Out with the old, in with the new: Good-bye, 2009! Hello, 2010!

It was a pretty good year - still have both my jobs, my family is happy and healthy (and about to expand by one when my new niece comes), my cats are both as spoiled and ornery as ever, and I'm still a DC for AXS.  On the resolution front, my 2009 resolution to BE HEALTHY kind-of bit the dust but I'm not any fatter than I was at the beginning of the year so I will take stasis at a slight edge over continually expanding.  So BE HEALTHY is back on the resolution slate for 2010 (I have groceries to prove it).

I also started book-blogging in a more earnest fashion this year around March/April - about the same time I joined Twitter, found some fantastically awesome book-bloggers to folllow/read, and got some inspiration for my own blog.  I participated in Book Bloggers Appreciation Week for the first time, too (which was a blast!).  I'm still pretty ADD about my reading meaning the books-started to books-finished ratio is not spectacular (and some were started a year or more ago). 

Books started in 2009: 110 (or thereabouts, I don't have a good system for this)
Books finished in 2009: 83
Books that got the DNF label: 1
(an important new step because books I'm stuck in the middle of usually go back on the shelves to languish until I pack to move house)
This is also the first year where I used nearly every page of my book journal in a single year.  A book journal usually lasts me 2 years (I bought 4 of the same kind in a sale - I'm on the last volume since they're no longer available) but only 15 leaves or so will not be used for 2009-started books.  I'll be moving on to a different type of journal, looks similar but with "archival" pages (I actually bought it for the looks, haha)

In  2010 I would really like to hone in on actually finishing the majority of books I start rather than staring forlornly at the "in-progress" stack, wussing out about making a decision, and going off to start another book.  I also need to start deploying the "DNF" more often; if I really have zero interest in a book after 50-100 pages then it really needs to hit the road and head for the outbox.  I do have a couple of challenges on the horizon for the year (Women Unbound, The Complete Booker [it dovetails nicely with my own Booker Project]) and I'd love to give a Banned Books Challenge or Clear Off Your Shelves Challege (because that was great!) another shot.  I also have my Newbery Project and new Nobel Project floating around, too.  Challenges and I aren't terribly good friends because I really do lack the ability to "plan" my reading so I'm not going to commit to too many unless I'm pretty sure I can do it without adding to the ADD-ness of my reading (the BNBC groups go a good job of that already).  I would also like to do a little blog-upgrading, maybe adding a page (can you do that with a blogger template?) for challenges, etc. to declutter/organize - my HTML/web design ability is completely self-taught so I may have to wait for a "bloggiesta" weekend and get some advice from the saavier bloggers.

On the knitting front I need to make sure I link my blog posts about knitting with my Ravelry page as I go.  I know a lot of bloggers like to separate out their different hobbies/interests into multiple blogs....but I think that's a bit much for me to update (I have enough trouble with one blog as it is).  Besides, I read and knit and dance, it's all part of me.

I would also like to return my "update template" to the bottom of my posts.  I do like it and it does help keep me on track (particularly with Netflix movies, three of which are languishing in a drawer, needing to be watched).  So the first update of the new year:

Current book-in-progress: insanity, top-priority reads are Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde, The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson, The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor, Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters edited by Kathleen Ragan, Illness by Havi Carel, Electronic Literature by N. Katherine Hayles, and The Best NonRequired Reading 2009 edited by Dave Eggers (must get these done, asap)
Current knitted item: baby sweater for my new niece, top-down sweater for me, and (sadly enough) that pair of socks I've been knitting for a year
Current movie obsession: watch and return Fame, My Boy Jack, and Chess in Concert so I quite wasting money
Current iTunes loop: omg, John Mayer's new album (amazing): Battle Studies

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