New Year's Resolutions

I have a confession to make: I'm so shit at keeping New Year's resolutions it's not even funny.

In recent years I've been so convinced that I'll just break them that I don't even bother to make them any more. However, since leaving uni I've decided on a few. I'm going to write them down here so I don't forget, and maybe make a point of checking back this time next year and see what I've stuck to.

To begin at the beginning:

Write.
After giving up on what I considered to be my Magnum Opus earlier this year it knocked me for six creatively. I'm starting to gather pace with more ideas but even now I keep thinking up something great then forgetting to write it down. I'm going to make a point of carrying more notebooks with me to write things down in, because there are times when it just can't wait till home.

Read.
As I've mentioned before, reading while at uni became a chore, so much so that I stopped doing it in my spare time, thus impeding my enjoyment of it. I took it back up in the summer, but I've been slow and slack on carrying on with it. I'm currently reading 'Ghostwritten' by David Mitchell. I don't know if it's because the book itself is not enjoyable (which would be sad; I've read three of his novels and enjoyed them) or if it's just because I'm lazy, but I've been slack on reading it of late. I need to gather pace and complete it, then read some more of the many books I've accumulated in the last year or so.

Get a new job.
As I've mentioned, The Paid Job was not what I envisioned my post-uni life as being. Of course, finding graduate work in this climate is hard. I'm still trying, and I'm still contemplating a post-grad too. I found a job that I'm pretty well qualified for...except for the fact that I can't drive. Which leads me to my next point.

Learn to drive.
I never did get my finger out with driving lessons when younger, and moving to the city only ground it completely to a halt. Since I now live in the part of the city with the best transport links this is even less required. However, one thing I've found with applying for jobs is that many of them seem to value a full clean drivers' licence over a degree. If this is the case I at least need to learn to drive, and then save up to buy myself a car. So...

Open a savings account.
Since I was about thirteen, I have only ever had that one bank account. Yes, it's currently overdrawn. So I'm thinking to open another in an effort to save up a little. I've never done that before. Pay in a little money a month to have if I need it. Plus, I could save up and buy a car if I keep the resolution about learning to drive. I could also save up and get a mortgage. Let's face it, it's about the same amount of money as renting but I'd be in ownership of the property and wouldn't have any rules. I could also save up and go on holiday.

Renew my passport.
But wait, I hear you cry. Your passport expired, didn't it? Well, yes - more than three years ago now. Again, I never renewed it as a student because I sure as hell wasn't going anywhere. But I think I'll need to try, even if it's just for a weekend in France or somewhere.

Spend less time online.
I'm a die-hard Facebook addict. Twitter I've cooled off with a little. Getting a smartphone has intensified this addiction. I need to discipline myself, and get more human interaction. I might try deleting the Facebook app off my phone at some point.

Get back into swimming.
Speaks for itself, now that I've discovered the pools closest to me. I also need to shed some weight, but more on that later.

Get back into playing music.
My poor old guitar! She's had so little exercise in recent years. I also forgot to mention that my pa got me a mandolin for Christmas. I used to play then stopped, but now that I own one I'll need to start again. And singing! Again, voice gets bugger all exercise these days beyond the shower or belting out to my iTunes.

Eat more healthily.
I've started, believe it or not. From time to time I can snack on fruit instead of chocolate. In addition I've discovered it's more economical to cook a dish then keep the other portions in plastic containers. Saves me buying a microwave meal for work. I need to eat less of those, also takeouts. I am way too fond of chippies.

Go to the dentist.
It pains me to admit it, but since moving to Glasgow I've not seen a dentist. I know, right? I need to register with one. Of course, now that I work full time I have to pay for it. Why oh why didn't I go as a student? Hi, dental bills...:(

Live a little.
Don't live to work, work to live. Make more time for friends, especially uni types. Just be a better person than I was the year before.



And that's all I have for just now, a good comprehensive list. I'll add more as I come up with them.

And it's Christmas all over again...

I somehow amazingly returned home for Christmas on Tuesday.

I got my stuff together then went to get a train from Partick station to Queen Street, where I would catch a train to Aberdeen that connected with the Lerwick ferry. This is usually straightforward enough.

However, there was of course some significant snowfall last weekend. The pavement was clear enough to walk there with my bags, but when I actually got there, of the three or four services that usually run to Queen St from Partick, only one - the Airdrie train - was running. Even then, when it turned up, it was five minutes late. Then again, that was pretty good. The trains going the other way - to Milngavie, Helensburgh and Balloch - were all either heavily delayed (10-20 mins) or cancelled, as was the Dalmuir-Springburn service (which made me more thankful I don't live in Dennistoun any more, even if I do miss it).

