Before you panic and start thinking my blog has been hacked into or I’ve been lying all along about my nationality: neither has happened. Yes the title of this blog post is not in English. Keen eye. Ah, but do you know what it is written in?
Well I’ll tell ya. The clue lies within today. It’s the Chinese New Year! And the title of this blog post simply says ‘Happy New Year’. I think. So yes, happy New Year to you!
…
‘Um… I thought New Year’s was January 1st,’ you whisper quietly, so as to not disturb or offend my seemingly insane thoughts.
Yes that’s quite right but for me January 1st is no day to set as an example for the rest of the year. Oh no. You see because I do happen to get rather drunk on alcohol the day before, so Jan 1st is a sleep/rest/peaceful day. Not one for looking wistfully into the future and being proactive. And all that joy.
So, a first for me, I’m ‘choosing’ (if I can indeed do such a thing) is to count my New Year’s as today. That way I’m not sleeping off alcohol and I’ve had a good 4 weeks to actually think about the year ahead. Sounds good to me!
If you are wondering why I chose the Chinese New Year, rather simply I love all things Chinese. I hope to learn Mandarin when I can find the time and I want to spend a good deal of time visiting China. Cool beans.
Righty so let’s get to it. My main ideas/thoughts/goals for the year of the ox are (in no particular order):
- Put hell of a lot more effort into maintaining this site/blogging. It is something I actually enjoy, yet fail to put time into! Due to less time spent in front of a computer these days, I’m experimenting into others ways of blogging (i.e. via my mobile phone).
- Get damn well better at staying in contact with everyone. This includes my immediate family, my distant family. My immediate friends, my distant friends. Offline friends, online friends. And rather oddly, myself! I do this via writing in my journal with a good ol’ pen. I’ve not done it for a good few months and I should really do it every day!
- Get clear with myself just what the hell I’m doing with my time and essentially my life! It sounds deep, I guess it is. Towards the end of 2008 I realised my life is my own. So I want to start making decisions for myself and not other people and their own goals. With this I need to sort out what I want to be doing with my life!
- Read more. I was such a bookworm for so many years (if not the majority of my life) but the past three years has seen the time I spend reading dramatically decline. I’m not sure why, but I do miss it so I want to bring the comfort of a good smelling book back to my mornings.
- Save money. Simple. Put money into my savings account rather than letting it sit in my main account just waiting to be spent.
- Eat better. Mainly, less fat. I’m not trying to be a health nut but I want to eat just a little bit more consciously towards what I’m putting into my body. I’ve found a great tasting and healthy food in (fruity, not nutty) muesli. I know, I’m shocked too but it’s actually really good!
- Do more exercise. Really. During the summer I was pretty good but since then my exercise routine has quite literally diminished. But I like exercising. It feels gooood. Honestly! (And I have a little spare weight I’d like to shuffle).
Hmm beyond that I don’t think there’s much more I’m working towards this year. That I’ve thought about yet anyway! Some things are standard, others are… not so standard… *laughs*
Anyway, there is no point dragging this post out so I’ll leave you with that.
Happy Chinese New Year! Feel free to share your own goals for 2009. 
Welcome back! The internet missed you.
V xx
Vixxs last blog post..The Day I Was Home
Happy Chinese (Lunar) New Year to you!
Chinese New Year is a different feeling time of the year than 1 January…maybe it’s a better time to keep your resolutions? I hope so! Good luck with your resolutions and have a wonderful 2009!
I recognized the character for year. 年 Haha, yay for learning a few Chinese characters! (I should know more, trying to learn Japanese, but eh, what can you do…)
@ Vixx
Hehe, thanks! I’ve missed the internet. What can I say, life has been… hectic?! As always it seems.
I will email you very soon!
@ Mari
Thank you! I hadn’t been sure whether to call it Chinese Lunar New Year or not – I thought maybe it was a term used primarily by Chinese. (Don’t ask me why I thought that!).
Wow! Well you know more than I do! Crikey, it must be hard to try to recognise Chinese whilst learning Japanese?! How’s that going anyway?
happy chinese new year. are you aussie?
I’ve never really committed myself to a New Years resolution, but I definitely wish you luck with yours.
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Happy Belated Chinese New Years! I’m not too keen on coming up with resolutions, but I do hope to read more non-academic related books! Professional magazines and Psych journals are slowly draining my will to read XP
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@ Robmarie
Resolutions aren’t exactly my type of thing either, but I thought it was worthwhile to have some goals in mind for the year.
Professional magazines and Psych journals sound like a very cruel punishment! My only excuse for not reading more is ‘lack’ of time. Which in reality is just poor time management!
I hope you manage to read more non-academic books.
