The ’09 Season

2009 has now started. For me it began with illness but now I’m recovered I thought it was time to think of some new year’s resolutions. However, before I start scribbling down what I hope to achieve this year I will first reflect about how well I did in completing my ones of 2008

Tardiness
I think I did well with this one. At work I was as punctual as could be expected, in fact I improved dramatically in getting to work early. I managed to shuffle in around 8:10 which is pretty good by my standards. My biggest improvement was with meeting up with people. I hope Coldbrain noticed that I was on average only two minutes late when meeting up for a drink as opposed to the usual five.

Get More But Decent Tunes On To My ipod
When I wrote this in 2008 I had 827 tunes on my pod. I have now got 1180 so I’m slowly getting more on there. Although I should point out that my pod can hold up to 20,000 tunes so I’ve got a long, long way to go. I discovered a few good bands during last year. Orgatronics, Pssap and My Morning Jacket all made it onto my ipod in 2008 but according to Last.FM the most song played was Viva la Vida by Coldplay.

Cut Down On Meat
I thought this was going to be really hard to do but on the 6th January I decided to become a vegetarian. First it was a surreal not buying meat, then a slight inconvenience which finally turned into a revelation after discovering alternative meat free products and recipes. However, I stacked in mid-August when I was in France. I couldn’t go to France and not eat meat! So for just over eight months I managed to cut out meat completely which I am quite proud of. I do not think I will consider becoming vegetarian for quite a long time though.

Get Buff
I didn’t do so well here. I am not in good shape at the moment which is something I would like to address. I played a lot of sport last year but this made me just eat more and then I’d get injured but still have the same appetite as a small Hippopotamus.

Go To another Continent
Ok, I did write that I wanted to go to Marrakech but unfortunately that did not happen. Shame and I would still like to go. I did manage to go back to Peru so I at least managed to visit another continent.

Go To Noel Fielding’s Art Exhibition
I managed to go. It was a strange place and I annoyed the owner of the café by not buying something straightaway and only asking to see the paintings. He must have thought I was a right tosser but I wanted to see the art first then sup on some brew later.

Looking back at my resolutions I seemed to have completed most of them which is pretty good considering they tend to stay in my mind for about a week before being replaced with more important thoughts. So in 2009 I would like to achieve the following:

Learn a bit more about Spanish grammar
I have phrased this very carefully so that I can cop out at any time but the studious part of me would like to learn more about Spanish grammar which also enlightens me on things about the English version.

Drink decent coffee
I am used to drinking the turgid stuff placed in front of me which is usually a jar of Nescafe instant coffee. This year I want to drink some decent coffee or at the very least drink decent instant coffee and not the chemically induced bile I have been happily chugging down my throat the past year.

Get into an Adventure
I do not really care where and why but I would like to embark on some sort of adventure and I hope either fate or initiative opens one up for me.

Take up opportunities
I am rubbish with this. I do not even realise when one presents itself and usually shrug it off. Only for someone either to walk up to me and say ‘I can’t believe you just turned that down’ or even worse, six months down the time line I lay in bed and then suddenly it dawns on me that what was offered was a great opportunity.

Chill
It is important that I know when it is time to relax and when is the time to really push myself. I am a being of extremes in everything I do. If I am chilled, I really am to the point people think I’ve been smoking during my lunch break. But when I’m in full flow, rushing around people tell me to slow down or I’ll have a break down. So I need to find the balance which can turn on the heat when required but at the same time kick back when there is a moment to do so.

And finally…I’d like to break away from the 9-5

This does not mean I want to replace it with a 2pm-10pm shift somewhere but ideally I would like to do something that does not involve 9-5 and mean I could go places, visit different people whilst still earning enough money to live.

In other news, I grew a goatee. It looked kind of strange but I managed to get used to it until someone said I looked like shipmate from Pirates of the Caribbean. It’s now been shaved off.

Belated Happy New Year to you all.