3+2 Things

If you remember, my birthday goals for 2012 consisted of 3 qualitative things and 2 quantitative things. The 3 qualitative things pretty much fell by the wayside:

1. Take a fiction writing class
I signed up for a “plot workshop” through the U of U’s continuing education program in the spring, but it was canceled. Another “creative non-fiction” class was offered in October, but that turned out to be a busy month for me working on one of the 2 quantitative things (read on) so I didn’t take it. Plus, it wasn’t technically a fiction writing class.

2. Write 3 short stories
I knew this would only happen if I took a class that required it, so I’m not too upset about not doing it.

3. Read a new book a month
I ended up reading 5 books, all during the summer, as reported on here. I also made it 2/3 through 1984 and am still working my way through The Happiness Project, which I think is going to inform my goals for being 33 (stay tuned).

So, not too good on the qualitative things. BUT, I did so much thinking about my career that I feel like I really got the first quantitative thing:

+1. Be happier in my work
I didn’t talk about it much here, but at the beginning of the year I wasn’t sure I even wanted to be a writer any more. I thought and thought and changed jobs and thought some more, and I can say I’m in a much better mental place about my career now.

And if the number of hippie quotes on here (and now shaman readings, my god, Carl Sagan would not approve) were any indication, I think I’m at least staying mindful of my second goal:

+2. Less judgement, more compassion
Because we’re really all connected. Not just because the shamans say so, but because Neil Tyson (and therefore science) does too:

“We are all connected, to each other biologically, to the Earth chemically and to the rest of the universe atomically…It’s not that we are better than the universe.  We’re part of the universe. We’re in the universe and the universe is in us.”

I run all my friends and relatives and enemies one by one in this, without entertaining any angers or gratitudes or anything, and I say, like, “Equally empty, equally to be loved, equally a coming Buddha.”

I’ve been thinking about the 12 books I want to read for the 3+2 Things and have come to the conclusion that I don’t read new things because I can’t make a decision. So maybe you have some recommendations?

I thought I’d try to split my list about 50/50 between holes in my classics and new stuff. Let’s see where we stand:

CLASSICS
I have four for sure:

• Brave New World
• 1984
• A Passage to India
• Brideshead Revisited

What should the last two be? I’m thinking more along the lines of John Updike than Joseph Conrad. I’ve avoided dystopian stuff, but what about Vonnegut? Or The Handmaid’s Tale?

NEW STUFF
As for new stuff, I know I want to read

• something by Jeffrey Eugenides
• something by David Foster Wallace
• and something by Jonathan Safran Foer
  

However, after those three I’m at a loss. Do I pick the National Book Award winners from the last few years (The Corrections)? Do I read what’s popular (The Hunger Games trilogy)? I’ll take any recommendations you have.

And I’d I’d better get to the library soon.

Today is my birthday, which means it’s time for new goals for this age. (It also means I’m just a decade away from being the age that’s the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.)

Instead of 3 definite goals + 1 optional goal, this year I have 3 that are quantitative and 2 that are qualitative–so 3+2 again, except the “+2” things aren’t optional, just difficult to put a metric to. Here they are:

1. Take a fiction writing class
I always picture myself writing fiction on my ranch in the distant future, but I haven’t written anything since college. I know myself well enough to know I need a deadline to actually produce something, so taking a class will hopefully get me going.

2. Write 3 short stories
These can be very short stories, and they can be part of what I have to do for class, but this goal will theoretically give me the deadline I need to keep writing.

3. Read a new book a month
For someone who likes to read as much as I do, I don’t read new things. I have Sherlock Holmes, M.F.K. Fisher, Hemingway, and Salinger just about memorized, but I’ve missed out on most of the new books from the last 15 years and still have holes in my classics (1984, Brave New World, any Updike, etc. ). So this goal will help address that a little. (I’m still picking my 12 books, so stay tuned.)

and the +2:

+1. Be happier in my work
This is qualitative for now because I don’t know what it’s going to take for me to be happier. Just an attitude adjustment? Some internal changes at my current job? A different ad gig? A radical career shift? I’ve been pondering this for a while now, but I’m still “living my way into the answer.” (Damn, that is a useful quote–I’m not lost; I’m deep.)

+2. Less judgement, more compassion
I’ve never felt particularly kindly towards my fellow man, but as I get older I don’t need my hard little heart to become even harder. You can give yoga or the Buddha credit for this one, but I like to give it a scientific spin, too: We’re all made of the same atoms from the same universe. And we’re all here on this tiny planet all together. And that’s all we’ve got. So let’s all be a little kinder to each other, starting with myself.

Or, as my boyfriend Carl Sagan says:
Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.

We will see how well I can put the last two Things into practice when I go back to work tomorrow…but for today, I’m going to climb a mountain.