New Year’s Resolutions for 2011

Last year I hit 50% on my resolutions, which isn’t too bad, but I’d like to hit some of those more difficult ones this time around.

 

1. Be more social – This was a win last year, but there’s still work to be done here. I don’t really mean work. I mean more fun to be had. I’ve had a great time getting to know more people.

2. Lose weight/ be more fit – Not a great year last year for this. Getting a car hasn’t helped with this as I now drive to work where previously I walked several miles a day. I must get into the gym at least three times a week and get fitter. Age 40 loometh.

3. Write more each week – Last year I aimed for the Moon and didn’t reach it. This year I only aim to write a couple of times a week. If I can manage that then the habit will grow and the act of writing will come easier.

4. Get a qualification – Whether this be a CCNA or an MCSE, it doesn’t matter. I want some letters after my name. This is now more possible as I have some extra help.

5. Don’t eat cheese – I really like cheese, but I shouldn’t have it. Too much fat and salt. Not good for my heart. I need to be around for another 30+ years.

6. Read 24 books – I have to put an easy one on here. This one I should knock out of the park. I’ll take a victory lap right now. Yay for me!

7. See more of Britain – I’ve been here for nearly a decade now and I haven’t seen much of this wonderful country. I want to see Scotland, the museums of London or the Lake District. I have a car now, so this should be easier.

8. Do more gaming – Role-playing or boardgaming is something I really enjoy. I need to get back to it after years of time off. Roll them bones!

9. Write on my blog more – I’d like to have a journal/record of what I get up to/think and this is the place I should do it in.

 

If I aim for half of these again, then that’s 4.5. But if I don’t get there then I won’t be too bothered. Resolutions are just a way of ordering your goals for the year.

Last Year’s New Year’s Resolutions

It’s time to mull over how I did with my list of last year before I publish my sparkling new list:

1. Lose weight – I didn’t finish the year a stone lighter like I wanted to, but before the Christmas season hit, I had lost three pounds. Bleh.

Result – FAIL

2. Write my Masterpiece – I wrote like 4000 words this year. That’s 4% of a novel. So, two down and two failures.

Result – FAIL

3. Get a Car – I passed my test, got a car and we drive all over the place now, including up to York for some Boxing Day fun. Yay!

Result – SUCCESS

4. Pass my CCNA – This was not entirely in my hands as I got uber-busy at work. This year should see me with more time to learn and grow our technology.

Result – FAIL

5. Read at least 24 books – This wasn’t a problem. I love reading and squeeze it in whenever I can.

Result – SUCCESS

6. Earn my MCSE – This just wasn’t going to happen for all the CCNA reasons.

Result – FAIL

7. Teach G more things – I did teach G more things, but mostly about board games and unrelated sciency type stuff.

Result – SUCCESS

8. Be more social – I did socialise more this year and in the future this will get even better. Maybe even get a regular board game night going and a movie night as well.

Result – SUCCESS

 

Four successes here and that’s not bad as rarely are resolutions easy to do in the first place. I look for this success rate to go up in the New Year.

Waiting

We live in a society that rewards impatience and instant gratification, if I can drag out a much-used term. I’ve been as guilty of this as anyone in the past. I come from America, after all, and in the good old US of A, nearly everything is expressed in a purchase no matter what the occasion. That last just slipped out. Everything must be now or sooner. There is no waiting. If you can’t afford it now, then borrow money to afford it now or steal to have it now. These are all symptoms of the same thing. The delight is in the purchase now and not in the anticipation of the gift. In our youth, this was the other way around. We were invigorated by the excitement of waiting, the delicious expectation. Whether or not such joy should be felt for purely material things, is another kettle of fish that I won’t go into here.

The run up to Christmas was wondrous in our imaginations, the gifts and goodies imagined and the friends to share them with. We had no control over what was purchased and when. We had to wait until Christmas Day. There was no cheating and opening it earlier (in most cases). When you’re grown up, you can buy these things for yourself whenever you want. In fact, a lot of the time you buy them exactly when you want. Not counting big items like car/house. There’s no waiting. Almost no real desire for the item.

I decided to do a bit of an experiment. There was an item that I wanted and had for quite a while. I was certainly able to buy it now (on credit) and have it delivered to me within a day of purchase to use. Instead I chose to wait to buy it for a week and then wrap it up and put it under the tree, waiting another week to open it on Christmas Day. As you know, it isn’t Christmas Day yet and the excitement is there. The little gleeful feeling inside.  The many web articles I’ve read about it. And this is something I chose, which makes it somehow different, something more grown up even.

There are many reasons that I look forward to Christmas with bated breath; the look on G’s eyes when he opens his presents, the lovely food and drink that is shared by my loved ones, and the company of that family. But in a small way, the emotions of the day will be sweetened by desire.

