Five for Friday no. 50

In honour of the New Year, some famous resolution lists.

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New Years Eve 2012

NYE is over rated. Let's just all admit that and get on with things. I love the reason for celebrating because it is so universal and uncontroversial. I wish NYE was the best night of the year. But it just isn't.

Which is why, to mark the passing of 2012, Jane and I decided that what we really wanted to do was eat, drink and be merry in good company and that's All. For a while it was just the two of us, but as it turned out we had quite a few friends at a loss for something to do. In the end, 13 NYE orphans gathered at my apartment for an end of year feast.

 Taking up every available square inch of bench space to prepare.

 Before dinner, we made all our guests sit down to watch 'Dinner For One', a German NYE tradition.

If you haven't seen it, you're missing out on one of life's simple pleasures.

 Friends up from Melbourne. 

I've never cooked for 13 before and I was worried I'd under-catered. In fact, I had a whole extra dish that I didn't complete because it required filo pastry and I forgot to read the damn instructions (you have to take filo out of the freezer a day early and prepare it, etc. blah blah). I went a bit nuts on using recipes I've never tried before from recipes books I got for Christmas, but I think it's fun to discover new favourites. Fortunately, there was plenty of food and no complaints about the cuisine.

 Waiting for the cook.

Tucking in. It looked better than this photo, honestly. 

As always, resolutions came up in conversation. None of us had made any and were generally not keen to commit ourselves. Personally, I think resolutions work best if you have a plan for how to keep them. I have a lot of goals for 2013 but no real 'resolutions'. The best suggested resolution for the night, and which I think I might adopt was 'Get my shit together'. Simple, effective.

One project for the year I have decided to take up is based on an idea I read about that seemed appropriate for me. I had a rough 2012, not a lot of good stuff seemed to happen and it was generally very draining. So my project for 2013 is to write down in a little notebook whenever anything positive occurs and then at the end of the year I can read all the good things that happened to me and remind myself that life is great. They don't have to be big happenings. For instance, in there at the moment is a really sweet compliment someone paid me and a reminder of a glorious day I spent at the beach. Life has few big happy moment but lots of little happy moments and they are just as important to remember. 

My notebook.

 Happy New Year Everyone!

New Years Eve

NYE is one of those strange holidays that we're supposed to really enjoy but which so often degenerates into a disappointing drunken sprawl or else a struggle to stay awake until midnight.

I am now in favour of quiet NYE. My ideal night would be dinner, wine and conversation until midnight with about 6 or 7 other people. Next best thing, last night I was at a delightful quiet party at a friends' place by the river. There was an outdoor esky made of recycled flood sandbags, a BBQ, sparklers and loud arguments about the sex appeal of current international heads of state.

Happy New Year everyone!

New Year resolutions: the 2012 edition

Photo courtesy of moshpitson.

I think the problem with most 'resolutions' is that people set themselves challenges or targets they cannot possible hope to achieve. They plan to go to the gym every day, loose 15kgs, sew a new dress a week; start with mad enthusiasm in January but in the long term, simply cannot balance out the demands of their 'resolutions' with the demands of their daily lives.

The best resolution I ever made was to learn to like the foods I didn't like. What makes this resolution good is that it requires progresive year-long dedication and minimal effort, making it relatively easy to keep. Don't like olives? Be sure to order pizzas with olives until you like the flavour. Simple. It worked a treat and with the exception of capsicum, I succeeded in changing my taste buds by years' end.

For the last few years I haven't made resolutions so much as goals for the year. They're less specific than resolutions and are more of a guide for positive personal change. For instance, last year I wanted to do at least 2 hours of exercise a week and have at least 3 alcohol free days a week. This year I have the same goals and also some projects that I want to do, complete with plans and time lines. Oh yeah, organisation.

So the back pages of my diary look something like this:

Projects

• Improve my German language skills.
• Re-learn how to sew and have made at least one dress by the end of the year.
• Finish off my Vietnam diary, complete with photos.
• Undertake a selection of DIY projects.
  
• Forward plan my life for 2013-2014.

Goals

• At least 2 hours proper exercise per week and get fit.
  
• At least 3 alcohol-free days a week.
• Save money. I do have a specific amount, I just ain't putting it here.
• Keep a written and financial diary every day.
• Keep at least some of my herbs alive for the whole year.
  
• Consider doing a detox of some sort. (Clearly I can't commit to this just yet)

This is quite a lot to do, so I have made a New Years Resolution:

Be more proactive!

A Pair and a Spare have an awesome blog post about making and keeping new years resolutions.