New Resolutions

It has been my habit in the past couple of years to post my New Year's resolutions on here. Well, last year I just repeated the ones from 2008 - and, to be honest, I've done indifferently well in keeping to any of them. So, rather than recycle them yet again, I thought I'd better come up with an entirely new - and more earnest, more achievable - set of goals for this year.



1) I am going to finish unpacking and get my apartment straightened out by this weekend.
[It's 5 weeks, no, god, nearly 6 weeks now since I moved in, and.... well, I haven't really moved in. Half my stuff is still in boxes and the place is a complete tip. This can't go on. Well, it all too easily could go on, perhaps indefinitely; especially since I am contemplating a move again in 4 or 5 months. But I must not let it go on. I must not let myself become that much of a bachelor slob. Oh no.]

2) I am going to have a party at the beginning of next month.
[A housewarming party is always de rigueur, I feel, even if it is two months after the event. This may provide the necessary extra incentive I need to get moving on Resolution No. 1. And I haven't had a party in nearly three years.]

3) I am finally going to stop moping about Madame X.
[Well, she's leaving. That should make it easier. Eventually.]

4) I am going to visit Bangladesh.
[Well, if my 'open invitation' still stands, that is. I have no particular interest in the country itself, but it is relatively inexpensive to get to. And it is - for the next few months, at least - where last year's great crush-ette, The Bombshell, resides.]


5) I am going to get a paid writing gig by the middle of this year.
[Um, I've no idea how or where yet. I really need to work on the details of this one a little more. I've been offered things in the past with the local expat listings mags, but turned them down because the fees were negligible. I might have to re-think that: I suppose they do at least help you to start building a marketable portfolio. It's very difficult to pitch yourself to worthwhile publications on the basis of a few English teaching magazines and a blog.]


6) I am going to break myself of my 'pool divination' superstition.
[Wow - a double resolution here: I am going to sort out my love life while retaining or recapturing my pool-playing mojo!! It has never happened before in my entire lifetime, but I have to believe that it is possible.]

7) I am going to invest in a bar or restaurant.
[I don't have much in the way of savings to invest, but I figure I ought to be trying to put that money to work somehow. I've been looking for an opportunity for six years now - but have never found a partner I could completely trust, or a prospect that was anything other than a moneypit. But this year I'm going to look a bit harder. Oh yes, 2010 will the the year.]

8) I am going to complete the Great Wall Marathon this May.
[This is a nice, clearcut goal - but it's something of a tall order, given how out of shape I am, and that I haven't run much in the last three months, and that I've been plagued by injuries and ill health for the last two or three years, and that we're having one of the coldest winters here in years and it doesn't look like it's going to be possible to go running outside for quite some time yet... But I like a challenge!]



And the original 10 resolutions from the last two years are all very worthwhile (and achievable!) aims too, so I will revisit them and try to pull off the clean sweep this year (my endlessly deferred ambition to start holding occasional dinner parties at my place is the one that I'm keenest to make a reality before springtime).

Wish me luck!