New year’s resolutions for 2005
My brother has seen fit to publish his new year’s resolutions, so I may as well do the same. Here goes:
- Put in a decent effort to learn German. For too many years I have gone out of my way to collect various books, CD-ROMs, and tapes, and enrolled in two A.C.E. classes (as well as a Spanish one to “satisfy my curiosity”), only to get home and sponge in front of the telly to watch re-runs of what amounts to hundreds of sci-fi episodes. Well, it’s high time I put in even just 10% of the German work ethic to study for at least half an hour a day
- Try to read more than just Slashdot and the Sydney Morning Herald - perhaps even some paper-based, printed, material in the form of a novel. Thinking back on 2004, I can only list the following books that I actually finished (not including evil university text books):
- Thirty Years a Watchtower Slave: The Confessions of a Converted Jehovah’s Witness (abridged edition) by William J. Schnell
- Darwin’s God: Evolution and the Problem of Evil by Cornelius G. Hunter
- Stupid white men: And other sorry excuses for the state of the nation! by Michael Moore
- Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language by Don Watson
- Dude, where’s my country? by Michael Moore
- Thirty Years a Watchtower Slave: The Confessions of a Converted Jehovah’s Witness (abridged edition) by William J. Schnell
- Reduce my weight to less than 110 kilos. The chart I used to plot my 2004 progress, or lack thereof, looks more like the heart monitor for a coronary bypass patient. Some of the excuses I wrote down to explain periods of weight gain included: “Stewart’s visit”, “Sydney training”, “Birthday week snackies”, “Election night snackies”, and “Mum’s visit”. As you can see, I am rather fond of blaming others for my lack of determination, though, I was rather pleased that Mark Latham didn’t become our new Prime Minister, despite my move toward the left, and closer to the centre, when it comes to politics (no doubt thanks to Michael Moore). I won’t even consider voting for federal Labor unless Bob Carr seeks a promotion.
The above list constitutes what you might call my “core resolutions” (I hope Don Watson doesn’t see this). I also have a few “non core resolutions”, which includes:
- Learn the fundamentals of English grammar. Most of the time I seem to instinctively know what’s good and what isn’t, but I have to admit that I know absolutely none of the theory, save for some knowledge on the correct use of the apostrophe (though I still stumble at times). Sadly, I am the product of the modern Australian education system, which doesn’t think it necessary to waste students’ time with silly things like learning how to speak and write our language properly. Learning another language is now all the more difficult because I haven’t got a clue as to what a transitive verb is, for example
- Neglect my garden a little less, perhaps (I can see this one easily being forgotten)
- Become proficient in Java, if only so that I know an enterprise-class language alternative to .NET. Of course, since Java is an integral part of my IT degree, I stand a good chance of achieving this one
Unlike the failure of many organisations to review their business plans, to gauge their performance at regular intervals, I will actually see how I go in twelve months’ time.
Wow. Thats a sterling set of resolutions. I resolved in 1985 never to make another resolution, and its the only one I have never actually broken :) That, said, however, there are changes I need to make, and I can most certainly relate to the weight issue. I think computers have a lot to answer for, a sedentary lifestyle is very bad for many of us. Good luck with it all :)
Posted by kyte on 6-Jan-2005 at 12:11 am
A very demanding list Marc, best of british to you :)
If we are to make 2005 resolutions I guess I have a few which I would like to share:
1. become less egocentric
2. downsize both physically and domestically (I’m such a pack rat)
3. to stop procrastinating and produce some saleable artwork ie. painting and photography
Posted by ferelannie on 6-Jan-2005 at 11:02 am
I never seem to stick to my New year’s resolutions, so I havn’t bothered for years, but like you said, thanks to the Australian Education department, I to don’t have a clue what verbs and such are, so maybe I could vow to learn them. It would make it easier for me, considering I do write a lot.
Posted by Doomgirl on 9-Jan-2005 at 8:30 am
Hi Marc,
(I’m doing the BIT also at CSU via distance).
Great website.
Just wondering… Now that you only have 2 months less in 2005, how are you going with the resolutions?
Monicque.
Posted by Monicque Sharman on 20-Oct-2005 at 6:18 pm
Hi Monicque,
Interesting web site :)
Well, I haven’t made much progress on the resolutions, however, I have read 1.5 novels (not including evil text books), and hope to finish reading the second one (”Pillars of the Earth”, 1076 pages by Ken Follett) after my exams are over next month. The German is coming along a little bit, too. Maybe next year I won’t document any resolutions at all!
Marc
Posted by Marc Fearby on 20-Oct-2005 at 7:47 pm
I still think you should read more Terry Pratchett! it’s good for you, Trust me.
Wonder who this is, cause I have no idea.
“but you do get that.”
Posted by Natalie on 3-Apr-2006 at 4:32 pm
I was thinking about Terry Pratchett only yesterday after I read the first fifty pages of Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation”, which I have to say, makes a hell of a lot more sense than the bizarre world of Ankh-Morpork. I once knew somebody who has probably read every single novel (if I may apply that term to Mr. Pratchett’s disjointed ramblings jotted down, no doubt, when he surely must have been a resident of an insane asylum) and haven’t heard from them in ages. I hope all is well.
My email address is the “real” first and last names of the cartoon actor that portrays “McBain” from The Simpsons at gmail.com (how’s that for obfuscation against email harvesting bots? take that, you spamming swine!)
Posted by Marc on 3-Apr-2006 at 8:24 pm