Life Update #2: Origami Woes

I don’t really believe in New Year’s resolutions.

I mean, I believe they exist. I don’t think they’re imaginary unicorns.

But I don’t believe they’re practical or logical.

In my opinion, making some kind of life-altering promise at the beginning of a calendar year is wasteful. What makes January 1st so special? Why not resolve to do something on any other day of the year?

Well, this year I’m doing a New Year’s resolution.

My friend Andreya came up with one for me, and I came up with one for her. And we are sticking to them.

Hey, it’s for fun.

The resolution Andreya gave me was to learn a new skill by the end of the year. She and I went through a bunch of potential new skills to learn, and we lassoed the ones we thought were the most interesting/doable.

I decided to spend January and February picking a skill, browsing through my options. The other ten months of the year would be committed to mastering the one I’d chosen.

The first skill I decided to fiddle with is origami.

I’ve always thought that those delicately folded paper constructions were soothing and endearing.

I now realize they’re a pain in the neck.

Origami folding instructions can be incredibly obtuse. I called my other friend, Mia, to help me out, and together we were barely able to cobble up some basic folds. It probably didn’t help that the instruction manual had teeny tiny diagrams.

It was funny though. Mia is OCD when it comes to folding things (paper, laundry, dough, etc.), so origami became this mountain-high endeavor for her. Needless to say, her folds turned out better than mine.

Overall, I’d say origami is a great activity to do with a friend. It helps to have someone alongside you to help you figure out the next steps in folding your paper table.

I don’t think I’m going to end up choosing it for my skill of the year, but I’m happy to have spent some time with it.