I'm Rusty.

That's what I've learned about myself in 2012: I'm rusty in virtually every area of my life. Spiritually (I hadn't gone to church since Christmas, y'all, when I used to go every week and be actively involved), socially (I've been in Boston 2 years now and still barely have any friends), physically (thank you, YMCA gym membership, for illustrating so vividly how much a single 50-minute Zumba class can kick my behind), creatively (I haven't made a shred of headway in any of the 3 novels I started outlining last NOVEMBER) and... mentally. I'm pitifully behind in my reading. In fact, I haven't actually finished any books. I've started about 5 of them, but I haven't finished any of them. I KNOW, I KNOW. After all this fuss and I still haven't read any of them?

It's true. Part of the "problem" (disclaimer: not a real problem) is that my job has given me a promotion and a raise and it's just sort of avalanched. And that Queen Elizabeth biography, which ended up being not thaaaaaat bad, really did a lot to discourage me from my disciplined determination to read an hour a day; I just didn't want to read an hour of that for a week straight. Another part of the problem is that since I've been in total survival mode since I moved to Boston 2 years ago and things really only started settling down in the last few months, in a very different lifestyle than I was used to before, I think I've lost all touch with what's normal for me. How much should I be exercising? How much can I read in one day? How much time for church and spiritual life can I make? How do you even meet people in a new city when you work from home, anyway? And, hey, how come my "sexy" jeans have, uhhh, shrunk so much?

I've been slowly answering all these questions. I've joined MyFitnessPal and started actually using my YMCA gym membership; also signed up for rock climbing lessons and started looking into horseback riding in the area. I've started getting to bed on a regular schedule, even if it is crazy because I work the overnight shift. Going to church and getting involved - even taking the new member class to become an official member. Paying attention to the meetup groups I like in the area and going to more of those, even made a couple of friends! I gave up Fiverr since it took over my life with not enough payoff. And so on and so forth. I haven't been writing, but - baby steps, right?

Oh, yeah, and I've been reading more.

Realistically, though. I've figured out that, on average, it takes me about 2 minutes to read one page. I'm not good at skimming and sometimes I like to highlight and quote things on my Kindle. So, realistically, I can read about 30 pages a day, 45 TOPS, especially if it's engrossing. Realistically, this means I should have scheduled the Elizabeth biography over 2 or 3 weeks, not 1; realistically, this means that any book that has more than 300 pages or so, I'm going to need more than a week to get through.

Sooo I've decided that I'm going to do 26 books this year and 26 books next year. I'm wrapping up 3 this week (I've been reading them concurrently as the mood struck): finishing the Elizabeth biography tonight, and about halfway through both Dreaming in Cuban and Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, both of which I'm enjoying much more. After that, I'm going to tackle Iceland's Independent People. Coming in just under 470 pages, it's going to take me 2 weeks to finish.

And that is okay. :)