A Very Merry Christmas

I don't very much like Christmas. I saw an article on the BBC today titled 'A Genius Scam', all about The X Factor. Personally, I think the same phrase can be used for Christmas.
When it comes to Christmas, I am very much a Scrooge figure. Bah Humbug to decorating everywhere, and to the constant playing of Christmas songs. Bah Humbug to buying useless tat for people (although I am myself guilty of that this year, but what else are we meant to buy for my father, a man who has no interests and hobbies, and who has all the hankies and socks he needs?!) Although I have felt myself feeling slightly more Christmassy than I usually do, the feelings are fleeting and I see sense. I am spending Christmas in Dorset this year, a change of scene might do us all good.

I actually prefer New Year to Christmas, although nowhere near as much as I used to, because now it is the anniversary of my grandfather's death. But what I like about New Year's is the tradition of reinventing yourself. As if people didn't do it all year round, but New Year's gives you an actual time to make changes about yourself, and become a new person.
According to this website, the Top 10 resolutions include losing weight and getting more exercise, quit smoking or drinking, and learning something new. As Wikipedia confirms, resolutions tend to be advantageous. We want to be better people. I'm sure even saints could make resolutions, except it probably wouldn't be to 'help others', more likely 'have some "me" time'!

I have already made myself some resolutions, and in addition to this, made goals for January and February. According to the Wikipedia article on New Year's resolutions, women succeed 10% more when they make their goals public and get support from friends.
This year, I managed to complete 4 of my 6 resolutions (although one thing I have already failed at again because I learned it, and then I forgot it)

I have so far got 9 resolutions sorted, some easier than others. And I'm going to share them with you now:

1. Get work experience
2. Lose 6lbs - get to 8st
3. Watch 360 films out of 1001
4. Finish bedroom
5. Read list of books
6. Learn to play ukelele
7. Get bonus in April
8. Learn to use Adobe Illustrator
9. Pay off £600 of student loan

It used to be that one of my resolutions would be something like 'Sort out self-esteem' or 'Gain confidence' but they were so vague I didn't really know where to start. So I never started. And eventually, I stopped making that a resolution.
3, 4 and 9 are probably the easiest. But I include them because you still need to achieve some things to keep you on track for the rest of them. I am currently at 320 out of 1001, so I should get to 360 easily. 4 sounds silly, but so much remains unfinished in my house. and 9 could be easy because I could just take £600 out of my savings, but instead I am going to set up a direct debit.

Other are not so easy. I'm not very musical, nor do I stick to things well, so 6 and 2 will be hard. 5 also will, because I don't really make time to read anymore. But I will endeavour to start this month and get a head start. It's only a list of 6 books (I have more unread on my bookcase, but I can add them when I run out).
7 is an unknown quantity since I could really work hard and deserve a bonus as promised in my contract, but budget restraints may leave it out of my reach. If the time comes and I don't get it, I will assess how hard I worked, and decide whether I would have deserved it had it been available.

1 is also, in a way, an unknown quantity. I could apply for tons of work experience, and not get any. If the end of the year comes, and I have no additional experience except that of working on corporate videos for the company I set up with another friend, I will still sort of see that as a failure. It's a bit like saying 'I'll get a job'. You could apply everywhere and get nowhere. We'll see.

Anyway, having thought about it weeks ago, but this being my last blog before the year is out (I have a pretty hectic two weeks coming up), I have decided to evaluate my year using the systems in place at the school I work at.


2010

WWW - what went well

• Finished university - with a 1st
• Got a job
• went on a cruise
• went to New York for the first time
  
• stayed in touch with friends from home & uni - even rekindled a friendship
  

EBI - even better if

• succeeded in all my resolutions
• had a better time at uni
• won an award for Where the Waves Break
• made more contacts
• got more work experience
• saved more money (I succeeded in saving £1000+, which was one of my resolutions, but then I started spending it) so really it should be not spent so much money
• gained more confidence
  

What do you reckon your WWW and EBI's would be?

The weather outside is frightful (or: it's being smart that counts)

Why do we get so excited about snow? the BBC asks. I don't why, you tell me Beeb. Because I sure as hell don't get excited about snow. Not one iota. Knowing snow is coming, or waking up to find snow covering my garden makes my heart sink.
I don't know whether this is a symptom of getting old, I can't remember enjoying snow when I was younger. As my mum has pointed out, I've had more snow in my lifetime than she ever did by my age. I pointed out to her this was probably due to the global warming her generation and the generations before her had caused. But for as long as I can remember, I have not liked snow, for the reasons listed below.

1. Snow is hugely inconvenient. For transport, public and private. For businesses. For schools. For people in general. You can't get anywhere, and if you do succeed in finally getting there, you can't get back.
2. It's white. I hate the colour white. Whilst not a universal disadvantage of snow (for example some people might like the colour white), it certainly gets irritating after a while.
3. The end result of snow. Slush, or even ice, tend to be what comes next once the pretty little snowflakes have fallen and covered our houses, cars, roads and pavements. If you're lucky, it becomes slush. Dirty, mucky, slushy slush. At least this only soaks your shoes through faster than the snow did. Slush most often occurs on roads or where grit/salt has been used. But the compacted snow more often becomes ice where people tread repeatedly on it. This makes for more dangerous walking than the thick snow that lay there before, and I'm sure most people find themselves with aching feet from the way you walk on ice.
4. It is cold and wet. This comes into play when you get it in your face or down your clothes, whether because it's drifting down from the heavens, being blown around by wind, or if you have been the target on a snowball.
5. Snow costs money. Much like the inconvenience, businesses will do less trade, people are unable to work, and the cost of getting the area/country back on it's feet is pretty big. Compensation for disrupted travel, most likely flights from closed airports rather than disrupted public transport, will need to be negotiated.
   

Basically, snow is useless. I personally do not think it is even that pretty. There's nothing majorly magical about a blanket of snow, and I don't understand why people like it. With the exception of kids, because they obviously know no better.

***

I recently saw a bus advert for the LG Optimus phone that claimed "It's being smart that counts."
This obviously refers to the fact that if you don't own some sort of smartphone these days, you clearly live in a cave or under a rock. My contract is up in a matter of weeks on my G1 and though I both love & hate my phone, I don't know if I can find an acceptable replacement. I was hoping to go for the HTC Desire Z, but since it's so new I don't think I will get my regular £30 800 minutes-Unlimited Texts-Unlimited Internet contract on such a phone. But now I have had my G1, I have higher expectations of phones. In fact, I get frustrated that my phone cannot do things. I now want a phone with the following abilities:
- Email
- Threaded texts
- Open documents i.e word doc, jpgs, pdf
- in addition to this, I want to be able to EDIT these documents and then send them on
- Navigation & Maps
- Social networking feeds
- Integral calendar that is easy to use
- a QWERTY keyboard
- and probably many more I can't think of right now.
I basically want a laptop in a phone. Which is probably why I want an iPad, for the first time since they were launched, as I have sort of been seduced by the idea of their capabilities. I'll let you know after Friday whether I buy one using a friend's bulk discount.

The other thing that came to mind when I saw the aforementioned LG advert was that it is not being smart that counts. If it was being smart that counts, then I would have had an easier time at school, and so would a lot of kids still in education being ridiculed for their higher intelligence by those with lower intelligence. Telling them that it's "being smart that counts" probably isn't much consolation.


Last but not least, the photo here shows how sentimental I am: this is a collection of scrapbooks and memory boxes I have, and two large photo albums started by other people but finished by me of my childhood and adolescence.
This now all resides in the loft. Teehee.