Satisfaction

I just read a blurb in U.S. News and World Report that there is recent research suggesting that people's happiness "set points" can shift as they age. That's what I hope is happening to me. I think that I have generally been happier the last five or so months than I've been in the last couple years beforehand...

I'm not sure why entirely. Maybe I don't feel so much pressure to always work because I'm not in school anymore... Maybe I feel freer to pursue my own interests rather than fulfill school obligations... Maybe it's because I have much more leisure time... Maybe it's just having Jake around... Anyway, I'm hoping that the mood shift is a permanent change for the better.

It will soon be Xmas break. Three more days of work and then I get to go home! Things are going to be crazy because Jake and I will have a lot of traveling back and forth to do. We'll be at his parents' house first, then my parents' house, then we're flying out to Colorado, staying at a hotel, and spending time with some of Jake's aunts and uncles who live out there.

I don't like saying that I make New Year's Resolutions. Resolution sounds so weak to me. I'd rather have a New Year's "Plan of Action" or something. "Resolution" implies a vague thought that something will get done, while I'd rather have step-by-step plans in place. I'm hoping that break will give me some time to sit down and reassess some of my life goals to figure out what the heck I'm doing with myself. We'll see if it happens considering my hectic travel schedule. I did write out some goals in a notebook during the summer and I've stayed surprisingly on track for a lot of them. I think I may need to make some new goals and/or revise some of the old ones, though. Maybe if I don't get it done while I'm off work, I can do it when I'm at the apartment by myself for a few days (I come back to VA a few days before Jake does). If I come up with some new goals, I'll have to work on blogging about them.

One of the goals I wrote up in June was to take an art class within the next year. I recently enrolled in a pottery class, which I'm pretty excited about. I'm going to spend two and a half hours every Monday learning pottery with the Art League in Old Town. My class starts January 8th and goes for nine weeks. What should I make while I'm in the class? I think I want to try to make some salad bowls. I can probably do that when I learn how to use the wheel...I think we'll probably do some sessions of hand-building, though. What else should I make?