Sweet heavens, I love The Counting Crows! Okay, maybe it is because someone asked me yesterday what my plans were for New Year's Eve or possibly it could be that I was periodically catching VH1's "The Best Year Ever" this weekend (by the way, check it out while you can; other than "Arrested Development", there are few other shows out now that make me cry from laughing so hard) but whatever the case, I got into that nostalgic feeling of looking back on 2005 as 2006 begins to "put its hand upon my shoulder".
In following through with this sentimental bliss, I decided to have my students freewrite last night on what they have learned from 2005. After a few grunts from the class I to decided that it might be good for me to also compile my thoughts on 2005. In addition, I think my students appreciated that I to had to suffer through the classic text book end of the semester assignment. The basic format was the lessons I learned, the items that were reinforced this year and the actions that I know to do differently in 2006 (fingers crossed). So here is my list, I know it will grow as my mind wanders throughout the days closing in on December 31st. Feel free to add any of your comments or tips that you have learned from braving yet another year...
There are people you can’t live with and some people you can’t live without. If you are lucky enough to find a person that encompasses both of those traits, never let them go. You will most likely regret it if you do.
There is no excuse for bad manners. Period
Never attempt to have a serious discussion or an argument when intoxicated.
Show gratitude because you know how good it feels when people do it to you.
Email is a good thing because it makes communication easier but it is a bad thing because tone can be easily misunderstood.
Seeing someone cry in front of you is one of the most beautiful and humbling experiences.
Sometimes my students can teach me more than I can teach them.
My brother will have to find something new to tease me about now that the never ending thesis is complete at last! Love ya Jimbo!
It is okay if my friends don’t like the same things that I do and vice versa. Difference should be embraced and not exiled. Jenn, you will constantly have to pound this into my head!
Try to be on time because life won’t wait for you.
Be more organized or it will kick you’re a$$ in the end! Alicia, I am all ears, bestow on me your wisdom of order!
Try to get more sleep.
It is okay to take some time off from running. It makes you appreciate it more.
Sometimes sacrifices pay off. It did this year in Columbus. Jen and Lynn, thanks for helping me to get there!
A made bed looks better than an unmade bed and it only takes a minute or so.
The harder you work, the luckier that you get.
James Blunt, you hit the nail on the head. I just wish that it did not cost me so much money and time to figure out what you so smoothly put into a song.
No one likes a mean or crabby drunk. God bless my friends that tolerate it!
Sometimes you can't solve someone's problems and sometimes they just don't want you to be the person to do it.
A shiny master's degree does not equate to maturity.
If you are going take drastic action, be prepared for a drastic and possibly unfavorable outcome.
It’s okay to break down in front of my friends.
The truth is sometimes a hard the thing to say and accept.
I am more blessed than cursed. Despite what I might think on Mondays!
Some people might find the qualities that you consider to be endearing quite annoying.
I have to stop taking Michigan vs. Ohio State football games so serious (this one will be tough).
There are some things that you just can’t change in others and there are also some things that people can’t change in you. Just accept it and move on.
Sometimes I have to listen to Bowie more, “Ch –ch-changes ---Turn and face the strain…..”
I need to have more patience when driving.
Country music is not the enemy that I once believed it to be. Hey, a year ago that would’ve been impossible for me to say!
I need to become a better cook and it is okay for my friends to mock the microwavable grilled cheese.
Communication is a two way street but sometimes one of the roads can just be temporarily under construction.
12 comments:
Good Post Athena!
That is a good post. I'm going to have to chew on this, as well...good idea...
so my question is, is looking back really what one should do at the end of the year? sure they tell you those who don't know history are doomed to repeated it, but those people read too many books. wouldn't you be better served looking forward, setting goals and striving to meet them rather than reflecting on things that can no longer be changed? while you eyeball the past, people are passing you by. but then what do i know?
Wow john d-r! Who brought Aristotle into the room? lol! Thanks for commenting on the blog! I can use a good philisophical question to knock me off my literary soapbox!
You bring up many good points. However, I always like to hold strong on the wise words of P.T. Anderson in the amazing film Magnolia; "We may be done with the past, but the past ain't done with us."
ah but as Jack Kerouac said: "THIS was really the way my whole road experience began, and the things that were to come are too fantastic not to tell." and if anyone knows what's up its a beatnik.
Yes, but I would fear what "On the Road" would look like if it was not for revision and time spend purely reflecting on experiences that were "spontaneous".
perhaps i chose a quote too quickly but i do believe you're nit picking. books have to be reviewed and revised. lives do not. look back when you are dead. look forward to what you will remember when you are. perhaps i will make my point this way. would you rather agonize about the ways michigan lost to ohio state this year or dream of how they will cream them next year? Contemplate your last race or train for the next one?
d-r-
You raise a good point but I am holding firm on the belief that the only way to "successfully" move forward is to look back and learn from both what worked and what failed. Nice comment about Michigan, if I was a guy I would warrant that as hitting below the belt! lol! J/K. But that is why past game films are reviewed. Do you use that for volleyball? I don't mean to sound like an idiot, I am just asking out of curiousity.
I do like the comment that you made about running because I can relate to that well. However, my training for Columbus this year was greatly influenced by what failed me in my training the previous year (ex. diet, speed work outs, frame of mind during crucial parts of the race).
Yes, a new day is a new day but the tabula rasa theory only holds true from the exact moment of birth.
Side question - do you believe in the quote "There is no substitute for experience" ?
i don't know that i was arguing that you should never look back but rather looking forward would be more productive. there are things to learn from the past. however, the past can often cloud our judgement of the here and now if we rely too heavily on it. look at it, learn, but don't dwell. what is it we love about little kids? it's their innocence, their ability to look at things without bias that life has given those of us who are older and supposedly wiser. if someone is hurt in a relationship they find it harder the next time to trust someone. is that next person likely to hurt them too, no more likely than anyone else but a person's trusting nature has been hurt by their past. Would it not be better to look at each new relationship without that bias of the good or bad of the past?
yes, and your answer just further cements the point that I was trying to make on the original posting. It is good to look back as we prepare for a new, and hopefully better year. It was meant to be in retrospect not an attempt to try to quickly fix all that went astray this year or carry around the visible scars from 2005 into January.
I do find your relationship comment to be dead on. I know many that have a difficult time starting on a fresh page due to painful memories of the past. Maybe that is why I like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind so much? Examining myself, I would have to say that I am about 70% looking foward, 30% looking back. Hopefully, that 40% progression will help me in 2006. Who knows.
Also, good to see that both of us are not much in the "working mood" today.
whoa girl you got yourself a blog comment thread going here :) Way for both of you to stand your ground.
v. interesting discussion
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