The Film Noir Experience

So, I actually sat down and wrote things out that I wanted to resolve to so or change in the New Year before the end of the Old Year. But, a new addiction to X-Box and my continual computer problems have ...contrived to? colluded against? impeded my abilities to seriously log in (and be in a writing mood) and post these. 2007 is going to be an awesome year, oh, yes. But, its not enough to just make resolutions, one has to actually do something with them in order of them to be of any worth.

My roommate in India, a woman named Lisa, once told me that the difference between a resolution or a dream or an idea and a goal is that a goal is something that you have defined and then set a way to measure its achievement. One might resolve to lose weight, but it is not a goal until one sits down and says:

I would like to lost a stone (12 pounds) by March 1st.

Now, I'm not one that really likes to structure things in relation to time, for some reason I just find that to be too restrictive, somehow it always hits my internal panic button and panic tends to make the quality of the work to go down. (I prefer to set a goal and then come up with ways to accomplish them and then as long as I stick with the tasks I have set myself, then I will be happy with my accomplish whenever it comes to fruition.) So, this is what I plan to do. I am going back on the South Beach Diet, heading straight into phase one with its lack of simple carbohydrates and plethora of veg. I am also going to do two laps around the park outside of my house everyday. However, I understand that the rest of the world tends to operate on time restrictions (deadlines), and I am aware that time can be a very powerful motivator.

But, weight is not the only thing that I would like to work on in the New Year. I've been resting on my laurals in the past six months or so, and I want to give my laurels a rest and press on and be the interesting, thoughtful human being again. How do I propose to do this? Well, with my next two goals, of course.

On this blog, I have the semi-regular features of my reviews of things and This Week in Welsh. In addition to keeping these up, I plan on adding two new features this year. I have yet to finalize these features, so I won't give you any details yet, but I can tell you to expect them On January 15th and January 30th. (Teaser: At least one of them will involve language in some way. Excited? I know I am.)

The second way I'm intending to let my laurels rest is by getting back to my "Classic" education by picking up where I left off on my list of Books I'd Like To Read. I'm intending to start with what I have in my flat and the book for January is Lady Chatterly's Lover.

My last resolution should come as no surprise, and that is to work on getting funding for a PhD. I have decided that, if I can't find funding that I will just have to take out a loan. But, that is hopefully the last ditch effort that won't have to happen. This resolution has been broken down into smaller mini-goals, the first of which is "proposal phase." I have not been happy with what I have written so far, but I think I'm on a roll now. I've given myself a deadline of January 17th for having my proposal finished.

I'm very excited about my goals and I look forward to seeing how they work out and how my life takes shape. I hope that you, too, are excited about the prospect of this new Year!