Ring in the new

[liv]

I don't think I've ever got to an end of term as tired as I was by 21^st December. I know lots of people have much harder jobs than me, but I was really working flat out for most of the last three months and ended up just turning my brain off for most of a week.

jack arrived on Saturday, and we did very little for the weekend beyond wrapping our Christmas presents. Christmas with his family was as lovely as ever. Quiet, low-key, just what I needed.

His family all gave me running-related stuff, which feels an obligation to live up to in some ways, but I'm also quite pleased, especially as everyone praised me for having completed the Couch To 5K programme. I have a head-torch, and a runners' belt bag, and most excitingly a little Fitbit, which is basically the world's fanciest pedometer. It's small enough to wear all the time, yet it can talk to wireless or bluetooth and once connected to its website it offers me all kinds of fun data. It also has a kind of Tamagotchi function, where it gets happier the more active you are or sadder if you are too sedentary. I did manage to go running on Boxing Day, too, and perhaps even more excitingly found I am now fit enough to manage a brisk three mile walk even when a lot of it is up steeper hills than I'm used to.

I gave jack a clock (an actual clockwork one made of real brass, none of your stick-a-cog-on-it steampunkery) for the new house and his grandfather a digital radio. And he and I gave eachother the latest Dominion expansion, Dark Ages, which plays well and is quite atmospheric, but does rather have the feel that the creator has been exposed to Magic: The Gathering and been somewhat influenced by it.

Boxing Day we went to Lancaster to buy some stuff for jack's house, and spent the afternoon watching The Hobbit. I hadn't intended to watch it at all, but sitting in the cinema watching an entertaining film with my husband and mother-in-law seemed a really nice post-Christmas treat.

Spent my birthday pretty much on the road, but it was lovely to have uninterrupted time to chat to jack, and being able to spend the night in my husband's house for the first time in a year was better than any possible present. Friday afternoon and Saturday we were mostly socializing with my parents, then jack came with me to shul (which was full of more tiny babies than I've ever previously seen at once). And Sunday Mum made an incredibly delicious Sunday lunch, including my favourite ever pudding, chocolate roulade, and then I headed back to J's for a very enjoyable afternoon and evening playing bridge with ghoti, cjwatson, B, ptc24 and a beginner and new arrival in our social circle, A. We had some quite exciting hands including a natural, for-real 2♣ opening bid from cjwatson.

doseybat joined us at some stage, though she didn't participate in the bridge, and it was completely lovely to spend Monday catching up with her. We went out for a ridiculously tasty meal at the Plough in Fen Ditton. I'd intended not to drink as it was about to be NYE, but couldn't resist their sangria punch. But I didn't read the description properly, assuming it was a spiced wine based drink though it actually turned out to be a cocktail of gin and rum which was extremely boozy.

NYE we went to naath's party where there was an extremely good trifle and excellent company, and then on to Relativity in time for the actual calendar rollover. Compared to some of the beautiful people there, such as ptc24, ceb, khalinche and a couple of other not on LJ/DW people I felt very underdressed in a plainish velvet frock, but hey. The actual New Year ceremony itself somehow felt a bit of an anticlimax compared to other years, but it was completely lovely to get the chance to chat to lots of people I am fond of. It was a bit of a long walk home to jack's place, but totally worth it.

I ran again on New Year's Day, I'm very proud of keeping up my habit over the holidays! Also got started on the work I'd taken to do at home before term officially starts, while jack packed up his old flat ready for the move on Wednesday. In the event the move went really smoothly, and the new house is now fully equipped ready for the housewarming this weekend. Dinner with parents and another run this morning, and I'm just starting to feel recovered enough to be close to my normal self.

Since I've been offline quite a lot the past couple of weeks, only dipping into DW and LJ occasionally, I observed that the general mood of the internet was kind of grumpy during the Zwischenjahr, the people who'd had good Christmases were feeling deflated and the people who'd had bad Christmases were annoyed. But as the New Year came in, the mood became much more optimistic, even people who had tough times in 2012 expressed hope for better in 2013, and there were lots of fascinating end of year retrospectives, including even from people who have almost left LJ / DW – it's great to see you all showing up again.

I'm not making any resolutions as such, and my goals for 2013 are pretty much to continue as I have been. I would like to do some meaningful research and hopefully publish something, and ideally attract more funding. I plan to travel, probably to the Balkans in June-ish and Montreal in summer. And I would really really really like to attend some cons in 2013, maybe Eastercon, maybe Bicon, maybe Limmud. I need to get organized to make this happen, though.

Here's a very good post from Meg Barker at Rewriting the Rules with some information based on psychological research on how to approach New Year resolutions with self-compassion. More poetically, Hanne Blank has a deeply moving New Year message.

Anyway, here's to a brilliant 2013. Cheers, all!

By the way, if you're around in Cambridge on Saturday, please do join me and jack at his housewarming party, which also represents about halfway between my 34^th birthday and his 31^st. Presents not at all expected. PM or email me if you need more details.

Comments

[ephemera]

sounds like a good, if busy, break - hope the party was fantastic, too!

[liv]

Thank you! It's been a good few weeks in many ways, though I think with hindsight I might have planned it differently. I'm definitely at the stage of feeling confident and excited to get back to work, instead of desperately wishing for more rest.