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I've been bad about journaling this past year, and it's gotten really bad since my laptop died. My iPad gives me internet access, but two-finger typing on the screen keyboard gets discouraging fast. (And I don't always catch autocorrect's oh-so-helpful improvements, either.) But I was recently reminded of how nice it is to dip into old memories, so I am going to try to do better.
The big thing I'm thinking about now is taking a Vacation next year. This sounds kind of odd, because I generally take two vacations a year-- one to visit my best friend, and the other to go to Gencon (which happily allows me to see my other best friend, and lots of other friends, and play games, all at the same time). I still want to do that next year, but I think I need to take another kind of Vacation, one where I go someplace I've never been before and do things I've never done.
I've had this lurking in the back of my head for some time now, but the realization that I'm turning 50 this year has made it more of a priority. If I'm going to avoid turning into my mother as I age, I have to keep looking for ways to challenge myself. Taking up Latin and flailing around trying to write is a good start, but I am not going to stop there. I need to keep trying new things.
So I'm thinking of going to California. As a Vacation destination this has a lot of pluses. I've never been west of the Rockies, so everything there will be new to me. The Pacific Ocean is there, and I would like to see it. (Being a Nebraska girl, I was in my 30s before I saw the Atlantic.) I know a few people there, so I could do some visiting. And best of all, I could take the train: the California Zephyr goes right through town all the way out to the Bay Area. It means that getting there would take two days, but that's two days of seeing landscapes I've never seen before, which is part of the plan anyway.
This plan needs a lot of work, I need to come up with what I would want to do and how much it will all cost and how many days time off I plan to spend. But if I start now I can break the whole thing down into non-traumatic parts. And even if that Vacation doesn't happen, I'll have learned skills I can apply to some other Vacation. I think that's a good plan.
The big thing I'm thinking about now is taking a Vacation next year. This sounds kind of odd, because I generally take two vacations a year-- one to visit my best friend, and the other to go to Gencon (which happily allows me to see my other best friend, and lots of other friends, and play games, all at the same time). I still want to do that next year, but I think I need to take another kind of Vacation, one where I go someplace I've never been before and do things I've never done.
I've had this lurking in the back of my head for some time now, but the realization that I'm turning 50 this year has made it more of a priority. If I'm going to avoid turning into my mother as I age, I have to keep looking for ways to challenge myself. Taking up Latin and flailing around trying to write is a good start, but I am not going to stop there. I need to keep trying new things.
So I'm thinking of going to California. As a Vacation destination this has a lot of pluses. I've never been west of the Rockies, so everything there will be new to me. The Pacific Ocean is there, and I would like to see it. (Being a Nebraska girl, I was in my 30s before I saw the Atlantic.) I know a few people there, so I could do some visiting. And best of all, I could take the train: the California Zephyr goes right through town all the way out to the Bay Area. It means that getting there would take two days, but that's two days of seeing landscapes I've never seen before, which is part of the plan anyway.
This plan needs a lot of work, I need to come up with what I would want to do and how much it will all cost and how many days time off I plan to spend. But if I start now I can break the whole thing down into non-traumatic parts. And even if that Vacation doesn't happen, I'll have learned skills I can apply to some other Vacation. I think that's a good plan.
