Sunday 4 January 2009

That Was The Year That Was

Well, 2008 has gone, never to return...It's been a funny year. So, here we go - a review. Well, I got divorced. (Well, nearly - I am not Madonna, and for us normal mortals it takes forever to finalise all the details.) I moved to Scotland, changed jobs twice (and it still blows goats) and bought a chainsaw. I discovered I can live on my own quite successfully, and that I have a remarkably high tolerance for dust, but not for a dirty laminate floor. I learnt to spin, and found knitting cables really isn't hard. Neither is Fair Isle. I got into size 10 trousers, but it wouldn't have been a big deal if I didn't. I have a far happier relationship with my appearance than I think I have ever had. (It's amazing what the right words can do.) I am growing my hair. I learnt that commuting by train sucks, and when one has solid fuel central heating, two hours commuting a day is an almighty pain in the arse. Expensive too.

So, I hear you cry, what about New Year's Resolutions? Well, tbh, I'm not big on them. I find it's too easy to make a stick to beat yourself with, but here's a few thoughts.

I need to find a new job. The one I have is well-paid but so boring I could eat my own hair. I also don't think it's tenable (i.e. I feel very vulnerable to redundancy) If needs be, I will move again, but I'd rather not have to. I want to go back to what I do best, which is documentation management, and get the hell out of the IT hell I have landed myself in.

I want to spend more time with the very few people on the planet who are dear to me. You know who you are. If that means a five-hour drive each way and £60 of petrol, so be it. Some things are more than worth the effort and expense.

I need to continue working on the "worrying about stuff" thing. I'm getting better, but there's still work to be done. I've found the last week or two I have seriously lightened up on one or two things - without even trying. And guess what? It's good - and nothing blew up.

I want to carry on with the more frugal lifestyle. I'm not doing anything drastic, just less fancy food, few if any magazines, no takeaways, no wine (I never finish the bottle anyway). This means I can spend a little on things I like (yarn and books) and not feel guilty (or be skint). However - I need to try and start saving again. I've not really been able to - running this place on my own makes for very little in the way of spare readies. So, I may have to moderate my yarn intake accordingly. No, I'm not announcing a yarn diet, just a little moderation :-) A better paid job (or reduced commuting costs!) would help enormously...

I need to listen to my instincts more. I had bad feelings about the job I'm in when I got interviewed, and ignored them in the face of "common sense" and a "permanent" job. BAD move. So, I gotta learn to listen to the old intuition. It's normally pretty spot-on.

I need to draw more.

I would also like to win the lottery, but I'm not sure if that counts as a resolution or not :-)

~*~

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