I'd first like to publicly recognize the fact that in my last (first?) post, I made a big fat deal about how I just really need to start writing and how I was swearing to be better about it, because I just have to for this list of reasons. That was in May 2010. It is now January, the 25th to be exact, 2011.

This is typical.

Moving on.

Something very exciting and huge happened fairly anticlimactically last week.

I finished my last credits I needed in order to obtain my Bachelor's Degree in History and in Social Studies, and I will be receiving my diploma in May. You might be thinking, "Wait a sec.. I vaguely remember something about you graduating two and half years ago?" or perhaps, "Hold up! I sent you money/presents/that super personal Facebook CONGRATS! like two and a half years ago?!" Well, sir or ma'am, your memory does not fail you. You are correct, and to you I am simultaneously apologizing for the small 32 month delay between my celebrated "graduation" and my technical graduation, and thanking you again for your early anticipation of my eventual completion of college! Two major lessons learned that, at this point, don't really matter anymore: 1. I should have never thought I could handle six distance learning credits (with zero deadlines and no structure) over the summer after my senior year. 2. I should have never thought it'd be easy to knock out these said credits while working multiple jobs. I know myself. And these were bad decisions.

Thus, much much later, I can proudly say, without crossing my fingers or else providing a long-winded excuse, that I have finished my degree. Hallelujah! Now, instead of spending any and all free time either doing schoolwork or procrastinating doing school work (but not by being productive in any other way, ironically enough), there's an endless amount of things I can do, right?

So now what? That's the question anyone who accomplishes a major goal (even when it's supposed to take four years and it ends up taking six and a half) asks themselves. I've been excitedly contemplating the possibilities. Alright, let's be honest.. I've excitedly, and at times, anxiously, been contemplating the possibilities/terror of the unknown that lie ahead.

This is how far I've gotten. It's only been three days. Give me a break.

1. I will create a budget and become much more financially responsible, in order to: tackle my debt, save for travel, save for future endeavors.
2. I will make a real habit of blogging, as means of practicing my writing in case I might regret not doing so later.
3. I will try my very best to cook (or make at home) two meals per week for myself and my man. Gotta start somewhere.
4. I will exercise on purpose and invest in healthier choices.
5. And, I'm most excited about this one: I will read!! what I want!! to read!! rotating fiction with non-fiction, because I never want to forget what it's like to get lost in a story and I never want to stop learning.

So... here's to all that.

L