Here's another one of my goals. It kind-of goes along with Goal #1, but it's slightly different.

I will do something with friends at least twice a month.

This stems from the fact that I tend to go into a cave from time to time, and this can be a very dark place. So in an attempt to prevent this from happening, I am going to force myself to interact with people at least twice a month. It kind-of goes with the museum thing, since I hope that people will join me at the museums, but I plan to go to the museums with or without people. The "something" doesn't have to be anything more than a quick lunch; it doesn't have to be a big party or anything.

In this way, I hope to keep myself from retreating into myself. It's my attempt to be less "Eeyore" and more "Tigger."

I recently learned about Randy Pausch. Apparently, I'm late in this discovery, since Randy Pausch was recently selected (on Beliefnet.com) as the most inspirational person of 2008. He made a speech in September of 2007 that was titled "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." Video of what came to be known as The Last Lecture spread all over, and millions of people considered Dr. Pausch's approach to life and death inspirational. There's some info on Dr. Pausch here. I finally got around to watching the whole lecture, and I must admit that it was pretty cool.

I suppose everyone who watches the lecture or who reads the book gets something different from it. For example, I'm sure that the teaching part isn't what necessarily appealled to the majority of people, but it's definitely something that jumped out at me. It reminded me of how much I love being a teacher, how blessed I am to be a teacher, and how important it is that I share this blessing with the world.

Still, I wasn't as super-inspired as people seemed to have been by the words of Dr. Pausch. Not that it wasn't good . . . it was good and inspiring. And I highly recommend watching the video, if you have 1-1/4 hours to spare.

Dr. Pausch gives a lot of good advice, and there are many lessons to be learned. The one I will take for 2009 is this: Am I a Tigger or an Eeyore? As most of you know, I tend toward the Eeyore side. But I'm trying to change that--really. I honestly don't think I have to be a Tigger all of the time. That would madden me AND everyone I meet. But I think there's room for more Tigger and less Eeyore in my life. :D

As I said before, it's a good lecture. It may make you cry. If you do watch it, I'd love to hear what you have to say about it.