‘the water’s too cold’ to ‘but then I’ll be wet.’ Truly pathetic.
The one time I actually swam about in the ocean, not just waded in to my knees and then slowly backed out, was earlier this year in New Zealand. It was one of the best experiences of my life until a rogue group of mini jellyfish staged an attack. Since they weren’t fish, I wasn’t horrified, but I swam somewhat quickly ashore before my imagination got the best of me (i.e. ‘OMG they’re paging the fish. This is just the beginning!’ As if people still use pagers.) So somewhere, somehow, this year I am going to swim in an ocean. I am going to get in the water, get my hair wet, and swim about, not cautiously wade in and then scurry ashore. And I won’t even wear my floaties.
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Take Down the Drapes
When I moved into my room in Brooklyn a year and a half ago, I inherited nothing but an Ikea dresser and, from what I’ve been told, the ugliest drapes in the world. Admittedly, my mind doesn’t quite work that way. I look at the drapes and can understand how some would find it ugly. I certainly don’t find them beautiful, but are they ugly enough to take them down? Around the time of my move, I found a set of brand new white blinds that sat unclaimed in the coat closet. A year and a half later, the white blinds sit, still opened in their packaging, next to the ugly drapes, which are unfortunately still up.
Those drapes.
I came close to replacing the drapes last summer when I rearranged my entire room. I moved all my furniture about, scrubbed and cleaned the wood flooring, built a desk, and drilled a corkboard to the wall. The only thing left to do was replace the drapes. I don’t know what happened.
But it’s time to take this all-important step. As I continue to strive in making my room the loveliest writing garret this side of Brooklyn, with big plans of incorporating a large bookshelf in the next month, those drapes have finally got to go!
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Use the Gear
I’m quickly nearing the verge of having more gear than opportunities to use it. This past spring, summer, and fall I seemed to fill all my weekends with extra work – never leaving any time for playing in the mountains. And yet I seemed to collect more gear – backpacks, stoves, mattresses, etc… I refuse to slip into ‘gear-wonkdom’ – a rather ironic category considering I moved to Colorado in order to spend more time out of doors. There are several long-distance backpacking trips I want to take this summer, including portions of the Colorado Trail. I live within four hours of Arches and Canyonlands – there’s absolutely no reason not to make a trip this spring. All it takes is time, but, hey – who doesn’t like working less and playing more?
