As I mentioned in my post yesterday, September is always a month of changes and fresh starts to me, so I thought why not have a mini bucket list for September?

So here goes… my mini bucket list for the next few months:

• Get active – for the past few years I’ve become more and more sedentary and it’s taken it’s toll. I’ve gained 30lbs over the past 3 years. Tuesday I’m heading downtown to the YMCA to sign my 16 year old and myself up for gym, swimming and maybe even kickboxing.
• Eat better – see above. Or better yet see the stack of empty pizza boxes, take-out containers, and Tim Horton’s coffee cups in my kitchen.
• Write more – honestly, why is it so hard to write? “I hate writing, I love having written.” – said Dorothy Parker. Boy did she nail it. I have a novel completely plotted out, partially written, but lately instead of writing the novel I’m thinking about the sequel to it, and the website I should create for it, and basically pencil sharpening but not writing it. I want to finish it by end of October. In time for National Novel Writing Month during which I will start the next novel in the series.
• Reconnect with friends – I’ve really been terrible about this the last couple of years. There are so many people who’ve had a powerful impact on my life over the past 3 years in particular and yet I’ve not really touched base with them lately. I’m setting a goal of contacting one friend per day, be it via email, phone, skype, or face to face, to reconnect.
• Say YES instead of NO more often – I’ve turned into a bit of hermit over the past year. All too often when I’m presented with an opportunity to get out and do things, meet people. socialize with others, I automatically decline. Or worse. I’ll accept the invitation. I’ll agree to plans. And then I back out at the last moment. I always regret it but I’ve been on decline/avoid/hermit auto-pilot lately.
• Decide on a new place to live – for the past 2+ years I’ve moaned, whined, bitched and complained about where I live. I like my apartment itself well enough. My building is quiet, clean, and well maintained. The problem is it’s too far from everything. As a non-driver I have to rely on public transit to go anywhere and when it’s a 30+ minute ride to downtown Hamilton and another 60+ mins from there to go to Toronto or to see @Randy everything just seems to be too far. I’m hoping to move in the spring which gives me 6 months or so to decide if I want to live in downtown Hamilton or a different city. Burlington, Port Credit and even Halifax are on my maybe list. Time to look at the pros and cons of each and just do it already.

There’s probably a few other things I should add to the September list but that’s what I’ve come up with for now. Looking back on what I’ve written – it’s not so much a bucket list as it is a series of goals and intentions. Somehow saying I’ve written a “goals and intentions list” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, does it?