hi, new year, it's me.

There is light and beauty up there
that no shadow 
can touch
// Samwise Gamgee

It's only the 16th of the new year. Not too late to make goals, right? I don't usually make resolutions because I don't think anyone takes them seriously. Instead, I've set up goals for the semester, rather than the year because if I'm really being honest to myself, I can't handle a year. I'd probably get only five weeks into it.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a few with you all.

1. Make a list every day. I bought a nifty little planner recently and plan to write all over it. The goal is to write down a list of things to do for the next day. This way, you roll outta bed, open up the planner, and bam. Got your whole schedule of things to do ready.

2. Stop eating after 8 p.m. Simple. Well. Kinda. It goes hand-in-hand with staying healthy and losing weight. Your body needs rest not more junk to digest in the evening. The only exception I make is a cup of tea before bed.

3. Catch the 7:44 am train every morning. Oh, the life of a commuter. Last semester I caught a different train every week, mainly because I struggled to crawl out of bed each morning. Because I knew class started later on some days, I'd just sleep in. In retrospect, I could've spent that time doing something productive...

4. Keep my work space clean. This goes with staying organized. I love keeping things tidy but that'd be hard to guess from the state of my room. It's not really an environment suitable for studying (hence why I prefer the library), but being a commuter, I'm not on campus 24/7 and sweeping the clutter off my desk will just have to do. Environment is key to productivity, in my humble opinion, so I set up my space to feel more structured. It's still a work under construction. (And no, I did not hang the chalkboard slightly off center by accident. There's meant to be a calendar next to it, hence the space. Like I said, work under construction.)

5. Send more letters. Yes, you read that right. I'm talking about an old-fashioned, slap a postage stamp on, stick it in the box outside your house kind of letter.

6. Turn off my phone when in the library. This is less about bothering people and more about being bothered. As much as I hate to admit it, whenever I study in the library and I receive a text, my mind has officially left the books. Doesn't matter who the text was from or what it was about. That little buzz from the shiny, black electronic device destroys the train of thought I just spent two hours on.

7. Take more pictures. I have a camera. Why not? In an attempt to keep this up, I have started a photography challenge with best friend, J, on our Tumblr. There's a different theme every week and so far, none of the pictures I've taken have really come out the way I've wanted it to. But it's a challenge, after all. Check it out HERE and follow along for the strugs.

Yeah, I couldn't even make it to ten things. It's hard enough keeping one, much less ten, so we'll see how I handle this. If it goes well, expect a part two after the semester ends. I feel like these are all very straightforward and rather specific. Sounds easy, but hey, it's those little things that add up after awhile, am I right?