How are we doing so far? (Resolutions reviewed)

Well, we're a little over half-way through the year now, so this seems like a good time to look back on my 2010 New Year's Resolutions and see how much, or how little, progress I have made on the steep path of virtue I attempted to set for myself back in January.

1) I am going to finish unpacking and get my apartment straightened out by this weekend.

Well, I at least got my kitchen nicely organised and functional almost immediately after first posting this resolution, but.... it took me more like a month to get the rest of the apartment in shape. And six months on, there's an awful lot of stuff that I still haven't unpacked. I gave up on my plans to move again in the spring (I had hopes of taking over a friend's hutong house, but that fell through), but I'm still thinking that I might move.... well, maybe not soon, but one day. The new place has almost no shelf or cupboard space, and I can't be bothered to buy any, so.... all of my books, CDs, DVDs etc. are likely to remain in the packing crates I brought them here in.

2) I am going to have a party at the beginning of next month (February).

Yes, the housewarming party did indeed go ahead as planned - although I was bitterly disappointed by the thin turnout.

3) I am finally going to stop moping about Madame X.

Well, I was doing really well on that, had scarcely thought about her at all in a few months - certainly no moping. Until a couple of weeks ago, that is. Sigh. I'm doing much better than I'd feared, though, making progress, nearly cured.

4) I am going to visit Bangladesh.

Ah well, the incentive for going there evaporated. The Bombshell, my lovely Swedish infatuation, had been working there, and had issued me an open invitation to come and visit, but.... well, she was in the throes of switching jobs, and had a crazy travelling schedule through the first half of the year; thus, she hardly spent any time in Bangladesh, and has now quit the country for good. At least I caught up with her in Beijing again last month.

5) I am going to get a paid writing gig by the middle of this year.

Well, kind of - one of my journo friends has invited me to contribute an occasional column to a website he's set up; but thus far it's very irregular, and promises of payment remain vague. It may well be that I'm to be remunerated in beers on my next trip back to the UK. There are a couple of other, more serious opportunities I've been looking into as well, but nothing has come of them yet.

6) I am going to break myself of my 'pool divination' superstition.

Alas, I haven't found the time to play much pool this year. Largely because my usual adversaries, Pool Partner, New Dad, and The Chairman have all been very limited in their availability; but also because I'm suffering with a persistent shoulder injury which is really eating into my confidence in my game. I fear, in fact, that I may have achieved the exact opposite of my resolution here: the near-collapse of my pool-playing mojo may have derailed my sexual confidence as well. It has been a more-than-usually wretched year for me on the romance front: lots of flirtation, but nothing approaching a relationship.

7) I am going to invest in a bar or restaurant.

Still looking.....

8) I am going to complete the Great Wall Marathon this May.

OK, make that next May. I appear to have a severe and persistent patellar tendinitis in my left knee, and have scarcely been able to run at all this year. I am starting to think I may have to take up swimming or cycling (or sex?!) as a way of keeping my weight down instead. But I am going to make one last effort to get back into a regular running habit, starting...... right now.




As for the 10 resolutions that I set myself almost every year, I'm doing pretty well on most of them. Only the regular exercise regime (I have got very fat in the last couple of months!), the regular dinner parties (it just doesn't happen in Beijing, does it? it's so much easier to eat out), and finding myself a girlfriend continue to be major obstacles for me. But there's still, what, 22 weeks to go in this year. There is time to turn things around. Oh yes.