my new goal

for any of you out there that are still tuning in, i realized that i already have a goal for this year and i can document it.  actually my goal is between now and may, when i have to move out, but it is a goal nonetheless.  i have stacks and stacks of magazines that i have set aside for some reason- there was something in it that i wanted to keep or remember or whatever and now that there are about 50 of them, i have no idea what made me set these aside.  perhaps it was laziness and recycling bin proximity issues.... anyway i'm sifting through my stash and i thought i could bring the best of the magazine articles right here on the web.  so that's what i'm probably going to be doing then.  we'll see.  oh and by the way, the first book i finished in the new year was a big, thick, deliciously long diana gabaldon novel- The Fiery Cross.  i'm more than halfway done with the series!  and, while excessively long (1430 pages), it was great.  looking forward to picking up the next.

100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
I'm both happy and sad to say that my year of reading is over.  I finished it off with another novel by Lisa See- Shanghai Girls.  I was going to read Catcher and the Rye  and end my year with a "classic" novel, but when i started to read it, i realized that i read it a long time ago (and really didn't like it the first time.  although, if heart of darkness by Joseph Conrad is any indication that reading a book more than once *3 1/2 times, actually* will make you respect and like a book more, than i should pick it up again..... but not this year!)  Shanghai Girls was pretty sad, actually, like Peony in Love, but not as ethereal.  I wonder how Snow Flower and Secret Fan or whatever it is called is like....
And, since that book was such a bummer, I read a Christmas gift from my uncle for an accidental bonus 101st book!  Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris was a sick little book of animal stories.  some of them had morals, most of them were just a little disturbing and all of them made me laugh a little and then feel horrible for laughing.  like the one about the cow that picked the turkey for secret santa because she knew the turkey was Christmas Eve dinner and therefore wouldn't need a present.  sick and wrong.... but i kinda liked it.  it is an updated James Thurber, as far as i'm concerned, and its good to see that current move forward.  I like animal stories that are funny.  especially dog ones, because i love dogs.  but you already knew that. 

so i'm wondering what i should do as my goal for this year that began today..... knit 100 scarves?  cook 50 new recipes, a la julie and julia?  i first need to re-teach myself how to read like a normal person, I went a little nutso with my reading skills this year and in turn, i now do not put a book down until i have read 100 pages because i am used to a deadline, damnit!  it'll be nice to pick up a book at leisure and read those big, thick terribly long novels that take me weeks to finish.