Goodbye 2010...Hello 2011

As the New Year closes so does my brain.  I have been on "holiday" since December 18th from my job and since the 23rd from my dissertation.  During this time I have ate a lot, drank a fair bit, worked out a little and overall felt tired, bloated, annoyed, anxious, excited and...dare I say hopeful!

2010 has been a year of ups and downs, like more years.  I started the year hiking a mountain in the snow in Northwest Wales. By March I had run a half marathon in Prague and trimmed 25 lbs off my frame.  April hit and with it a hip injury that only progressively got worse over the year due to my stubbornness and not properly resting.  By late June I visited the States, saw some family and friends, and met my advisor who told me my initial outline of my dissertation was crap.

It was here that I began my anxiety ridden second half of the year.  July was full of festivals, data transcriptions and theoretical readings.  By August I had turned the big 2-9, wrote my first chapter, and I dropped out of my second half marathon.  September thru December was more of the same same, but different.  I continued to write, work, work out less, went on a few walks, became more irritated, dabbled in yoga, and then wrote some more.

Now I sit here on December 30, 2010 writing some more and planning to stop soon because it is just making me more annoyed.  But, the good thing is the dissertation is there. I am really just now making massive edits to the five chapters I have and plodding through until February 7th when I submit the first full daft to my entire committee.   For the New Year I intend to write a bit more, run a hell of a lot more, get a dog, graduate with my PhD and finally....just finally...maybe I can just be and enjoy my life.

But really Katt Williams says it best...




What do you hope the new year will bring you?