Wowsers. 2009: Year of Pregnancy for Megan. I like it, very much. If you leave the skate park and I stay there, we must do what we can to make sure we don't get tetchy with one another, or, on the contrary, overly effusive about how much we support the other's divergent choice. I actually don't think that will be very hard, knowing you and me as I do. Anyway, my 3 projects are not as ambitious as your one. Nonetheless, I'm excited.
1) Year of Shakespeare. I'm going to read all of Shakespeare this year. I read Comedy of Errors this weekend, plus a bunch of sonnets. Plus an editor's exposition on the sonnets, telling me what I should think about them. Perhaps I won't do too much more of that sort of reading. I'm halfway through As You Like It, and I can tell you I do like it, very much. I have more to say about the Shakespeare project, and about the Shakespeare I'm reading, but I'll do that in other posts.
2) Year of Planned Reading. I'm much more excited about this than I am about the Shakespeare project, although it is odder and less specific and more dorky than the Shakespeare project. It sprung from the Shakespeare idea, because I have no real idea how to go about reading all of Shakespeare and started considering how to do it well -- what order, which editions, should I read critical essays or not, and if so, before, during, or after the original works?? Also, how long will this take, and when will I do it? So I had to think about a plan for my reading, which otherwise just sort of happens before bed or stolen moments of unplanned time. And then I got excited. What if I actually PLAN to read, and block off time for my reading goals, and progress through my booklists with some order and some discipline instead of picking up books whimsically? This is related to my intensifying interest in brains and psychology and neuroscience and philosophy -- whatever field it turns out to be that I've been hacking away at with undiminished curiosity for the last 10 years. This year I will give my interest a little more respect, and make room for it to flourish. I have a lot more to say about the Year of Planned Reading, but I'll save it for another post. Well, I'll just say a few quick things. Some components include: 5 hours blocked for reading per week, in addition to bedtime reading and stolen moments reading. 3 hours on Saturday afternoons, 2 hours on Wednesdays (or perhaps a different weeknight, depending on the other events of the week). Also, I am plotting to buy a Kindle, which I've been coveting for almost a year. And, I just checked this book out of the library, and even as musty and brown and dull as the cover is, even though it's library due date stamp indicates that I am the only person ever to check it out of the library, I can't wait to get home and read it. I am stoked about this project. I'm in a book group, and that's the only intentional and deliberate reading I've done. Everything else has been haphazard. This will be a big, big change.
3) Year of the Definitive Cure. I have ulcerative colitis, which is generally unsymptomatic and occasionally rises to the level of a mild nuisance. Medicine generally keeps it in remission, but I have decided that's not enough, and I want a Definitive Cure. Interestingly, I called today to make an appointment with my gastroenterologist. I like him a lot, and was looking forward to telling him about the big plans I have for us. I was told that he'd left the practice, with no plans to continue practicing medicine. Hmmm. So, I have no idea yet how the Year of the Definitive Cure is going to unfold.