About a year ago I had an epiphany and as a result began to introduce more creativity and art into my life. I've done very well, better than I thought possible. I go to movies, I buy DVDs and CDs, I listen to music on a daily basis, I've been to lots of musicals and a couple of concerts. That's fine, but it's passive. I'm getting ready to ramp things up a little and be creative myself. I'd like to try writing my time travel agency novel, for one thing. Creative writing is something I used to enjoy intensely but it's been a really long time since I gave it a shot. After so many years of writing personal essays and non-fiction articles I am ready to try something new. It might suck, but I'm going to have an awfully good time engaging in the act of creative writing and that's what matters to me. Okay, yes, I'd like a write a readable novel, but that honestly isn't the primary goal.

I'd also like to take voice lessons. Piano is fun and I'm actually happy I had to take it in order to graduate, but I don't like practicing for the sake of practicing. It's a chore, even if it's kind of nifty to be able to bash out a few tunes. But I love to sing. I never get tired of singing. Now that I'm embracing my musician self again I'm going back to my first love: choir. However, the old vocal pipes are awfully rusty. So, private lessons are in my fairly immediate future.

But wait, there's more! John and I plan to learn German. He'll be brushing up on it, I'll try to get beyond the operatic and archaic words and phrases I learned in college for lieder. We haven't actually embarked on this yet but we have the cassettes and book, and I'm quite serious about learning enough German to have a sensible short conversation when we go to Deutschland next year. It's also fun to speak. And, here's the important part, it's creative. Believe me, when you only know fifty words you have to be very, very creative when trying to convey your heartfelt need for tampons in a small town where no one speaks English.

So I've decided it's time to end the diary when the year comes to an end. I know I'm going to miss it. I've never stopped before, I've taken two short and one long hiatus (and even then I managed to put up three entries a month), so it'll be a little strange to let it go. But I feel sure this is the right thing to do. I like a graceful departure. I particularly like a really good ending with all the loose ends tied up and the tantalizing hint of further adventures. My own story as an online diarist will end with my graduation, the joyous holidays afterwards, and a future full of creative endeavors too numerous to name. A very long storyline is coming to an end. A new one is waiting.

Thank you for your companionship. Just a little longer now. You can't leave before it's over. And I won't really be gone, anyway, just out of public sight for awhile. Who knows, maybe someday you'll be able to buy my book or hear my choir perform or see my name in the credits of a movie.

If not, at least you can be sure I'll be enjoying my life as an artist.

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