Chinese new year celebrations are amazing! I have a friend who is Chinese and she told me all about the little festivities that they have >.< Neat! I wish you best of luck on your goals this year
I’ve tried making resolutions, but they usually don’t work for me. But good luck with yours! By the way that’s awesome that you listen to spineshank, I’ve never met anyone that listens to them. Talk to you later
I’ve never made any resolutions for years. I just believe in doing what you have to at your own pace.
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Yeah sure, try Silent Civilian (same singer as Spineshank), Ill Nino, Mudvayne, Slipknot, Stone Sour (same singer aas Slipknot). Let me know if you liked any of them.
@ Mara
I would have loved to have done some actual Chinese celebrations but my deciding to celebrate the New Year was all a bit last minute. Sort of! Anyway, I’m sure it would have taken a lot of effort to pull off!
@ Jay
I used to listen to Spineshank years ago and have only just started listening to them again – they are so good! Care to recommend anyone similar or any other bands I might like?
@ Dre
I agree with ‘doing what you have to at your own pace’ completely, but for me at least this year I feel I might benefit from having some goals in my mind to achieve. That way I am more likely to put effort into working towards them!
The resolutions I’ve made are ones I believe fit to my own pace within this year. If that makes sense? *laughs*
I have never really thought about choosing another new year other than 1st Jan. I don’t know many chinese people, I have no great interest in China, I find the writing/symbols interesting, but that is about it. So I have never celebrated Chinese New Year.
Happy new year to you too! I was telling people happy new year and they were like “you’re a couple weeks late!” haha. I was just like the lunar year just started!
Lunar new year is the one we celebrate in our house, much fun! More fun, I think, than the traditional Western calendar’s NY, don’t you? Gong xi fa cai, xin nian kuai le!
Faiths last blog post..The Extinction of RiotGirrls
@ Jay
Thanks!
I will give Silent Civilian a go – hadn’t realised Spineshank were over! Ill Nino I again used to listen to and will get back into listening again. Same goes for Slipknot and Stone Sour.
I only used to like the early stuff of Slipknot’s though. I’ve seen Stone Sour at a festival and I was so surprised with how good they were/are!
Although I’ve heard of Mudvayne I don’t think I’ve ever listened to them so I’ll try them!
@ Faith
The Lunar New Year is definitely more fun! I think I’m going to try celebrating it next year with a bit more of a bang!
Do you do anything in particular in your house towards it? Do you know quite a bit of Chinese – or should I say Mandarin?
Oh hell no, I basically know that phrase and that’s about it, lol. A little (and I mean little) bit of basic Japanese, though, but I haven’t bitten into that language yet.
Well we celebrate Lunar new year, so it’s only technically Chinese New Year (all various polytheists in my family and our pantheons just happen to intersect for lunar holidays, lol), but we do pay attention to Tsao Chun, play with *ahem* sparklers since this town’s firework’s policy seems to be “It’s legal if you’re a drunken redneck, all others pay cash.”.
Most of our celebrations are geared towards Odin and Loki (blots, etc.), trapping of luck, shedding the old year and tribute to our Ancestors – polypantheonic heathens are just a muddle of weirdness, lol. I just find the more ruckus holidays to be more joyful.
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Ooh, Despair’s sent me back. Hmmm. Maybe the got the idea that I missed you? *bats eyelashes* Okay, that was weird, but I’m very sleepy lol.
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@ Faith
Lol, you didn’t have to comment again!
I am finding it more common now myself to be sent to comment on the same sites from Despair. I think it’s because there’s only what… 100 members active now? Hmm. Odd.
Hope you managed to get some sleep.
Luckily, jan 1st was a sleepy day for me too
managed to sleep from 3 till 2 mwahahah.
I can totally agree with the comments thing – I got the same site two mails in a row. I won’t be suprised if soon I get the same site twice in my email.
Good luck with your goals! I’ve also had a terrible decline with the amount of books I’ve read. I hope you find a good book to read.
I hope you eventually learn how to learn Mandarin. I heard it was difficult but if you have the will to learn, I’m sure it will be easier.
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Happy belated Chinese New Year. I hope you are able to complete all of your resolutions!
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Happy Chinese New Year to you too!
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For new years, I made a goal to exercise for at least 3 days a week. It’s been 3 months since new years and I haven’t gone once. Good luck with your resolutions!
I hope you are able to keep your goals alive! I just stopped making resolutions, because I never stick to them.
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Good luck with keeping your resolutions! I don’t have any… whenever I make them I never keep them anyways.
Andreas last blog post..They say the Nile used to run from east to west
Yay Chinese New Year =) I hope that you can stick to your resolutions better than me. I fear that I’ve already broken quite a few of them haha, including the eating better one. I swear that’s one resolution I’ll never be able to keep.
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Doing more exercise, or any exercise for that matter, would be number one on my list. If I had one. Haha I try to avoid failure
Happy Chinese New Year! Ps You need to update your blog
@ Kayla
Blog is updated.