Three sets of eight

Being new to this blogging thing (only started late last spring, which I know seems like an endless amount of time to those of you kind enough to read these ramblings, but is really quite short in geological terms), I have checked out the blogs of others to see what it is that one does on New Year's Day as a blogger. Because you know me, always concerned with doing What Is Done. And it appears that the done thing to do is to be somewhat retrospective and somewhat prospective. So, I hereby present you with three lists of eight (three because it seems like a nicely balanced number, representing past, present, and future, or some such thing, and eight because it is now 2008; there is always a method to my madness).

List One: Odd and Quirky Things About Me That You May Not Know, And That You May Be Glad You Don't Know, But Now You Will Know Them
1. I sometimes dream in text. As in, I read my dreams (character descriptions, dialogue in quotes, the whole nine yards).
2. (probably related to #1) I have a great deal of trouble getting puns. Particularly if they're written. Because I have this completely unconscious habit of linking words to their written representation, if two words are spelled differently, they're different words, even if they sound entirely alike. For example, I used to eat at wonderful bagel shop in Berkeley, where the motto was, "Protect your bagel, put lox on it." You're all laughing now, but for years, I imagined that I should protect my bagel by putting a condom-like layer of thin smoked fish on it, rather than that I should lock it up. Rick finds this utterly amusing, and now makes me read puns out loud to ensure that I really get them, and that I'm not just laughing to keep from being mocked.
3. While I will try almost anything once, there is a certain class of foods that I prefer not to eat unless I have to, based entirely on texture. This includes: pudding, flan, creme brulee, tapioca, etc. Congealed snail snot, all of it. Except the tapioca, which is congealed snail snot with eyeballs in it.
4. I am tremendously shy and introverted. While I very much enjoy the company of people I know, walking into a room full of strangers is a painful experience. This makes the first week of classes every semester difficult at best.
5. My very first job, at the age of 16, was as a piano teacher. Who knew?
6. I am left-handed.
7. I am terrified -- truly, weak-kneed terrified -- of exposed heights.
8. I can drive anything with four wheels, under almost any conditions, and do a pretty good job of it (this falls under the category of Strange, Undeserved and Unworked-at Talents). This includes driving on the left-hand side of the road on one-land roads inhabited by sheep, as well as on the left-hand side of the road in London, and it includes driving on the right-hand side of the car on the right-hand side of the road, which let me tell you makes passing large trucks quite hair-raising.

List Two: Things That I Am Fairly Proud of Accomplishing In This Past Year, Or That I Am Glad That I Tried
1. Tenure (fooled them)
2. Kauni (a whole adult-sized sweater, with steeks)
3. Test-knitting a pattern
4. Going back to yoga after having back surgery. And doing a back bend without a) crying from sheer terror, or b) having titanium pop out of my back.
5. Really starting to work on figuring out what it is that I want in a given situation, and how to keep my eye on that. This has meant learning to try to say "no" a whole lot more often to things that I do not want.
6. Knitting a sweater without a pattern.
7. Taking the leap into the whole spinning thing.
8. Starting a blog. For me, this was a scary, putting-myself-out-there thing, but I'm so very glad that I did it. I never would have met some folks whom I now consider to be good friends, and that would have been a real loss.

List Three: Things That I Didn't Get to Do This Year That I Wish I Had, Or That I Would Like To Try To Do In The New Year
1. Sea kayaking in the Pacific;
2. Surfing;
3. Try spinning on a wheel;
4. Move my body, preferably outdoors, at least a little every day;
5. Keep writing regularly on the blog;
6. Work more on that "no" thing;
7. Spend less time doing things just to fill time, and more time either doing what I really want to do, or in just paying attention to where and when I am;
8. Be grateful for the abundance in my life, and try to find a way to share that abundance in little ways each day.

I truly am grateful to and for all of you, for the abundance of friendship and support and laughter I have received from you this year. Thank you! And welcome to 2008 -- it's going to be a good year.