The last night of the year is always a
strange one. All the hopes for the New Year seem to hang in the air. Lists are
made up with wishes for the New Year, much like adult Santa letters starting
with “I want...” Many (most?) parties have too much alcohol involved, leaving
everyone sloshed by midnight. This I have never understood – I do not want to
start a new year, to turn a new leaf either drunk, praising the porcelain god
or with a hangover.
It may just be because I don’t care much
for alcohol. My ‘cheese and wine’ supper (traditional in our house) became a
‘cheese and coffee’ affair. Why? Because, while I brought some lovely cheeses,
those I only splurge on at this time of the year, I completely forgot about the
wine part. (Yes, for me that is easy to do.) But I did have a small bottle sparkling
wine to toast the New Year with. As you can probably gather, I had a one-person
party.
Now, before you go and pity me; it was
completely by choice. Not only did I want to be home to keep an eye on my pets
if neighbours decide to shoot crackers, but also because I wanted a quiet evening
thinking the year over. And sometimes it’s better to chastise yourself when
you’re alone. A Gollum-like conversation coming from one person can freak
people out. (Of course, I never speak to myself, I speak to the cat.)
I am not sure if he really cares about my
resolutions for the New Year, but maybe he just made the resolution to “sit
and/or play on my slave’s papers more often”. This is because I will definitely
have more papers, books and those cat toys I call pencils around. You see, the
one big thing I did chastise myself for was not finishing things. The second
was for letting small things get in the way of big things.
As to not finishing things – I have a whole
file full of half-started or half-finished stories. But, even worse, I did not
do nearly as much to my studies as I had wanted. Somewhere along the way I got
sidetracked. I ended up wasting far too much time and letting the year slip by without
being able to catch up again.
So, I have made some resolutions for the
New Year, but this time I will make the goals a lot clearer. At the top of my
list of ‘bookish things’ is to finish my degree this year. There, I have said
it. It is now carved in Internet-stone. I have given myself the task of
finishing the written piece by the end of the year.
My writing goals for the year are to work
on my sketch writing/ flash writing. I am not going to try and write a novel. I
will use the time I have at hand to do as much as I can and I will not let time
get sucked into the bottomless pit of the internet or watching ‘whatever is on
TV’. I will watch my few programs (about 3 for the whole week) and the news and
that’s it. I will keep movies and DVD marathons for Friday movie night (and not
every night...).
I will also write a review for every book I
read – and if I do not like a book, I will put it down and not force myself to
finish it! This won’t be a scholarly review, mind you; it will mostly be a
‘this is what I thought’ review, even if it is only one paragraph.
Added to that, I want to spend more time
just being silent. I want to sit on the stoep and drinking a cup of tea when I
come from work and unwind for a moment. I don’t want to be burned out by March
already!
To everyone, I wish you a wonderful and
blessed 2012!
O, and keep your eye on this blog for some
big news in the next post!
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| Image by The Graphics Fairy |
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