eight resolutions

i find recently that i'm living in a perpetual scrubs-realisation moment. like how at the end of the episode there's this crystallising moment of realisation that brings everything to light and changes the viewer's perspective.

except i'm the viewer and i'm not so much viewing as living.

i'd probably attribute this increase in soul-searching / reflection to the new year, but it's probably because after the frenzy of events straight after exams, and the month of full on work, i haven't had much time to myself.

and now that my work hours have cut back after the crazy retail season, i can sit back and think about how and why 2008 went the way it did.

so here are my eight "resolutions".

1. water

i wanna up my water intake to the healthy, recommended 2L<>

i suppose the only thing stopping me right now is the fact that the only bottles i have are old mt franklin bottles that've been left in my car.... and the plastic's been melting into them.

gross.

2. bible

i need to get into the bible more this year. i learnt a lot more about reading this year and it's really helped having verses in mind in times of struggle.

a friend of mine said to me that life is all about a balance of grace and truth.

essentially we're living by grace, because Christ died for us, but its part of the process of maturity that we start to seek out the truth for ourselves.

3. study

like every semester, i've resolved to start studying earlier. to be fair i did improve on my first semester performance this year, and i was definitely more organised than my engineering degree, but there's still a long way to go.

tangibly, i wanna have lecture notes printed out at least 3 days in advance, and to start using a file again.

i'm not sure why i snobbed it off in uni for that plastic box, it just seems to make more sense again.

4. cooking

this year i wanna cook a little more, maybe get into the habit of packing lunch twice a week. i also wanna learn a few of my mum's signature dishes so i can continue the legacy. i've baked a fair bit but i guess learning to cook would be more convenient and less time-consuming.

remembering what i said last year, it's best to quantify these resolutions, so i'll learn to cook 8 dishes.

bringing packed lunch would also smile at my wallet and savings account.

5. finances

i did pretty poorly in terms of my savings last year, but i suppose most of the things i bought were "investments". furniture for the upstairs area, a new digital camera, an upgrade to my macbook and various items of clothing.

i know that various items of clothing sounds like a cop-out "investment", but a lot of the stuff i have i can use as the years go by... lets start that again. i've been buying more business shirts, which will be awesome to wear to GP visits / hospital placements in the future.

this year i'm looking to save as much as I can, to limit my unnecessary spending and finally get a weekly budget happening.

although, before i can budget i've sort of gotta track my expenditure for a bit first.

oh, and i've applied for a scholarship, so hopefully getting that would ease some financial burden.

6. relationships

i've decided to cut back on online time (ironically with a huge post), and try to get some more real face-to-face time in. there's just no replacement for physically spending time with people, and the internet is such a sterile medium of interaction.

it's like msn is the bare minimum / worst-case-scenario form of communication and we've taken it and turned it into something more than it should be.

i also wanna set apart more time for the most important relationship, time with God. there's nothing to be lost and everything to be gained by spending more time with Him, and knowing Him would slap me upside the head and show me His perspective.

i wouldn't mind being a real person with more than a few people too.

i've been "pbvn" to too many people in the last 12 months and i'd just like to be taken seriously again.

7. music

mm... the one that always gets me.

in terms of technical proficiency, i just wanna learn one piece for piano by the end of the year. and learn it to performance-level, or at least whatever previous skill level i was at for 5th grade. and i already know that i want that piece to be "Claire de Lune". it seems like an achievable goal, and i suppose a youtube video as proof would be required when i complete this resolution.

i've also decided to get back into theory, with fi-wang giving me a stack of theory books to run through again as a refresher course. that said, i've also gotta start figuring out how to pass on this knowledge in a practical way to the church worship team.

8. journal

finally, i wanna journal.

actually i want a journal. something to record my life in daily.

sometimes blogging gets too public, and sometimes i just don't have the time to sit down and hammer out an essay of a post.

so having something to scribble down in every day would be nice. even just a planner that i hijack into a sketchpad / notepad / whatever suits the day.

and so those are the 8.

2009 is gonna be an unbelievable year.