Beginning a New Year

So, I know that I'm a little late to the game with this, in that it is now the third of January, and not the first, but today I was challenged to, as a writing exercise, start a blog and write a post every day for a whole year. I'm rather ecstatic about the idea, so here we are. Who knows if my attempts to network this blog will come to fruition and give me a nice amount of followers, or if I'll basically be writing for a few friends, either way, this is a documentation of the next year of my life at least. I don't yet know if I'll actually stop on January the third of next year, or if I'll keep it up after that, I suppose that depends on how I feel at the time. Either way, this should be a very entertaining and enlightening experience.
I'd like to say now, that the name of this blog is in fact "Ink In Pieces" (Not "Pisces" like the astrological sign, for the record, I'm a Capricorn. "Pieces" as in "piece of pie").Now, I choose the name "Ink In Pieces" for a few reasons. The first reason being that I had so many things to write about that I couldn't pick a single topic to be in the title of the blog, so I choose something that had to do with writing, which will always be a part of the blog. The second reason was that, for me, that is what this blog is about. It is about finding my writing style, my "ink", in little pieces as the year goes on and I refine my writing and find my voice. Right now, I worry that my writing is too formal, that it seems very stern and distant. I'm trying to become more personal and to invite playfulness into my words. The third reason I gave it the name that I did, was because I'm using this blog as a sort of coming of age story for myself, and so I'm hoping to find myself in the pieces that I write. I've just turned seventeen, and have, once again, begun to redefine myself, and I'm trying to use this blog as a tool in doing so.
It's a new year, a new age for me, and I can feel that it's going to be a good one. While riding home from watching the fireworks ring in the new year a few nights ago, I realized that I felt a palpable difference in the world. It was as if someone had taken the radio frequency that runs through my bones and changed it. It felt as if this year, this age, is going to be a good one. I believe that right now, the world is standing tip-toe on a single point, and we could either fall or find the balance we need to stay up-right, and this change I felt made me believe that, in this year, balance is possible for all of us, not only on a personal level, but on a global one. Come what may, I plan to be a part of it.
Now, who am I? I am a seventeen year-old aspiring writer, skilled knitter (wannabe spinner), stone-carver, hippie, environmentalist, equal-rights activist, pescatarian. I am a free-thinking, God-searching, stubborn, idealistic young man. I believe that there is a road for all of us. I believe that life is challenge, consequence, and reward. I believe that life is a search for ourselves. I believe that life is a classroom in which the world is filled with our teachers, and we can either learn their lesson and progress as human souls, or we can shun what we are being taught and regress. I believe that life is what we make it.
Now, this is only an introduction, but I want to start with a take-off, so I want to give you a bit of what is to come...

• Writing (A lot of pondering and rhetorical questions are probably in order).
• Knitting, one of my many loves and obsessions
• Whatever comes my way
• Lists, another one of my many loves and obsessions
• Opinions on movies, politics, religion, music, knitting, other blogs, life, and people
• More Opinions

I think that that pretty much covers it, so let's see here, I'd like to include some of all of that in my first post. We already have numbers 1,3, 5, and 6 covered in the first few paragraphs. So, let's move on to knitting (If you don't knit, you don't have to read my gushing about my latest project, you can just skip down to the next item on the list):
Here's what I'm working on right now.





















It's a cardigan, though you may not be able to tell from that picture, because it is all wrapped up in itself. Behind it is the rest of the yarn that I'll need to finish it up. The pattern is "Dave" by Jane Ellison. Here's the Ravelry link. So, I was leery of calling it a cardigan, simply because that seemed very feminine, and it's for me, however, I was told by a friend to look up "Cardigan" on wikipedia before I decided that. You learn something new every day don't you? Anyway, it's officially my cardigan, so I'm pretty excited. I cast it on on the last day of 2009, but didn't properly begin to knit it until January first. Here's a better shot of the whole thing.



I have eight inches of length now, and at 196 stitches per row and around 5 rows per inch of length I've knitted approximately...7840 stitches in the last three days (Though, I guess to be technical, I could say that I've purled half of those, and knit the other half). I'm knitting it in Queensland Kathmandu Aran Tweed...it's pretty awesome yarn.

Now that I've covered knitting, I have one more thing to talk about...lists. Personally, I like lists of ten, which seemed appropriate, given this list is for 2010. So here they are, my
GOALS FOR 2010

1. Blog every day, or at least make sure something new is on the blog every day.
2. Knit (and complete) at least two sweater-type garments and my blanket.
3. Complete one alabaster sculpture (stone-carving is a lost passion of mine, I'm hoping to reclaim it).
4. Finish the first draft of my play by June 1st (I'll write more about that later).
5. Become a better writer.
6. Become happier with my body (I don't hate it, but I see it as a work in progress).
7. Face at least one major fear.
8. Carpe Diem (This goes on a lot of my lists, it's an important one).
9. Learn five new skills that I will use for the rest of my life.
10. Find a different thing to be grateful for every day.

Every time I complete an item on the list I'll let you know.

All right, well, I hope I haven't bored anyone to death, and I hope that you keep reading, because I plan on trying to make every day as interesting/funny/poignant/thoughtful as I can.
Peace.