…2004 is over.

I don’t care what the calendar says. Today (=yesterday) was winter solstice, the first day of the coldest season of the year, the day with the least amount of light. We can only look forward to more and more sun from now on.

I am thankful for my friends and family, my health, and the smart and generous people I work with. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that some frustrating shit happened this year. In fact, I could have done without a lot of things that have happened over the last five years or more.

It looks already like 2005 has a chance to be a much better year. I’ll be teaching two interesting classes (English 225 and English 550) during the first semester; the courses meet in the afternoon and evening, and I very much prefer to teach later in the day, rather than the morning. Whether or not I get any of the grants I’ve applied for, I’ve decided to spend several weeks in England this summer, with any luck knocking out all of the remaining research to be done. In the fall I’ll be on leave from teaching, during which time I will be able to focus on finishing my book.

But if 2005 sucks, I will be asking for my money back.

Among the things I’d like to do while on our brief trip to New York next week is see a play. Peter Marks and Mel Gussow review Caryl Churchill’s latest in today’s Washington Post and New York Times, respectively.

Hey! A revival of Sheridan’s 1775 comedy The Rivals is reviewed in the Times.

After staying up late, working on this and that, this morning I am going to attempt some cardiovascular exercise. It’s extremely cold, so I’ll eschew running and head down to the fitness room to which we have access, hoping that no one is on the one machine I actually like to use. Goals:

• Significant yoga-related program activities
• 30 minutes of cardio
• Push ups
• Crunches

I have not done any of this in months and months, and no matter how uncomfortable this might be, my philosophy is that doing something is better than doing nothing.

Update: Mission accomplished.

• 30 minutes of yoga-like contortions (with assistance from our blind, geriatric cat)
• 417 calories in 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer
• 10 crunches
• 10 push ups

Yes, I know those last two are nothing to get excited about, but today is a start.

I held my last regular day of classes today. Soon, final papers will be turned in, and I’ll be grading like a fiend to get them done. During the break we’ll be traveling to New York (perhaps I’ll get to meet Deb) and then Philadelphia. The last time I was in New York, Chuck bought me a martini the size of my head, which rendered me incapable of being aware of the time — why are they turning on the lights and rolling up the carpets? — or of realizing that the woman in the car trying to pick us up in Times Square at 2 in the morning was not doing so because she thought we were hot.

While in New York, I’d like to visit the newly reopened Museum of Modern Art and perhaps see “The Newtonian Moment: Science and the Making of Modern Culture” at the New York Public Library. In Philadelphia, I might do some research at the library of the American Philosophical Society: they have part of Ben Franklin’s personal library, and I’m currently trying to determine if that might include any Methodist materials, and if so, whether that material has any marginalia or other evidence of reading. Franklin was not a Methodist, of course, but he did publish some works by Methodist George Whitefield (see Frank Lambert’s “Pedlar in Divinity”: George Whitefield and the Transatlantic Revivals, 1737-1770).

Before the start of the next semester, I will also

• spend some time with my father when he comes to visit,
• retool my blog (expect a couple of dramatic changes),
• prepare for my graduate seminar on orality and literacy in the eighteenth century,
• get my research agenda for spring semester in order,

and last but not least

• start taking better care of my body again.

On this last point: I need to start exercising. I had one year on fellowship in graduate school, during which I went to the gym just about every day and got into the best shape of my life. I’ve never been particularly at all athletic, but put me on an elliptical trainer with some headphones and a magazine and I’ll burn 500 calories in 30 minutes. Additionally, I did enough work with weights to see some modest results. Since I started work as a professor, however, I have let that routine slip. This is not good. I sleep better, my mood is better, my energy level is better, my brain works better, and my body just feels better when I am exercising regularly.

Sheri runs, and Kathleen has started running again. Meanwhile, Natalie and Dave ran the Marine Corps Marathon. Oliver, who owns Muddy’s Coffeeshop, just ran the New York Marathon. As for me, I’ve always hated running, though I started doing it back in the late ’70s when we still called it “jogging,” and, come to think of it, I was on the cross country team one year in high school. Should I try to make myself like something that has tended to make me want to throw up? The idea of running for exercise is so appealing: just put on the right shoes and go.

If you’re still reading, what advice do you have for starting a regimen of running as exercise?

Maybe I’ll hack my mind over break, too.