HAPPY NEW YEAR!

  Well, we made it alive through another year. Are you any better off than a year ago? Did we make progress, embrace change, and reach any goals we set for ourselves?

    I can only speak for myself. I don't usually make resolutions, because I inevitably break them, or don't accomplish them.  I do think this is a rare occasion where I actually did make some headway. 

    First, I utilized my certification by getting a new job as an Activity Director. I was lucky, getting the best possible position and working conditions one could ask for.  I wouldn't have been able to do it without a lot of help with transportation. I had a hard time adjusting to the slower pace, and I've had to learn to like the way some things are.  If you had told me at the beginning of 2013 that I'd take a new job, I wouldn't have believed it. I almost surprised myself at how quickly I took action when I finally realized that it was time to go.

     Naturally, I still have a sense of what goes on at my old facility, since my mom still works there. I keep in touch with my activity cohorts, and they tell me how lucky I am that I escaped.  A part of me still wishes that I was there, that I had been chosen to run the department again. But that's a post for another day. 
   So without calling them resolutions, what do I wish to accomplish this year of 2014? My list is long, of things I not only want to do, but have to do. Here's what I can think of off-hand:

• Get my learner's permit this month, and my license within 3-4 months
• Find an affordable vehicle that I like.
• Get the college credits I need towards my certification. I have six years to get 12, and 7 of them, though I've earned them, I have to pay for them, almost 130 dollars. Not thrilled about that, but I have to do it anyway.
• I need another 30 hours of continuing education each year, to keep the certificate up to date. That means finding a course, paying for it and finding the time to do it. I do have a class I can order that gives me all 30 hours at once, so I'll probably get that one. 
• I have to take the activity director national exam too- that's another 90 or hundred bucks, but worth it, of course.
• Less pressing goals, but still important to me: writing in my journal every day, putting my photos in my photo albums, and sending away for the scanner I need for my old 35 millimeter negatives. 
• Get organized, and donate all the old stuff I don't need anymore

I'm sure there's much more, but that's all I can think of right now. Except for wanting to do more blog posts! I like doing one at least weekly, but it's been more like monthly lately.  I'll check back with you next January and see how much of my list I actually accomplished!

       Happy New Year!!