Christmas menu

I’m a man and if there’s one thing that men like to do it’s make lists. You may have noticed my obsessive lists of books that I have read, am reading and will read in the future. I think I’m rehabilitated enough not to bore everyone with those lists any more. However, I’ve channelled my list-making urges into something far more constructive. I make weekly menus for our meals and translate those lists of meals into even longer lists of shopping, which I then go to Sainsbury’s and purchase (while listening to Tito and Tarantula, of course)

As I’ve been the one choosing the meals, I couldn’t really complain about them without seeming completely mental. This has pleased NE to no end as she’d had enough of my bellyaching. Any increase in harmony in the household benefits all.

So, when it came to thinking about the Christmas Eve/Day and Boxing Day meals. It was only natural that I make a list, then more lists from those lists and possibly lists from those lists of lists. In the past we’ve just winged it, you see, and what that’s led to was a huge over-buying of food and then a huge over-eating of food. This year we’re going for the surgical strike, the laser-guided bomb of cuisine. Only the food we love made with the best ingredients that we can reasonably find. Limit the leftovers.

This we will do the  following:

(LIST!!)

1. One meat for Christmas – a turkey in our case

2. No Christmas cake! We had a talk and realised that none of us even liked it. We’d made it for everyone else.

3. Go to Sister-In-Law’s for Boxing Day – Great company and cocktails!

4. Figgy pudding! And not some bitter/twisted Christmas pudding.

5. No sage in the stuffing. Having lived in the land of Sage for a great number of years, I loathe the stuff. We’re having chestnut stuffing instead. Delicious.

6. Kenyan AA coffee served with cream and/or Baileys – Best coffee in the world.

7. One kind of potatoes! That’s mashed potatoes with cheese and not roasties this year. Next year, who knows…

8. When cooking Christmas dinner… be a little tipsy.

Oh my aching back

I wrenched my knee yesterday going down the stairs. I have a history of bad knees going back to my days when I used to do pitching as in American baseball. I think I bruised a few of my tender tendons and it hurt when I moved it laterally. Not good news as I had to go into work  on Friday night. I tried not to limp too much.

I went into work to rearrange our server cabinet… I won’t go on about that as it’s boring techie talk that not even I am that interested in going on about. Rest assured there were lots of crouching and knee abused that had me literally screaming in protest. Luckily I couldn’t hear myself as the music was blasting out. There was also a large amount of bending over. My back ached well into the next day.

Ahhhhhhh, Saturday. A lovely day to rest all the aches and pains of the night before… or not! NE and I had volunteered to clear the Church car park and bright and early we found ourselves in said car park with a pair of shovels and a monumental task ahead of us. Luckily we were joined by our friend J who had brought another shovel and a huge iron pry bar to shatter the solid ice coating the tarmac. A few hours later and we’d cleared the pavements and a path down the centre of the car park, which was pretty good going for the three of us. Needless to say my back was killing me!

At least I didn’t slip and further injure my kneee!

Many Book Misses

NE has always been worried about the amount of shelf space that my unread books take up. And she has a point, but only up to a point. She thinks that I’ll read all of these books and that in the process they’ll be on that shelf for years. I tend to get new books on my Birthday and Christmas, but used books at all other times. Library booksales are awesome! This week I needed a new book to read and I attempted a few. Here’s a list of the books that I read 30-40 pages of and decided it wasn’t for me:

1. V by Thomas Pynchon – The writing in this was good, but it was listless and lacked direction. I think I’ll give this author a miss.

2. The Sad Tale of The Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington – Didn’t like the “protagonists” in this one. Not only were they evil and brutal, but they were stupid as well.

3. River Of The Gods by Ian MacDonald – Writing here seemed decent again, but something about MacDonald’s writing is too cold and doesn’t engage me. I’ve tried before and he doesn’t grab me. So, another author to steer clear of.

4. Peshawar Lancers by S. M. Stirling – Not what I wanted right now. I’m not ditching it like the others, but it’s a miss for now.

The sad litany of rejected books. But it has cleared shelf space!

In the meantime I finished:

13. History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr – Excellent primer on what’s happened in the last 55 years. As a Johnny Foreigner I needed to bone up.

Currently reading:

Time traveller’s Guide To Medieval England – Still good, but I’ve been in a fiction mood lately so this has been sidelined for a while.

Last Call by Tim Powers – One of my favourite books of all time. I was a little frightened going back to it after so many years, but it is awesome. So much flavour.

I’m looking for another book to read on audio book. Don’t know right now.

Book Update

Just a quick update about the books I’ve been reading lately.

10. Dune by Frank Herbert – Brilliant. Loved every minute of it.

11. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre – Tough going. A bit too many examples, but it confirmed my worst fears about the tainted nature of modern scientific research.

12. The Great Divorce by CS Lewis – A stunning little gem. Full of evocative language and poignant characters.

Currently reading:

V by Thomas Pynchon – Don’t know for how much longer. I’m hoping that something actually happens in the book.

