2012 resolution

new year's resolution:  commit to my travels.

up until i went to ireland in march 2011 to hang out with the best brother ever, i had no idea the world was so awesome.  i know that sounds ridiculous and stereotypical American, but it's true - most people who have never had the opportunity to travel don't know what they're missing.  and i feel sorry for them.  ireland made me fall in love with other cultures and want more.  going to europe was the best two months of my life because i got to see so much, meet so many amazing people, and have incredible adventures.  had i not booked a flight on a whim 24 days out with no planning whatsoever, i doubt i would have actually gone.  but now that i've done it, i can't stop.  every day i dream about the places i haven't been, wonder what they'll be like, and planning out the next few years around them.  i wish my job required me to do international travel, but for right now it requires me to stay put in a very unexciting town.  so i will have to make the most of weekends and the tiny amount of vacation time i have compared to other countries, where at least a month of vacation is usually required by law. 

so i am committing to saving money, saving vacation time, so i can do trips for a few weeks out of every year.  they will usually be around christmas, since that's when i already have days off.  but smaller weekend trips will be good for closer traveling, such as canada or within the country.  goals for 2012:

weekend in april/may:  either vancouver or toronto, depending on where the people i was going to see will be
summer:  san diego, to see christine and kris.  this is if i have money saved up at the time and hopefully one of my favorite germans will be able to come in too.....
october:  auburn, to watch the aggie btho those tigers (sorry jason)
christmas/new year's:  australia/new zealand.  to my aussies and kiwis, get ready, and let me know where you'll be!!

this means i will have to definitely work on budgeting and sticking to it, but this is definitely motivation to get it all in order.  2012, here i come.

let's play a game

now that i have non-US friends, i get to play this super fun game.  whenever i see a friend's facebook status in another language or get a notification that someone else commented in another language, i get to guess what it is!  as far as translating, i don't go that far (unless it's german, then usually i try to figure it out) but still it's fun to see something like 3 different languages commenting on someone's status. 

yay world!