Happy New Year

...in which I fail to fail to make New Year's Resolutions.


(Yes, the title is correct. No, I didn't put an extra "fail to" in by mistake).


I have resigned myself to the fact that I am not very good at keeping the types of resolutions that are typically made at this time of year. Therefore I decided long ago that I should not make any.  Unfortunately what I know I should do and what I actually do are often diametrically opposed, and therefore I will fail to not make any resolutions.

I'm not sure why I'm so bad at keeping resolutions like "stop eating junk"; in the past I have given up both smoking and gambling, both of which are exceptionally addictive and require huge amounts of willpower to overcome. Since I managed both of them without professional outside help (although my wife Ann did help considerably in both endeavours) it can be assumed that I do have willpower. Maybe I used it all up giving those things up.

Anyway, despite my best efforts to resist there is something very beguiling about the idea of recreating yourself at the start of a new year.  Even though I know there's nothing magical or particularly special about some particular moment in time (other than the meaning that humans give it) I will not be able to resist making some resolutions, and then I will feel guilty about failing to keep them.

So, I thought I would share my resolutions here in the hope that the knowledge that the anonymous (and not so anonymous) people of the Internet are watching me might motivate me to actually put some effort in to keeping them

1) I will join a band before I'm 42 - I have quite a lot of expensive musical equipment and a very nice guitar, which I rarely use other than for practice (which I try to do every day), and I really should do something with it.  I can still remember the last time I played on stage (at a gig with some work mates at the last placed I actually worked for as an employee) and it's a great feeling.  I'm not intending to become a superstar or anything - just some laughs with like minded people and hopefully a few local gigs.

2) I will run another half marathon - I kind of messed up my training for the Reading half marathon last year due to changing contracts a few months before it happened and having a lot less time to train than I wanted.  The most likely candidate this year is the Lake Vyrnwy half marathon, which happens in September.  Hopefully that gives me time to start running seriously again and lose some weight (not necessarily in that order).  


Given the way I felt after running the Reading Half (see here) I'm not sure why I would want to subject myself to that again; I can only assume that I have some masochistic tendencies buried deep inside me somewhere (they must be buried very deep, since generally I consider pain to be a Very Bad Thing).  This time I may do it for a local charity though, rather than my own satisfaction.


3) I will blog more often - This ought to be pretty easy since this is the first blog I've written in err....five and a half months; I'm not going to set myself a schedule but I will try to write every time I think I've got an idea worth writing about or just something amusing to say.  I shall also, of course, be writing about my training for another half marathon but last time I found that was very dull.


4) I will work harder - I've been very bad for the last month or so; this was largely because of the impending arrival of Christmas and with it two of our children's birthdays (Christmas is largely one long week of stress for us as two of our children have their birthdays within 5 days of the 25th, but thankfully it's usually fun stress rather than all out pulling-your-hair-out-oh-good-grief-what-are-the-kids-up-to-now-it's-your-job-to-control-them-no-it's-yours-argh-argh-help type stress).  


The trouble with failing to work is that because I am effectively self employed if I don't work I don't get paid; therefore it's kind of essential that I do quite a lot of work in the next couple of months to make up for the work I didn't do last month, but it's no good moaning about it because I have nobody to blame but myself.


I think 4 is probably sufficient; especially as number 2 carries with it the necessity to a) eat more healthily and b) take quite a lot of exercise so it really counts as 6.


Mad middle child is now moaning at me for toast and will probably throw something at me soon if I don't make it, so I shall sign off there.  Hopefully there will be less of me next time I write...


p'tang-yang-kipper-bang and all that.


C.