It’s time to assess how I did on ten things I planned to do more in 2010.

I’ll rate myself the way my elementary school teachers did on the citizenship portion of my report card:
Outstanding
Satisfactory
Needs improvement
Unsatisfactory

Running: Outstanding
Running continued to be my favorite method of exercise. I didn’t slack off with all my travel and took my running shoes with me to Michigan, Chicago and NY. I became more committed to running in the latter half of the year. In August, I joined the PostBourgie running challenge. The friendly competition, encouragement, tips and camaraderie pushed me to meet my monthly goals (between 75 and 100 miles). I also to signed up for a half marathon. I trained for a couple of months and in October I ran the Long Beach Half Marathon. I had a great race experience and did better than I expected. I ran some 10Ks and got a little bit faster. I’m currently training for the LA Marathon next March and have run more in the past month than ever before.

Writing: Needs improvement
My output on the blog declined this year. I start posts and never finish them, or finish them much later. I have about a dozen in my drafts folder. I did do more academic writing with work. One of the papers I co-wrote was published in a well-regarded higher education journal. I was pretty stoked by that.

Dissertation: Needs improvement
I’m not where I planned to be at the beginning of the year. No surprise, really. But I did make significant progress after participating in a dissertation proposal boot camp. I’m on my personal timeline to get things done so I can interview students before they graduate.

Yoga: Unsatisfactory
If I did two yoga classes this year, that would’ve been a step up from ’09, but I didn’t do that. I now own a Wii Fit, so there’s hope for next year.

Reading: Satisfactory
Yeah, I read more this year. I read a lot of comic books and graphic novels. I read all of Jaime Hernández’s half of the Love and Rockets series as well as some other comics/graphic novels Sean recommended. If this assessment was based on novels, memoirs, non-fiction, I would’ve given myself a needs improvement. However, since I got back into research, I read more academic papers for that. So, satisfactory works.

Girlfriends: Needs improvement
I could definitely use more time with close friend. My girl cousins are awesome, but I do miss the women I was very close to in college and after. I also miss the friends who have moved away, like Oiyan.

Cooking: Satisfactory
I’d give myself an outstanding, but I need to improve on variety. I stick to a handful of basic dishes. It works for me and I usually don’t get bored. If I do, I remind myself that I’m (a) saving money by eating the food I already made and (b) not wasting food. I love the former and hate the latter.

Guanajuato: Unsatisfactory
All my travel funds were spent for NY trips (great investment). Even though I didn’t get to go to Guanajuato, it sort of came to me when my primos and tíos came to LA for a couple of weddings in July. I still miss my happy place. I doubt I can go another year without a visit.

Dancing: Outstanding
I could always use more nights dedicated to dancing, but I give myself an ‘O’ for ’10 because: I went to four weddings over the summer; there were some nights out dedicated to dancing for fun or birthdays; concerts; dancing in my bedroom; and I joined the intertribal dance at a pow wow in October.

Getting all dolled up (con makeup también): Outstanding
Thanks to those weddings and some other big events (Valerie’s quinceañera), I had plenty of opportunities to get all dolled up. Lori did my makeup and hair for a couple of those weddings.