The Eighth Day of Christmas, being the Feast of the Holy Name

A friend on Facebook posted a list of accomplishments in 2023 that she’s proud of. I thought that was an excellent idea, until I realized that my list is not nearly as impressive as hers. I thought I had published two books (a translation volume and a VSI) in 2023, but that was actually 2022. In 2023 I just published two book reviews. Fortunately, I got an edited volume off to Cambridge University Press just under the wire — the table of contents is above — and that feels like something, especially given how long the volume was hanging over me.

Beyond lines on my CV, though, I can look back on 2023 with a reasonable degree of satisfaction. I cut my body fat almost in half —

and developed good gym-going habits.

I developed a new course — Happiness, Vice, and Virtue in Medieval Italy: Thomas Aquinas, Dante, and Catherine of Siena — which was a big hit and involved shepherding fifteen undergraduates around Italy for a week under the guidance of a really remarkable “tour guide” (the expression comes nowhere close to doing her justice).

I dipped my toes back into practicing the piano seriously. I’m learning the Bach E-major French Suite from scratch, and I’m playing for a jazz cabaret night in late January. (It’s so much better to learn the E-major from scratch than to revive the G-major, which would involve unlearning lots and lots of bad habits from back in the day.)

So what about 2024? I gave up New Year’s Resolutions ages ago, because they never worked out. But I do like this suggestion about adopting a general theme, rather than specific resolutions (especially quantitative ones!).

I think I’m going to make 2024 the Year of Health, beginning with physical health, where I’m already doing pretty well but could stand to make some tweaks, and then moving into other aspects of health. I’ll end with financial health: it makes sense to wait on that until I’m back on full salary this fall.

May the new year bring you many blessings!

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