I think 2004 is going to be a good year.
I mean apart from the fact that the Leafs are definitely winning the cup this year, I think 2004 is going to be a good year on a much more personal level.
I’m turning 30 years old in 2004 and so surely with all those years under my belt I will have finally figured things out. Doesn’t that just come naturally with the mileage?
So that means in the next 10 months I’ll have finally figured out how to host a dinner party for eight without breaking into hives in the hours before the guests arrive. I will have figured out how to juggle work and a social life at the same time. I will be able to wax eloquent about any topic that is thrown my way. I will be able to accept a compliment graciously. I will NOT have temper tantrums when I fall in deep powder. There are a host of things that I will finally figure out in the next 10 months.
Why? Because I’ll be 30 years old this year. I’ll be poised, confident and all grown up. Won’t I?
It would seem I’ve got a lot of work to do by October.
The tricky part about the whole turning 30 thing is that I just don’t feel like I’m on the brink of my 30 th birthday. Most of the time I feel like the same person I was at 21. Sometimes I even feel like a grumpy, irritable and irrational 14-year-old. Sometimes I even act like that 14-year-old.
But with a few refinements I think I could happily embrace my thirties without a second glance back at my twenties. Like I said, I’ve just got 10 months to do it.
So my New Year’s resolution for 2004 is to prep for my 30 th birthday. The transformation begins now.
As a sloppy 29-year-old on the verge of this metamorphosis here are a few basic principles that I must apply in 2004 if I am to become the poised and confident and grown up 30-year-old woman that I am destined to become in October.
• Expand my wardrobe beyond fleece, jeans and hoodies.
So I have a little leeway in this category because I live in Whistler and here you don’t have to dress up to go anywhere. You can get by in most social events with the requisite fleece and jeans and sometimes snow pants and hot chillies can pass as evening attire. But when you go to the city you realize that there’s a whole other world of fashion that’s passing us by in the mountains, and by "us" I mean me. So, I’ve decided to keep the fleece and the hoodies but also look beyond comfort clothes. Every 30-year-old woman should have a pair of dress pants and a blouse whether she lives in Whistler or not. I can wear them to my power meetings, which I will surely be having in my thirties.
• Learn to cook three healthy yet delicious meals that can be whipped together at a moment’s notice without any panic.
I will not allow myself to include tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich (my particular specialty) in this category. Nor will it include anything with eggs, such as scrambled eggs on toast or a fried egg sandwich. I hate to boast but I also consider those specialties too. So in addition to those trusty fallbacks I’m going to find three killer recipes, learn them by heart, keep the ingredients on hand and most of all, I will not panic when I’m in the kitchen producing a spectacular meal for my astounded guests.
• Be graceful under pressure (in the kitchen and everywhere else).
Now this doesn’t mean that I won’t have sensational bails on my mountain bike and my snowboard. I don’t mean graceful as much in the physical sense rather more the mental state of mind. For example, there was nothing graceful about banging my snowboard up and down on the icy cat track coming out of Khyber’s. It’s icy. It hurts like hell when you fall and it seems like it’s never going to end but even I can see that it wasn’t my proudest moment. Under pressure in my thirties I will strive to find that happy place when life throws those curve balls. Some prescription medicine could come in handy too I suppose.
• Stop gossiping.
I don’t think a poised, sophisticated 30-year-old has time to gossip, much less the inclination to talk about other people behind their backs. So, I’m going to rise above the pettiness and only gossip with my oldest and most trusted friends who love me though I may be petty. Plus I won’t have time to gossip much, focused as I am on cooking, being graceful under pressure, expanding my mind and my wardrobe.
• Be organized/stop procrastinating.
There are some people who can manage their time efficiently and then there are people like me. I leave tasks until the last minute and then the easiest thing in the world becomes the most monumental endeavour. The most recent example of this is my Christmas cards. I bought them. I wrote them. I sent half, which is huge progress compared to past years. And then I just stopped. Likewise, I shopped for Christmas presents, bought them, and wrapped them. And then I just stopped. That final step to get to the post office and slide them into the mail and out of my hands forever just escaped me. These are not the actions of a 30-year-old woman.
So the pressure is on. I’m turning over the new leaf as I write this. I just don’t have any other choice. The excuse of my twenties is quickly disappearing.
With all this preparing for the big day surely I will be able to celebrate 30 in style with no tears or heart palpitations or breakdowns.
Then again if all these resolutions fly out the window on January 2, as they are often wont to do, turning 30 could bring on a minor meltdown.
If truth be told, I wish I could just stay 29 years old forever. Alas time marches on, 2004 is here and 30 looms on the horizon.
I’ll be ready for it. Won’t I?
