Everybody's doin' it, so I will, too!

List my resolutions for this year, that is.

1. Start taking ballet lessons again.

I started this one today! I did a trial lesson, and though I was way below the level of the class, I know that a great deal of that is because I haven't danced in 3 1/2 years. At least I didn't run into anyone? :D The good thing is that it really highlighted what I'm good at (balances, arabesques, grandes jetées, ronds de jambe) and what I really need to work on (anything in 2nd position or écarté, pirouettes, flexibility in general). I was feeling pretty good at the barre, but that's always been a strong point for me. When we went to the centre I'm sure the teacher was crying inside, like, "What the hell is this girl doing here when she can't do a glissade -- where the hell did she pull those tours fouettés from?!" I'm going to try the lower level class tomorrow, at any rate.

You know how Japanese people (women especially) hang back and don't want to be first to step forward? When we were divided into two groups for lack of space, and I was in group number one, all the others hung back so that I was kind of forced to go up front and centre. Usually I wouldn't mind, but it was pretty obvious I didn't know what the hell I was doing! @_@

All that aside... it was really, really fun. I felt like crying happy tears when I walked out of the studio, because the two hours had flown by so quickly. I've missed dancing.

2. Take better care of my body.

Not that I neglect it, or do anything really harmful to my health, but I'd rather cultivate good habits now. The troubles I had with my wrist this past year underscored the fact that I've actually been incredibly lucky up until now. Even with 12+ years of dance under my belt, not so much as a sprained ankle. *knocks on wood* My knees have given me trouble at times, but I think that can partly be attributed to backpacking, partly to general walking/cycling/dancing, and it's not so much a specific injury as feeling I'd better wear supports some days.

Also, I haven't had a general medical check-up since leaving Canada, so I'm doing that tomorrow. It was going to be today, but I got lazy... *fails*

Getting a bit more sleep falls under this resolution as well. The end of 2009 was stressful for several reasons, and going to bed too late didn't help things.

3. Do more creative, crafty things.

Why, hello there, fabric stash, long time no talk to! :D I need to get over my mental block of not wanting to start doing something unless I have a whole day free to do it. I know I can accomplish lots in an hour, but when I get home after work, I tend to veg out at the computer instead of doing some sewing. I've got millions of ideas in my head, they just haven't come into the real world yet. I want to do better than I did last year.

4. Keep up the Japanese study and take the JLPT2 again. And pass it!

5. Start studying Mandarin again and try to regain most of what I had.

Don't know if that's quite realistic with the Japanese going on at the same time, but... I've got angsty Chinese tennis boys to motivate me! Lai ba! XD

6. WRITE IN MY DAMN TRAVEL JOURNAL.

And, as a supplement to this, sort through all my travel memorabilia and get it into scrapbooks. I have all the material, I just need to sit down and do it!

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Coming soon, the saga of The Three Gaijin Who Topped Ikebukuro, complete with purikura scans!