I took my guitar and amp over to Peter‘s this afternoon, and we did a bit of improvisational goofing around for about three hours. It was fantastic. I recently accquired one of these, and it produces some really beautiful effects.

When the pizza delivery guy showed up, he told us he was in four (!) local bands, so we invited him in to talk about music. He declined playing with us, but he left knowing about Hub Bub as a potential performance venue.

Not a bad day.

Update: I forgot the best part! As we talked about improvisation, the pizza guy told us a story about going to see a performance in which two musicians used a variety of different instruments, moving from one to another as they progressed through song after song. When he noticed that the drums were being underused, this guy jumped on stage and played percussion with them for their entire set. And the original performers were not at all thrown off track by the unexpected guest musician.

…so let’s try to keep it that way. Like many of you, I’ve recently gone to such events as new faculty orientation sessions, “welcome back” breakfasts, and human resources workshops. I like it here. I have a bunch of new friends, many of them academics like me and many of them not. In response to the question Why did you leave your previous job?, I have two answers. One of them is longer and somewhat more complicated. The shorter one, which I like better is this: I’m a salt water fish, and that was a fresh water environment.

Inspired by Geeky Mom, here is my (admittedly general) working list of personal and professional aspirations for the coming year. I will probably update this a bit:

1. In general, do what I want to do in my teaching, research, and service without worrying about whether it will get me tenure. This is paradoxically, I am convinced, the way to get tenure. If it isn’t, well, I’m not going to turn myself into something I am not (see “salt water fish” above). I haven’t done the random quotations meme, but I like this Emerson quote found at Julie’s: “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” If, in however many years, I am not tenured, then that’s the institution’s loss, and I’ll be on to something else.
2. Be more disciplined about scheduling my time: writing, class prep, grading, teaching, service. Make use of iCal, my new Palm, all those self-help books on productivity. No tv and no Internet at home should help a great deal. I also want to create a long-term tentative calendar of goals and plot the way to achieve them.
3. Get into the habit of not saying yes or no immediately.
4. Pay better attention to my health. If my body is happy, my mind is usually happy.
   • Exercise regularly. Make it to the gym at least three times a week, and hopefully five. Take the classes at my gym: yoga, spinning Group Ride™, and Centergy™.
   • Eat well more often than not: complex carbohydrates, lots of fruits and vegetables, plenty of protein, plenty of water. Allow myself an ice cream cone or some Krispy Kreme donuts now and again.
   • Get plenty of sleep every night.
5. Next spring, start looking for a place to buy here in Sparkle City. Now is the time, and there are plenty of cool, old homes within walking distance of the (surprisingly, for a town this small) happenin’ downtown.
6. Stay single for awhile. If I meet someone who knocks me over with her wit, charm, and beauty…well, I just have to trust that I’ll know what to do. Otherwise, I plan to enjoy hanging out with friends.
7. Go to New Orleans for Spring Break 2007 to help with the recovery effort.
8. See as many musical performances as I can. Music makes me happy. Jeff Tweedy was great. I’m going to see Cat Power in Atlanta on September 12 with Scrivener. I think I’ll go see go to this show (featuring a friend of mine I haven’t seen in awhile) in Asheville on September 6. And there will be lots of acts to see at the Hub Bub Showroom.

Update: When I go to Kansas City next month, I’m going to get a black star tattooed on the outside of my right arm opposite the pen? that currently resides on the inside.

So what are your aspirations for the coming year?