January 5th, 15:37 | Actually for-real Happy New this year

Folks, I may be a non-brown-thumb -- I may even venture so far as to say that my thumb, on occasion, even shows tinges of green -- but I officially can not raise cacti or succulents. My jade plant, so strong before I left for the cruise, has shrivelled its last, crispy-looking podleaf. I'll miss its somewhat weird, fleshy-looking lobes. Not very much, because, frankly, succulents weird me out -- you know where you're at with leaves, you know? -- but I shall miss it. Also, it means that this new year is opened up, not even a week in, with The Death Of One Of My Plants.

I'd be upset except that, as I've stated, I was never particularly attached to the jade plant (and really, I could use the pot: my spider plant is spawning podlings like a mofo) and lots of other good things have happened too. For example, my hippie bread? Has totally become a regular fixture in our house. (Well as regular as bread that disappears completely within a week can be.) I'd been playing around with the recipe, and it's now much fluffier, and doesn't only taste like sunflower seeds. This is good, an important first step towards my goal of baking The Best Ever Hippie Bread Ever. I'm thinking I need more seeds in it (more flavour variety), and I'm still undecided between using maple vs honey as the sweetener. Any thoughts (or offers to volunteer as a taste taster, assuming you live in the area) are welcome, of course.

Right. What else? My private tutoring is going much better. I couldn't actually say what's changed, maybe just my attitude, but it's suddenly way more fun (I'm hoping more effective, but I can't tell yet, what with school still being out) and I find myself actually looking forward to it. This is an enormous relief to me, because I was starting to question my decision to even apply to teaching school, if I couldn't handle one fairly docile (if distracted and inquisitive) student. Apparently, I just needed a two-week break to remember that I'm good at this, and to stop stressing out in order to have fun. Because folks? Teaching little kids (circa grade 5) about the human body? Has to be the best way to be welcomed back into the tutoring grind ever.

Things are better on the people front. In general, I think I'm balancing people better, I've somehow worked out an okay equilibrium between explaining that I'm awful at keeping in touch, and trying. Or maybe I just think I have, and they're all going to get mad at me next week. (I hope not.) We'll see, I guess, but for right now, I feel like things are good and... tenable. Which is always nice.

In general, I'm just feeling a lot more stable. I'm still in my job, fidgety, and thinking about other things I could be doing, but now that I've actually applied to teaching school, I'm not willing to just bail, since I don't know how long I could be at the new place anyway. (I'm waiting for the schools to reject me, so I can jump ship, obviously.) That said, I'm also starting to think positively about staying at Workplace, but finding something else (again, pending the rejection from schools) that interests me. I'd kind of lost faith in that idea about half-way through last year, but I'm feeling better about things in general now, which is a big help. (Again, the attitude thing.)

I've decided that since I so masterfully managed to force myself to read one self-help book last year (since my parents bought it for me), this year, I figured I could handle two -- that's right, I'm doubling the challenge! Actually, having bludgeoned myself into finally reading last year's book, I'm kind of looking forward to this year's. ...I'm kind of loath to share them though, because I'm starting to feel really dorky. Perhaps I should share instead about how I failed to pry my ass out of bed early enough to go swimming this morning? It's cool -- I'm totally going tomorrow. (Shut up, I am.)

On a last positive note, I would like to share that thus far (that's right, two days, because everyone knows January 1st and 2nd don't really count), I have been adhering with Scary German Vigour to my one, pseudo-official new year's resolution. Am I steadfastly jogging every morning? Am I making sure that I go out of my way to make some homeless person's life easier? Am I perhaps making sure I drink 8 glasses of water, and eat 400g of raw fibre on a daily basis? Hells no. But I have flossed for two days in a row. Go me!

Right. So we've covered the death of my jade plant, my newfound (and inexplicable) enthusiasm for self-help books, and my somewhat distressing oral hygiene (or previous lack thereof).

...

I'm going to quit while I'm ahead here.

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