Anyway, after the Airdrie train finally turned up I got to Queen St, dreading what was coming. And indeed, the station was in chaos. Again, many services were suspended or cancelled. However, as luck would have it, my train - the 1441 to Aberdeen - showed no immediate sign of cancellation or significant delay. I had been keeping an eye on the BBC's Travel site, and there'd been no sign of Aberdeen services getting cancelled but that could have changed in the half hour that had lapsed between me leaving my flat and arriving at the main station. So I forked out £7 for the left luggage (I know - but it was so heavy) and went to YO! Sushi to collect the takeout I'd ordered, then came back. My train left on time, although ended up having to make an unscheduled stop at Dunblane (since most services to there were cancelled) and got into Aberdeen ten minutes late. Apart from this, and a mix-up with baggage that had me checking the length and breadth of the train for my suitcase only to find a member of staff had mistakenly removed it thinking another passenger had left it (eejit), it was uneventful. I met with Rachel, my best pal, and we walked through Union Square (less snow that way :P) across to the ferry terminal at Jamieson's Quay. The ferry went on time, and the trip was actually okay for the time of year - not as rough as usual.

I still have a lot of folk I need to see, but it's been good to be home. Kind of wishing I was staying longer, but alas...will need to be a bit quicker off the mark about booking next Christmas off work!

I'm one of Scotland's Hot 100 :D

Well...not just me. I rank at number 66 along with my Cargo colleagues, according to the List. They referred to us as a collective group in the entry.

I'm proud, that's pretty much made my year. I've never been considered cool by anybody until now, and it's a great feeling. Makes me more excited about what we'll be doing next year in any case.

You can read the article here.

And there was me thinking my degree wouldn't take me places. Huh. It's getting better all the time...:)

:|

Think I might have put a spanner in the works in terms of my Christmas plans. Oops...

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I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

I'm making two separate posts because putting two together seemed inappropriate.

Yes, for those of you who don't venture out of your home often, it has snowed in Scotland.

Dunno why 2010 thought we deserved more snow, given the onslaught of it at the beginning of the year that saw my ferry back south get delayed when I returned to the mainland after Christmas. It got worse, and didn't let up until the official start of spring.

Well, about a week or so ago the chaos started again. I first saw a flurry fall outside my flat late one night, and when I awoke the car park out the back of my building was completely white. So too were the pavements. I was thankful that I was put on shifts at handy stations for getting home.

See, when I was little snow was fun, because it meant days off school and sledging on the hill behind my house. But now it means hassle. It means struggling to get to work and worry about getting home for Christmas. It's just annoying and I want it to stop.

Then again, the park across the road from me could be fun to sledge on...

Come together, right now, over me

And so today, December 8th, Beatles fans all over the world mourned the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's assassination. I joined them, inwardly, because in the real world my life had to go on.

It's odd to think he would be 70 now, were he still here. A hard thing to - pardon the pun - imagine. I grew up with the Beatles' music, but the mega fan thing didn't start till I was about eight or nine. I didn't find out Lennon was dead until the Beatles Anthology was broadcast on ITV when I was seven and they didn't have new interview footage of him like with the other Beatles. I had a much harder time accepting George Harrison's death, to be honest. No disrespect to Lennon, he was amazing too. But by the time I was born, he'd been dead eight years. George died when I was 13, and only a couple of months after I'd lost my maternal grandmother. Nine years on I still struggle to accept both of those deaths.

No matter what you do, you can't deny the Beatles' influence on popular culture. Lennon was always the funny one in the early days. I was recently shown this video via Twitter:



They did this sketch in honour of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's birthday, and I won't lie, I think it's so funny. I love Shakespeare (well, most of his that I've read) as well as the Beatles. It's the perfect sketch for them because in the original text (it's the play-within-a-play from 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', in case you weren't aware) it's supposed to be badly acted, and they really have a field day with it. It suits their style of humour.

Funny, then, that Lennon went from being clownish to a campaigner for peace responsible for some pretty profound statements ("If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace"). 'Imagine' is too often quoted and covered, as it has been for about forty years. Same with 'Working Class Hero', because so many folk out there identify with that song. It's gutting, then, to think of the difficult early life he had, and the nasty end he came to.

Physically, John Lennon's no longer here, but at least there are those still alive today who value his influence.

Hatchlings

It's occurred to me that thinking of a fresh idea for NaNoWriMo, even though I didn't fully see it through, has been good for me creatively.

For a long while I was starting to think I'd dried up creatively, that maybe going to study creative writing at university had stymied me and I could only write things on demand for other people like some kind of performing monkey in a cage. But then I started that idea. Again, it stalled. But I came up with it all on my own. Hopefully I'll shift the block soon enough and that can be that, and I'll get it finished / start over.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to hatch more. Going to try and start a new plan tonight before I sleep. Here goes nothing...

Bah, Humbug.

So...it took me until earlier this week to start my Christmas shopping. For me that's uncharacteristically late. By this point I'll usually be at least half way through.

I'm not feeling as enthused about it this year as I was last year, mostly because of money and also just the low feeling every Christmas since 2007 has brought me. I'd be a great subject for one of those cliche-ridden Christmas movies where the Scrooge-like cynic is made to see the light and starts embracing the joys of the festive season.

The large council tax bill I ended up paying the other day didn't help either. I do at least get a discount since I live with a student who isn't legally liable for any of it, but it's still a huge drain which I really don't need.

Also need to communicate with The Paid Job about Christmas and how I shan't be here to work it.