A little late, but most of January never feels like a very motivated time anyway, and today is Imbolc if you’re a Pagan, plus it’s soon to be Chinese New Year, so it still counts.
I really wanted to list the things I hope to achieve/do this year, and what’s more to come back to the list periodically to check I’m not completely slacking. Ryan suggested I pinned it on my wall/noticeboard and I think that’s a good idea. I have been following them thus far, I just hadn’t publicised them yet. But that is all about to change.
~MY 2010 TO-DO LIST~
* The main objective is to try new things, learn, vary. Not to get stuck in a rut. To keep busy and even if I don’t get really good at anything, to be reasonable at many things. A jack of all trades, if you will.
* Continue my health kick, such as it is. Keep up the daily stretches/exercises and 3-mile walks (further, on occasion). This is where variation would really help, though. Mum got me a little book of toning exercises for Christmas, so I need to look through that and try different ones on different days. I went swimming the other day and managed 60 lengths in 50 minutes (oddly I could do that even when I was much less fit), and I’d like to swim more often – just a bit pricey and I’m worried what chlorine would do to my highlighted hair. Would still like to try yoga or a dance of some sort. I’d like to involve others too – Ryan and I will probably make use of his village tennis court in spring/summer, and I did speak to Laurs about it last night but she’s making do with her new treadmill at the mo. Also, make use of the Wii Fit at Ryan’s house as much as poss – the hula hoop exercise especially made me ache in places I didn’t know I had!
* Look up and learn to cook/prepare a range of tasty nutritious new meals. I’m always tearing recipes out of ‘Cook Vegetarian’ magazines, but most seem to contain one ingredient you never have lying around or they’re just a bit calorific for my current routine. I’m sure I could adapt, make smaller portions, or just look up other things online though. Last week I learnt to make a delicious puy lentil Mediterranean salad, and I re-made that butternut squash and spinach risotto from November too with added veg and rosemary, and MMMMM. I can also do my own carrot and coriander soup (my current favourite food). At least one new dish a month, preferably two or three. I enjoy cooking and think it’ll be easier/more fun to stay healthy if I’m not just eating the same things, though I do have certain ‘old faithfuls’.
* Let my musical side out to play! I’ve always been told I had a good ear for music, though the most I ever did with it was grade 4 treble recorder and some basic keyboard/piano twiddlings. I’d attempted to play guitar but been put off by my rubbishness. However the past few months have seen me wanting to flex my musical muscles once more, and just before Christmas I learnt a little basic guitar courtesy of Ryan (he has more than one of his own and has played on and off for years). I resolved to keep it up till I sounded like I knew what I was doing and my mum suggested I could get a cheap guitar for my next birthday. Ryan got there sooner though, customising one of his old ones with new paint and parts and giving it to me for Christmas! <3 (I got a reverb pedal for him, coincidentally, because I want one myself and can borrow this one till my birthday rolls around.)
Now I need to sit down and learn the chords and scales, y’know the basics, so I understand it better. Thus far I’ve been too impatient and instead learnt a few tabs of songs I like instead. Anyway, I really mean to keep this up, and I’d like to get better at keyboard again too (have got my ancient Yamaha down from the loft) – again learning chords would be good, I was never good at theory stuff like that, just played by ear. And maybe guitar skillz will progress to the bass too, as they’re not that wildly different. Hooray! I can just picture myself as a sort of ‘floating member’ (um) of a band, changing instruments depending on the song. Could bring the recorder into fashion too, who knows.
* Read more books. I love books. English has always been my favourite academic subject, both reading and writing. Yet somehow I can get into lazy habits with my reading. I have intensive reading phases then big gaps. Bad lady! I also need to finish more books, as I still have several I started ages ago and never went back to. I swear my concentration span is shot these days. It sounds a very modest goal, but I aim for at least thirteen books this year. I hope in reality it’ll end up being a much higher number, but I don’t like to get too specific in my resolutions. That’s one a month, plus one for luck (and I just like number 13). Thus far it’s been a month and I’ve read one book – ‘The True Deceiver’ by Tove Jansson. Very subtle stuff. So I’m on the right track but could do with stepping up my game a little. I bought one by a Russian writer whilst visiting Andrea over Christmas, I still have her Egyptian one to read, I’ve just got through a Swedish/Finnish one … what’s next? Also I must read more classics and more 19th century literature. Starting with ‘1984′ – how long has that been on my shelf?!
* Find a job. Preferably a good one, but almost anything will suffice. It goes without saying, but still. It’d be nice to feel like a functional member of society once more, and to amass some bling. It’d be doubly good if I could combine exercise with it – like walking there and back came to roughly 3 miles, or it involved some manual stuff. Please, world, sort this recession bollocks out and create more job vacancies, not fewer.
