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Old Year’s Resolutions

Helen — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 07:24:16 +0000

[2007] [2008] [2009]

For the fourth year running, behold my list of retroactive resolutions for 2010!

Refrain from triggering apocalypse.

Acquire chickens.

Become a better photographer.

Run a half-marathon.

Complete a 60km bicycle ride.

Make more genuine friends at work.

Visit Penguin Island.

Visit Rottnest Island.

Become more assertive & confident about my needs, wants & boundaries.

Make time to enjoy gaming again.

Compete in a short-course triathlon.

Do things outdoors. Go camping. Go hiking. Go snorkeling. Go fishing. Go geocaching.

Feed a chameleon.

Compete in a 24 hour rogaine race.

Sail a mini-catamaran on the river.

Become a UK citizen.

Learn to celebrate and embrace introversion.

Find a good psychiatrist & work on treatment options.

Survive working on those treatment options.

Go flying in a two-seater plane while said plane does aerobatics.

Begin learning about shibari, in practice & in theory.

Gleefully paint & draw on willing victims.

Complete my Chartered Accountancy qualification.

Cement & grow friendships of intimacy, trust & support.

Get a cleaner once a fortnight & learn to stop feeling guilty about it.

Reconsider my diet to minimise farmed and/or unsustainable meat.

Make more art; sell some of it.

Improve & expand my DIY skills.

Learn to be more comfortable in my own body.

Give away more things.

Be an election enthusiast & electoral education activist.

Nurture, support & engage with my strange little city.

Become a better cook.

Make some fantastic & interesting new friends.

Become less tolerant where tolerance is not warranted, and more where it is.

Learn about negotiating relationships with love, communication & integrity.

Start working on a collaborative short film.

Be more honest.

Spread more love, more of the time.

Swooping & Diving

Helen — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:37:49 +0000

This year, none of my half-drafted text posts have yet come to anything, but I’ll have you know that they’re sitting there in the dusty attic of a hard drive, waiting to be unleashed.

In the meantime, I’ve posted some more birdwatching photos to Flickr, including the Welcome Swallows pictured above. Wings are exciting; I’m having fun times (and sometimes frustrating times) learning to photograph wings.

My excuse for not having written anything of substance – one of my excuses, anyway – is that I’m buried not only under unpleasant work (Large Accounting Firm has jumped the shark, it really has) but under an avalanche of side projects.

Some of the side projects include doing a triathlon, getting my diving certification, building a barrel garden, harvesting the local laneway/vergeside fruit, looking for a new job, soaking up as much of the summer cricket as possible, and two secret things. One secret thing is is about tentacles, the other is about maps.

Somehow I think spending time at the beach needs to be on the projects list, but isn’t. It strikes me that this is a terrible oversight.

Old Year’s Resolutions

Helen — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 04:17:18 +0000

[2007] [2008]

In the grand tradition of previous years, behold my list of retroactive resolutions for 2009!

Refrain from triggering apocalypse.

Spend more time involved in activism of various flavours.

Find and buy myself a house.

Consume less, recycle, gift away and reuse more.

Compost.

Watch far, far less television.

Help a dear friend give birth.

Learn even more about being self-sufficient on a bicycle.

Become fitter – run, bicycle, roller skate, box, walk and lift free weights.

Plant a vegetable garden.

Begin to learn to ask for help.

Make a large number of new (and lovely) friends.

Read about non-violent and more effective communication.

Retain a job throughout the GFC.

Draw more, and for more collaborative projects.

Improve my ability to set boundaries and ask for space.

Learn about the care and keeping of rabbits.

Work on and further improve my photography skills.

Attend Quaker Meeting with interest and open-mindedness.

Sit on and actively participate in a committee for Perth’s future development.

Be honest and forthright regarding my philosophy and thoughts on life, the universe and everything, and learn to be more open when talking about these things with others.

Learn to joyfully be in love without expectation, possibility or reciprocation.

Learn to wait patiently, when being impatient will not help.

Learn to love and accept my analytical and rational leanings (they that have me saying things that often attract a ‘wow, that’s cold‘ response) as fundamental and functional parts of my character, not as defects.

Do many, many things that terrify me.

Spread more love, more of the time.