Time traveller’s Guide To Medieval England – Brilliant so far.

History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr – This on Mp3. Been very enlightening about the development of my adopted country.

Small Update

I haven’t been posting here very much, but life has been going on. And to be fair to WordPress, I haven’t been posting on Facebook much either. I don’t really find myself at a PC where I have time for posting that often. Didn’t do very much this past weekend as G played out most of the time. Seven hours a day because the weather was brilliant. Perfect days to sit in the living room and watch some cricket on the telly.

Books I’ve read:

7. The Wasp Factory by Iain M. Banks – Not nearly as good as I remembered. I wasn’t fooled by the “Twist” the first time and I knew it this time. Not ever again. This is a giver.

8. The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie – Good, solid fantasy; nothing spectacular, but enjoyable

9. Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett – Listened to this on audio book and it was a good, light fantasy. We live in the era of the non-humorous Terry Pratchett. He used to be funny and a bit cutting, but now he is the establishment. Enjoyable in any case.

Reading: Dune by Frank Herbert. Only 20-30 pages in, but it has me riveted again. Such wonderful mix of Sci Fi and mysticism.

G’s Birthday

Wednesday was G’s Birthday and it started off with opening of some gifts from Grandma and GP as well as some from his parents. There had a to be a bit of a talk about how it wasn’t all about the presents, but on the whole he’s a good lad. I made pancakes for G and I as NE is currently off the sugar for Lent. I didn’t eat mine right away as I have a 35-40 minute walk to work and it makes me nauseated to have eaten beforehand. They were big, fluffy American pancakes and G had Nutella on them, which is a chocolate hazelnut spread. Delicious!

For the evening, G got to choose whatever takeaway meal that he wanted and that meant FISH and CHIPS. Now, we’ve been having fish and chips at least once a week for the past few months and my taste for it has waned… So, I got a doner kebab and we shared fish and kebab around and all was well. We rounded off the evening with Takeshi’s Castle and then a good long read from his brand new copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Twas a good day.

Inexplicable Leg Pain

Some time on Sunday I had a tight twinge of pain from my right leg that was horribly painful, but then it went away for a day. On my way  home , it came back with a vengeance! I didn’t know whether or not I would be able to get home. I was near home and I felt silly calling a taxi for a two minute drive and £5. So, I toughed it out and made it home in a bit of agony.

NE was worried it was a blood clot, but for a change I wasn’t worried about something serious. It felt tight, like a muscle had just seized up. Upstairs, I stretched my leg out while G was having a bath. And yes it was quite painful, but the tightness eased and it was just sore. Hopefully it will sort itself out within the next couple of days.

During the past few weeks, G and I have used a program that allows you to design your own Magic cards. So we’ve been doing that and putting together a set. He’s had some great ideas for cards. Some were even balanced. My main job was balancing the cards. Anyway, I finished off the set as his patience with it had begun to wane. To cut a long story shorter, I spent Friday night finding pictures for 145 cards, then printing 10 booster packs worth; 9 cards to a sheet of printer paper and 150 cards in all! Then I spent a couple of hours cutting them out and putting them in envelopes to simulate the packs of cards you buy in a shop. All worth it.

On Saturday, we got into town about 8:15 and were delighted to find that Costa Coffee was already open! It opens at 8 and G loves a good coffee shop as much as NE and I do! I had a latte and he had a fresh juice. He had a rocky road muffin where I had a biscotti. Of course, G loves dipping biscuits in coffee and this biscotti was no exception to the rule. So, he had half of that as well. IT was a swap, though because he didn’t want to eat the bottom half of his muffin. I got that. While we were waiting, I busted out my homemade packs of cards from our homemade set. He loved it just as much if not more than opening the real packs. On the spot, I put some of the cards in his favourite deck and he was away.

We moved on the opticians as I had a contact lens checkup to attend and while we were there, I arranged for his first appointment as well. I took him by our local card shop to look and see if they had anything new. He really wanted some packs of Zendikar, which they had in, but I told him we couldn’t get him any today. I played it up as a real shame…

Next stop was our old favourite. The cafe at our local museum, which does fresh and low-cost food. Grandma had bought him some Magic cards for his birthday (which isn’t actually until Wednesday), including 4 packs of Zendikar! So, he was quite pleased and I got it all on video. We made decks and played the rest of the day. Brill!

5. The Black Company by Glen Cook – Very good book. Better than I remember, really. A keeper.

6. Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie – Entertaining and decent fantasy book. I’ve got the third one and I’m going to read it, which is more than I can say for Patrick Rothfuss’s series. NE read it up until the point where I told her it didn’t get any better and she tossed it.

Currently Reading: The Wasp Factory by Iain M. Banks – I remembered liking this quite a bit, but it’s not nearly as good the second time round. This one’s for the bin methinks.