A Little Late Non New Year's Resolutions

I am just about to reach the 9 month mark on my adventures in Japan. It has taken a while but reality has once again become somewhat of a hindrance on my daydreams and fantasies of life abroad. Japan is an interesting combination of east and west and it is a combination that does not help foreigners feel like they are ever really at home. I spent the day in Harajuku with a friend catching up and talking about all of the things that life over here brings or doesn't bring to the table. For a little while now I have felt anything but myself, I have locked myself up in side to hide away from the cold, creating a life more suitable to someone 3 times my age, and yet, at the time I was content with it, I didn't want to do anything, the fantasy had worn off and here I was, working full time, living away from my family and not really sure what my next move is. (For anyone who knows me well, I am compulsively planning my life in what seems like yearly increments) Perhaps this would have happened sooner, a lot sooner, had I not had someone so wonderful to spend my time with. To be honest I don't know if I would still be here if it weren't for him. And yet here I am! The winter cold is finally past, harder than most because it was so unfamiliar. The Plum trees are blooming and in a week or two the cherry blossoms will come out and the world will turn on its side again in its constant rotation through the seasons. I didn't do any New Year's resolutions this year, if figured they are usually made up on the spot and just as quickly forgotten. In holding with that, I will make no resolutions here. I will not expect existence as I know it to change because of a few thoughts written, but lets just say I have some goals to accomplish in the new year, some are big and some small, but all are things that I will be the better for doing. 1. I want to get better sleep, I want to sleep through the night and not only that, be able to fall asleep within the first hour after my head hits the pillow 2. I want to dance more. 3. I want to learn more Japanese, I understand that I will not become fluent in a year, but I want to feel comfortable in simple conversation. 4. I want to climb Mt. Fuji, hey, if my parents can do it, so can I!! 5. I want to run more, do yoga more, lift weights more and feel more at peace with my body. 6. I want to let go of my fear of new things... mainly fish type entities, often considered delicacies in Asia. 7. I want to start planning my trip through Asia and then my life back in the states after that. 8. I want to keep in better touch with my friends, it seems no matter how much I love them, I have the hardest time writing them. 9. And last but not least, I want to get to know me better, I still don't understand half the crap I do and sometimes I could just shoot myself for the things I say, I want to become quieter and listen to me and not those around me. While I understand it is customary to make lists out to be 5 or 10 or 100 or something, 9 fits me just fine, I am sure there are many things that I am forgetting but I think this will be good for now... and I am sure my dad, after reading this, will help me to remember anything I forget!!!