*Writing project? I dunno about this one. I would really love to actually think up a good idea I could sink my teeth into and get back into writing; it’s always pretty high on my list. But this year I feel more scattered, more like focusing a little on a range of other things, things I’m approaching from a fresher perspective. Who knows, maybe that’s exactly when inspiration will strike.
* I wish I did more to help/benefit others. It always seems the things I enjoy doing are more ‘hobbies for me’ and don’t have much more point. I’d like to be more practical and useful. I suppose I can cook for people okay, but that’s about it. I was at Ryan’s recently and his sister was practising her make-up-course skills on their other sister, then Ryan came to take pictures for her portfolio on his expensive camera, whilst he was fixing her laptop. I want to be able to use my skills! I want to learn cool stuff that I can teach others or use to give them things. I should definitely learn how to use a sewing machine, then I can do the bra-customising stuff I planned. But I’d like to do more for others generally too – I admire those who do so, such as my mum and her caring job or my sis volunteering for charity shops and shelters for the homeless. At the very least I have to finally donate blood, now I seem to have a healthy enough bod – unlike two years ago which must have been my illest year ever!
* I’d love to improve my social life. I think this is more a by-product of other things though – meeting people through activities or jobs or lessons – and not so much within my immediate control. I rarely go out partly due to lack of money and mainly because I only live near about one friend now and she’s always busy with teacher work and seeing her boyf at weekends! Everyone else is too spread out. I spend a lot of time with my lovely boyf, which I’m not complaining – it’s just that ‘variety’ thing rearing its head again. I’m not a social butterfly – I definitely need and appreciate a certain amount of ‘me-time’. I don’t aspire to go out every night. It’s good when you don’t see someone for a while so you have more to talk about when you do. (Especially if I keep up all the things I want to do.) But I feel I’m too much of a loner and need to rediscover the joys of having fun in another’s company on a more frequent basis. Take me out, people!
* Experiment with my appearance. This isn’t an important one; I just thought it sounded fun. Both in terms of my appearance itself and the things with which I adorn and dress myself. Obviously I’d like to lose a little more weight. I found a three-year-old red hair dye in my drawer, and as it doesn’t seem to have a use-by date, it would be a shame to let it go to waste. Jennie suggested dyeing the underlayer of my hair, and I approve. I love being light-blonde, but the underneath is a rubbish colour naturally anyway and a bit straggly – making it red would brighten things up a bit. Two-tone: the solution for chronically indecisive folks. Then I’ll re-highlight the top layer at some stage, as long as it doesn’t totally kill it. I need to try more styles too, rather than letting it hang. On New Year’s Eve I wore green contact lenses and though those particular ones were a bit uncomfortable, I liked the effect and would like to try others, though of course blue suits me best.
Clothes-wise, I’ve made my list (the sort I write from time to time) featuring items I either need or generally covet, but with an emphasis on trying styles I might not otherwise go for. Within reason – they have to suit me, obv, and flatter my shape – but I’d be up for trying colours I don’t usually like (such as pink) if they are in a shade that goes with my colouring, and garments I’d previously dismissed as ‘not my thing’. I’m welcoming suggestions from others on how they would style me if given the chance, so go ahead if you have ideas! I figure that even if I find they don’t suit me, I’ve at least given it a go and know for the future. I’ve already discovered that I can indeed rock skinny jeans and damn well too. I feel terribly vain and materialistic even writing this, but fuck it. It’s not about ‘having things’ and I never buy expensive clothes anyway. I can get away with more styles now I’m slimmer than I used to be and I think it’s fun getting creative with ensembles. Not to mention very few of my clothes even fit any more anyways – hence why there are so many ‘necessities’ on my list. I’d still love a corset, once I don’t think my bod will change size any more. More dresses, layers, lady-scarves, chunky jewellery, different shoes and boots! A decent sized handbag (that isn’t ugly smelly leather, brown or black, like 99% of handbags). Shorts with patterned or coloured tights! And I’d like to be more adventurous when straddling that fine line between ‘tacky’ and ’so tacky it’s awesome’, because that can have some really funky results. Risky bzns.
So I’m feeling quite positive and energised about these possibilities – let’s start as I mean to go on. Ryan has some ‘new year new me’ things going on too: he’s already had a proper haircut and a shave, ordered electronic cigarettes to gradually quit smoking, and is going to guitar it up till he’s a rock god. Go us
As the Dismemberment Plan would have it, it’s going to be a very, very good year.
(I should add a couple more tiny things to the list: maybe try to stop eating crunchy peanut butter straight out of the jar, and don’t spill soup all over your clothes so often. For goodness’ sake, you’re 25.)













