Hello World!

All of this recent downtime has allowed me time to re-cultivate my sense of optimism. And given the rarity of this occurrence it only makes sense that I take the this time to outline the major goals and themes of my life. Eventually, hopefully, this exercise in structured thinking will allow me to make headway on my goals and understand the themes. Blogs are pretty self indulgent, but I think I'm once again at ease with that.

The three themes I'm most fixated on right now are food, finances and fitness. Granted the first two are salient themes in just about everyone's life... First, food! Food production first piqued my interest when I started getting into the 'green living' movement a couple years ago. Now it's extended into the realms of production (mass and personal), politics, preparation, consumption and all of the quirky social rituals in between. I started growing a few herbs and veggies in containers on my deck...so far my efforts have been met with mixed success. The potatoes, mint rosemary and garlic thrive without effort but I'm already on my third basil plant. It seems like my beloved basil just isn't meant to be. I'm giving up on lettuce; it isn't holding my interest. In the future I'd like to look into getting my avocado plant to germinate and trying to grow loofah again. And one day I'll get the basil thing down.

I'm in the process of digesting (!) a lot of mixed information about food production and politics. Admittedly, I'm heavily informed by Michael Pollan, but I'm looking to vary my resources. Finally, I have a lot to learn as far as preparation goes. Left to my own devices I eat mostly peanut butter n' jelly sandwiches. I think my previous, more communal living situations fostered a greater enjoyment in cooking. Cooking for one is anything but inspirational.

Onto fitness! Despite how I'm might appear, I've never been an athletic person. But I think this could change over time. My initial idea was to have a gym membership, but finances aren't very permitting at the moment... I'm looking to increase my strength, stamina and flexibility over time, especially in the arena of running. While not exactly a sport, I'd love to take a stab at rock climbing in the near future, too.

And finally finances...the least familiar of the three. My new job is offering a 401k plan and stock options. I'm thankful to have these options available to me and I need to make use of them wisely. I bought a book on the subject and I guess I'll go from there...