[quote=“irishstu”]My resolution for 2008 was this:
I totally did it and feel so much better for it.
Don’t appear to have made any resolutions for last year. I think this year I would like to actually get better on the guitar instead of playing the same old shit over and over again, and get a bit fitter (I did manage to do a bit of both of these in 2009, but I’d like to improve both in 2010).[/quote]
Tea is the man, irishstu. I love coffee, but I don’t do well on it, now that I don’t teach. So many teas to try out, as well. I hit the teashops in Chinatown in Manchester, every now and then to get some good green tea. It really is an elixir, if you are in the west and constantly dodging the ‘bloat’ that you get from western carby food.
I managed to do most of mine, last year. Kendo stuff, HSK, wrote a novel, resisted the urge to get fired and run away to Beijing, stopped ingesting meat, dairy and alcohol on an 80/20 basis. And the bonus was going to Venice which was ace. Woop woop!
I also had a slightly hippier one which was to give unconditional support to people without expecting anything back (even subconsciously). I’m ridiculously independent, but the flip side of that is that I’m a selfish twat at times. My resolution was to strengthen relationships and built bridges with my estranged family, which was another large reason I left Taiwan and Asia. Not to create dramas when things didn’t go my way, and just join in a bit more. I’m not a ‘taker’, but I’m not really a ‘giver’, either.
I won’t lie; half the time I’ve felt like packing it all in and going to Bangkok or Beijing (or even just back to the north of England) to have some fun and get away from the weather and the people and the day to day meh-ness of office life in the yook. But anything worth having is not easy, and a good career and a cool family life is something I’ve never really had before, so I think it’s something worth working at, fighting the urge for an easy life for greater rewards.
So apart from the usual stuff like ‘practice Chinese more often’ (when will I be finished with Chinese? I’ve been learning for nearly a decade and I still talk like a slow 8 yr old. Well, I want to sound like a 9 yr old, this year!) , lose weight, blah blah, the other stuff really is people stuff. Supporting my gran and her partner and carer because he’s an absolute star and deserves a bloody knighthood for lovingly and patiently caring for my gran through cancer, Alzheimer’s, and reduced mobility. I’m going to pay his golf club fees and get down there to make sure he can go without worrying she’ll leave the gas on, or go out and forget where she lives.
I will make peace and consolidate my relationship with my insano mother, in honour of my gran and to fulfil a promise to my sister.
I’m going to support my SO in his career and help him get what he wants, even though this will probably take him out of Europe.
I will remind my friends that I love them and am always here from them with an ear, and anything practical I can do and that my sofa is free for any of them, unconditionally.
I will keep in contact with my forty or so cousins and their children, far and wide (The latest is Mohammed C. ‘Cup’, in Indonesia!) and as one of the oldest now that our fathers have passed on, try to keep the family together and be the kind of person who brings people together.
Despite all this outrageous hippiedom, I would like to take this opportunity to assure my friends that I will NOT be wearing Birkenstocks or stop waxing my upper lip. Oh, and M, I’m not writing off the £300. ‘Family’ doesn’t go that far!
and stay below.