This week is the week between the turning of the year, and my birthday.  It is traditionally a time filled with angst and meditation on my personal growth.  What was last year? What will be this year?

2015:
The biggest thing last year was the Thing in the summer, which I'm not going to go into in this (relatively) public space.  That was affecting me substantially at least through the High Holidays in September.  (That's June-Sept).  I suppose that was "personal growth" on some level, but not any kind of planned or desired.  :/

What else happened?
I did not celebrate my birthday last year.
I started reporting to a new supervisor at work.  Oh, and my company came out of bankruptcy.  And I got a bit of a raise.  I did a bunch of different things at work, and eventually applied to do a part-time Master's degree (do you capitalize Masters? masters? does it have an apostrophe?  I don't know -- maybe I should study language arts instead...) at U of Houston in chemical engineering.  And I got accepted to that program! and I start in 2 weeks, and that will continue in the 2016 section.

I published two (2) blog posts.  Which is up from 1 in 2014 and down from 3 in 2013. 

I did not write many letters by hand.  A few.  I'd like to write more letters by hand.

I did not host many dinners in my home.  I'd like to do more of that, too.

But, those are negatives.  Absences.  What was good?

I read books. 

I went to Bill's Wedding, which was nice. 

I started going to yoga.  That was a good idea, and I'm continuing that for now.
Other attempts at exercise programs have mostly fallen apart.  I might resume running?  a bit? 
Demitri has offered to help me work out a strength-training program.  We'll see where that goes...

Did I travel at all?  I visited Megan in San Francisco.  And I visited Elizabeth in El Paso at some point. 
Fire school again this year.  I also completed the MYL program. 

In April was the Shabbaton at CYJ, which was good.

At the beginning of 2015, I determined to not throw out as much food.  I did not set up a system by which I would measure that, but I do think I threw away less food.  (So unscientific!)  A little bit more meal planning.

So:
2016:
I'm going to start this MChE program.  I'm nervous about how the schedule is going to change how my life is organized.  I still have to work 40 hours a week.  School and studying will impinge on my not-doing-anything time.  I can schedule some in, to some extent, but sometimes the urge to not-do-anything cannot be bound by scheduling.  It will show up in the middle of homework.  Or shopping for dinner.  Or other, unwelcome times.  I do a bit too much of it, I think, but it cannot be done away with completely.  And I can't over-schedule myself.  I need some flexibility.  We can do this.  We are strong.  And clever.

Somewhere in there, I'm going to two Bnot Mitzvah on opposite coasts.  I also want to visit Elizabeth in Pittsburgh, and maybe attend the summer week-long program at the Mechon Hadar  in New York?

Maybe I'll ask someone on a date.

In November, I'll be moving.  I will deal with that then.

I will continue with my MYL practice groups, and also with yoga.  Both of these are good for me.

That's enough for now.