365 True Things: 250/61

Another December 4th, another year older. It's been a very nice day: I got some funny and thoughtful birthday cards, a lovely bunch of flowers, a book (Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon), and an iPad Light 2 with a spiffy keyboard-outfitted carrying case! 

The last was entirely unexpected, though it's perhaps no coincidence that just the other day David commented on the iPads that some serious Ingress players he hung out with last weekend were using. I observed that my first-generation iPad is certainly not Ingress-compatible. And there it stood. Or so I thought . . .

I also had a nice phone conversation with a good friend who may be moving back down here (keeping my fingers solidly crossed—that would be the best birthday present ever!), another sung birthday greeting message, a whole bunch of FB wishes, a few text messages, a couple of emails. Modern technology is great when it comes to feeling loved on your birthday, I must say.

I also got to spend a couple of hours with my fellow questers. Wendy went out of her way to get cupcakes for my birthday, which of course I can't eat thanks to the confounded diet (only ten more days . . . ) I had thought about warning her, but then figured that would be self- centered, so I didn't. And now she's stuck with half a dozen cupcakes. Hopefully her husband will eat them for her.

So: 61. I woke up this morning thinking about a couple of birthdays past when I made a list of goals for the coming year based on the age I was becoming (e.g., when I turned 54, I had 54 goals). The first year I did that, going to hear Yo-Yo Ma was on the list, and I did do that: I heard him play with Emmanuel Ax in San Francisco. What a treat that was! The other fifty-odd items on the list, though, I pretty much ignored.

The second time I gave it a try, I fared even worse, though you wouldn't think that possible.

So I'm not going to do that again—it's just a recipe for failure.

But I did think that maybe, just maybe, since my time is going to be opening up come February, I could try to read sixty-one books before next December 4th. It's a little more than a book a week, which considering I probably read about ten books this last year is very ambitious. But I do love to read. And I certainly have plenty of books to choose from: something for any mood. And I'm trying to be more ambitious, on various fronts, these days. Why not add another worthy goal?

Right now I'm working on Colum McCann's Thirteen Ways of Looking (a novella plus three short stories), and I aim to read a YA book, Wonder by R. J. Palacio, by next Thursday, when I'm reuniting for the evening with my former book group. That would get me off to a good start.

Tonight David will be out at a rehearsal, so I'll have time for reading: cozying up with my book under a blanket, maybe under a kitty or two as well—it sounds like the ideal birthday evening!

So okay, sure: 61 books in the next twelve months. I'm signing on.

Wish me luck!

Postscript, a year-plus later: I managed to achieve my goal! Sixty-one books read. Here's my wrap-up post.