The Obligatory Post About the New Year

Yes, that's right. It's the first of January in 2011. We made it. Hurrah. Sure, our iPhones didn't wake us up this morning but for many people I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

There's always a buzz at this time of year about 'resolutions'. I don't like making New Years Resolutions because I know I will fail. You can shut up right now about my defeatist attitude, or planning to fail, or whatever rubbish you're thinking. We all know how spectacularly badly my 'book a week' challenge went, and that wasn't even a new years resolution.

I did, however, read something this morning that was an interesting take on the whole new years resolution thing. It was on the blog of Felicia Day, who is very cool. If you don't know who she is, go look on imdb, and if that doesn't ring any bells, it's highly likely you're on the wrong blog right now because if you're reading this you should know I'm a massive nerd. OK I haven't actually seen any of The Guild but I'm trying to rectify that, only the Australian iTunes store isn't helping matters.

Anyway, here is a link, and my point. I think looking back at your year and working out what you've learned is a great idea. Looking at what you've learned and applying it is far more realistic than any grand resolution, in my opinion. Because it's based on good hard evidence and not just a drunken statement at midnight.

I think I've written quite a bit already on what 2010 taught me. It taught me that sometimes things don't go according to plan, and that's great. I learned the hard way that challenges really are an opportunity in disguise. They force you to stop and reasses everything which is something I rarely do. I learned that mental illness really can happen to me. Seriously, people, this is a big one. It's not just something that happens to everyone else, and just because you're educated and intelligent and think you'll know when something is wrong doesn't mean you will. It might take years and then you'll crash and burn and it'll hit you with a big 'a ha'.

Of course I learned some fun things too. Like that it is possible to watch all seven seasons of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' in a period of about three months or less, if you really try. Like the fact that in Edmonton, it's only really cold if your snot freezes. Anything before that is just chilly. That fruchocs can be breakfast. OK, that last one is just to convince me that I'm being healthy, sitting here eating fruchocs. The packet is open on the table, what else am I supposed to do?

OK. I'll stop rambling now. Go read Felicia Day's post. It's far more eloquent than mine and you get a picture of her looking super awesome to boot.

Welcome to the much debated new decade

Yes, that's right, it's 2010. Seems weird to write that. People are debating about whether it is a new decade. Silly people. Surely a decade is just a period of 10 years, so really every new year could be a new decade if people had a little imagination. They're also arguing about what the decade will be called. Because apparently we have left the 'naughties' behind. I'm pretty sure the term 'naughties' is not quite as wide spread as people think, and that it only caught on in the last few years of the decade anyway. And I still hear/see people refer to exactly the same years as 'the aughts'.

So, in typical Rachel fashion, I would like to tell the media to get the freak over themselves. Not that they're going to listen to one girl typing on a blog that no one reads. But I've said it. That's something.

Also, I managed not to blog for the entirety of December. Oops. I think I wrote so much in November (50,000 words, yo) that I couldn't be bothered. But it is a new year and I will endeavour to blog.

The latter half of 2009 brought about an epic fail on my part. Yes, I said I would aim to read a book a week. No, I didn't. NaNoWriMo killed whatever chance I had of reading anything in November and by December I was basically exhausted and spent whatever time I wasn't awake sleeping. Yeah. Read that sentence back, I dare you.

But, this is a new month in a new year, and I'm going to try again. I'll start again on 'The Subtle Knife' by Philip Pullman, the sequal to 'The Northern Lights' which under no circumstances will I ever refer to as 'The Golden Compass'. It's not the title of the book and there is no compass in it whatsoever. Stupid Hollywood. Then, obviously, I'll read The Amber Spyglass. Then I'll hit up Borders and find something else to read. I also want to find the last Sally Lockhart mystery plus the follow up Jim Gordon one. But that's four books by the same author and it's probably best to not read them all at once.

What else do I resolve to do this year...well...I actually hate new years resolutions. But I am going to resolve to go a whole year without drowning another phone/assorted piece of electrical equipment. I have learned my lesson on that count, I think. Phones are like cats...they keep themselves clean and do not take kindly to being immersed in a bucket of water...I should also resolve to blog more but I think we all know that's highly unlikely. Setting unrealistic resolutions will only result in total failure.

I also resolve to tidy my room in the next couple of days. God it's a mess in here.

Over and out...