Resolutions for 2010

So as I’ve already discussed, resolutions for 2009 didn’t quite go according to plan. HOWEVER, I am not going to write them off as a complete fail as I did actually remember them for the first three months of the year or so (progress) and actually completed one of them (progress) AND only didn’t complete the others because of mitigating circumstances or the like (laziness).

Sidenote: I’d completely forgotten I’d mentioned “stop being rude to teachers” last year. That is HILARIOUS, I’m sure everything I said that year pales in comparison to the kind of banter I’ve been having with a teacher(s) this year (as well as the numerous arguments I’ve been having with all my friends about how I have no boundaries when it comes to staff). LOL – remind me to tell you about that (it’s linked to the crying thing).

SO. Having given much thought to this, and also having sat through numerous sessions with teachers where they attempt to teach you how to write and then achieve targets, I think I have the answer. See, in t’ oolden dees (that was supposed to be a Somerset accent) of school, whenever we got a school report (every other term) we had to make up three targets we wanted to achieve, based upon things written in our report. I think there was a catchy little mnemonic which the school made up which was something like “TOAST” but I never cared enough to remember it and spent the time whining and grumbling my way through the session because I thought it was completely pointless because I didn’t actually want to do any of the things like “work harder” or “write longer essays” or “spend a proper amount of time on homework” so it didn’t matter whether I was writing them down or not, I still wasn’t going to do them!

Note: according to my school, those are not proper targets. They have to be achievable, measurable (OMG I REMEMBER, IT WAS “SMART”) and… lots of other things. So a proper target would be “read over my Chemistry notes for 10 minutes prior to starting all Chemistry homework” or something like that. Although I bet that wouldn’t be right in some way.

ANYWAY, I suppose some fragments of usefulness have rubbed off during those sessions of coercing the teacher to make the targets up for me and then making her believe I’d thought of them myself, since this year, my resolutions will be MEASURABLE. And ACHIEVABLE. And… well, whatever the rest of the words were. In other words, I need to tell myself how exactly I am going to go about fulfilling my resolutions, because OKAY, I ACCEPT “get all As this year” isn’t a very good resolution/target.

Personal

• Exercise more. This means every week. Being in the final year of school has its advantages, and not being forced to sit through hours of tedious and strenuous PE lessons by butch women are one of them. However, I’ve got to that point where I actually feel like I need to go jogging or something, which is fairly shocking for me, because I HATE EXERCISE. Therefore, for the rest of this year I am intending to drag Becca along to the gym for at least and hour every week. This will probably be done every Wednesday during our 2 hour morning free. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, BECCA. I’ll figure something out for when I leave school.
• Lose weight. Hopefully this will be linked to the above, since I love my food way too much to think about dieting, even when it’s linked to SUPER IMPORTANT resolutions which I WILL complete. I don’t want to go crazy or anything so I’ve worked out where I’d like to get to based on my height and other important things. I should probably also mention that despite having eaten a repulsive amount over the festive period and wanting to get the perfect beach body, this is mainly driven by health-related concerns. Unfortunately, should this succeed then my mother will be able to rope me into doing all these things I don’t actually want to do anyway without feeling guilty… but I’m hoping that the whole beach body thing will make up for it
• Actually pass my driving test. I really, really REALLY want to be able to drive before I go to Uni otherwise… well, I’ll just never get it done, and I’ll be one of those dreadful women who walk everywhere or have to get their family to drive them places (not really).  However, this will require me re-learning since I’ve pretty much forgotten the very little my old instructor actually taught me. Hopefully I can do that in the ~2 months I’ll have free this summer.
• Be nice to people. This is a bit of a crap one because it’s not really quantifiable in any way, but there are some situations where insults just fall out of my mouth and it has to stop! Thankfully they’re only situations where the people in question know I like them really… but other people don’t know and I don’t want them thinking I’m a horrible person! Ahh, I’m so shallow.
• Don’t spend the summer bumming about in front of the laptop. This will be one of my longest, work-free summers until I retire (maybe) so I really need to get my ass into gear and do something about it, otherwise I will inevitably spend the whole time talking to all the other bums who don’t have enough of a social life to spend the summer off the internet. To do this, I need to compile a list of at least 20 books I’ve not read yet (I read fast) and then actually read them over the summer, AND organise various trips out and such with my friends (all to be coordinated around my driving lessons in order that I will pass AND allowing some time for me to socialise online AND comment on new people’s blogs). Life gets complicated.
• Finish novel. Like I’ve said before, I refuse to start on any of my other awesome ideas until I’ve finished this one(s). If I can manage 25,000 words over about 6 months, then I can get to however-many-words-it-will-take-to-finish-this-darn-thing in the next year, right? Of course right.

Academic

• Do my best in my exams. Ultimately getting all As, or AAB which is what I need for Uni, is not within my control since I’m not the marker/moderator, and I know all too well about coursework being moderated down. All I can try to do is my best, and then if I don’t make it, I know it’s not right for me (inspirational words (c) music teacher). However, doing my best means working and revising properly, and as much as I can without overworking myself.
• Actually read that darn book. I can’t remember the name of it, but I tracked down the only copy I could find on the internet upon the recommendation of one of my music teachers, and because I thought it sounded interesting. It’s an academic book, but not something I need to read for my course – however I WANT to read it… I’m just slightly put off by the nerdiness of the fact that I’m reading around my subject when I don’t actually have any more interviews. I know, I’m lame.

Online

• Comment on a blog I’ve not commented on before once a week. For the eloquently put reasons Adam gave. I also want to look into doing a similar sort of thing to Aisling, who’s had a brilliant idea about sharing places where she’s commented via Twitter. In any case, I can certainly stalk where she’s been in order to find new blogs.

So there you go, the obligatory 2010 resolutions post! (Sorry Rose, I had to ) Nine resolutions which are almost exactly the same as everyone else’s, but which I am determined to keep. DETERMINED, I SAY.

Well, making an improvement on last year’s one would also be progress.

Tags: blogs, exams, resolutions, school, summer, symphonic, this year, university, work