10 January 2010

perusing my data

when i burned the last decade, i made resolutions for this new one. it was a short list, but a bitchin' list. and i'm me, so i've no doubt i'll accomplish everything on the list (especially since the procrastinator in me has ten years to get through the damn thing), but one of them is to be writing full time by 2020.

i'm half way through a trilogy, a work of fiction set in ancient egypt, that still needs half this new decade's worth of work. and it's not just that i want to write novels, but i also want to be paid for more serious political analysis, some snark, a bit of bite, something more serious than boy meets girl, girl thinks boy is a fucktard, girl comes around, they fall in love, have lotsa sex, and live happily ever after (or die tragically, as is probably more my style).

but there's this one project i want to be the one that really kicks off my career. and it requires me to revisit my recent past. an easy task for a gal who has the details of every year of her life in about 100,000 words. in theory anyway.

going through it all, reading the words, listening to the soundtracks that defined that era for me, feeling all of those things again is surprisingly painful. so much so that i'm not sure how i ever survived.

or if i can survive reliving it for the sake of a kickstart...

~k

my bucket list

i am processing. i'm collecting data of me, perusing the archives of the diaries i've written the past few years, and i found this list. printed copies are on my fridge and on my bulletin board in my office, but it was still neato to stumble across it in my "2007 in words" file. i made this list in october of 2007, a year and a half into my separation, thinking about my future without him. and it's still perfectly accurate...

20. sip turkish coffee in the shadow of the hagia sofia

19. climb the inca trail

18. sit on the inside of an igloo

17. live in paris for half a year

16. hold a really cute monkey

15. learn french and arabic

14. sail the indian ocean

13. swim with dolphins

12. be genuinely surprised by a surprise party

11. make a difference in someone’s life

10. win big in vegas

9. a dinner of bread, cheese and a perfect bottle of domaine de la romanée-conti

8. go on safari

7. take a vacation with my family

6. teach a history class

5. spend a year with no address

4. make love in the rain

3. publish a novel

2. share my life with a great love

1. have a child

small miracles

it is just a wee shy of 8:30 am on 10 january, and it's gotta be 75 degrees out there. uh_may_zing!

~k