Looking toward 2011

The Christmas gifts are all unwrapped.  I had as much fun giving gifts this year, maybe more, as I did opening mine.  It has been a busy and hectic season: A very busy winter term, a trip to Toronto, the usual holiday shopping and festing.  Now there's the quick downhill roll to the New Year and all of the good things to come.

I have done plenty of reflecting on the mistakes of 2010 and the things I'd like to accomplish in 2011, thanks to Reverb 10. But as Shauna said in an offline reply to one of my comments: "Is there not more to life than GOALS and trying to tick off stuff? A year is made up of more than striving for things. What about friends, family, events, books you loved, movies that moved you..."

Tonight, after some great times with family, I'm thinking of friends I have lost touch with, friends I am still lucky enough to have in my life.  I am thinking of one friend in particular who left this earth this time last year, and inspired a lot of her friends to rethink their lives.  Maybe instead of focusing so hard on future goals, we needed to enjoy the moments as they passed. Who knows how much time we have left?  I think this kind of reflection should be less "The Bucket List" and more "Last Holiday." After all, it's not laziness that keeps us from living fully, as the spirit of Reverb 10 would suggest. Usually it's fear.

On to more lighthearted thoughts.

Books I loved this year included The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (I listened to an audio version), Methland (also audio), A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (also listened, many times), Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk (ditto), Unbroken (read the old-fashioned way). I am listening to more books than I read lately, partly because I can "read" while driving, but that method doesn't work well for me with fiction. I didn't read much fiction this year, except a Thursday Next novel that I read on one long plane trip.  I want to squeeze in more fiction next year.  I miss it, but the reason I don't let myself start it is because I don't want to put it down.  Nonfiction is easier for me to put down and pick up.  I still want to read Cleopatra: A Life.

My favorite movie that I saw in 2010, and maybe ever, was "Inception." It was smart and well-written and had incredible visuals.  The movie really captured the weirdness of the dream world.  I still want to see "The Fighter" and "The King's Speech," though I don't know if I will get to them in the last shreds of 2010. 

I'd love to hear your movie and book recommendations and any other thoughts you want to share on 2010. It was a good year. Here's hoping for happy days ahead in 2011.