Thursday, July 20, 2006

I'm making things happen

I HAVE never been one for New Year resolutions. Why make rules you just won’t keep? There are times like now when I feel for whatever reason that I am hitting a brickwall so it is time to change and adapt. Time to move on. Now I find myself making resolutions or maybe making promises to myself would be a more apt description.

So far I have come up with…

1. Get the hell out of this flat as soon as I can. We need out of here. I find it hard to believe that we have been living here for more than 10 years. When we moved in here I was a student, on the dole with a young child and it was the only place we could find. Or should I say one of the few places which would even entertain someone who ticked the boxes I did.

And as time went on the prospect of renting somewhere else never mind buying was out of my financial reach so we stayed here. And while it lacks so much I have made it our home. But now we need out. We needed out years ago. I want our own home. I want heating, running hot water, privacy, a garden (probably in my dreams), a washing machine. The Young Wan and I deserve our own home.

I applied recently for Affordable Housing and it was a disaster but that story is probably for another post. I will have to do the whole thing again because there is no other hope for buying our own home any other way unless of course I win the lotto. So the first stop is to sort out all the red tape and forms I need to do it all again.

2. Buy a quick pick for the lotto heading for €5m this weekend so that should buy me at least a small house in Dublin:) It could be me.

3. Take time off from work and just recharge, a lot. Part of these plans hopefully include a weekend away with old pals in Donegal, and following the Young Wan to Turkey for a week (who fingers crossed could be flying off at some stage over the weekend but its all very up in the air at the moment, or not:)). And of course whatever else comes my way is under consideration, weekends in Galway and Belfast are some of the contenders.

4. I am going to kick and shove myself out of the comfort zone I am happy to be in because I am not happy being there.

5. Rethink and reset my priorities and goals. It is always a good thing once in a while to have a mental clear out.

6. Start to try to save. I have actually saved some recently but it is probably more false saving as it is all earmarked for debts.

7. Walk to and from work often. I can so I should do it more. I only walk home once in a while and mostly because my auld camera finger is itching.

8. Give myself photography projects. I want to keep learning. Digital photography is still so new to me and it is so different from film. There is so much you can do with photoshop and I know some but not much. At the end of day nothing beats a well taken and exposed photograph.

9. I will actually watch and try out the techniques provided by the excellent Photoshop Killer Tips compiled by Matt Kloskowski of the American National Association of Photoshop Professionals which I download on itunes and put on the long finger to go through. I thought maybe I could check them out on my ipod nano. Of course I now know I cannot so the plan of learning all sorts of things about photoshop while on the bus went out the window. I can still watch them on itunes or with real player. There are all sorts of handy tips from what little I have looked at and I will watch them and learn.

10. I will start to read/plough my way through the pile of books I have bought more than recently. There are some books which I bought and put on that auld long reader finger and others I want to have and others which caught my eye or were recommended. However I got them, they sit there while I read and reread books that I really enjoy. I read every day so there is no excuse at all for this pile of books. So again with that comfort zone; note to self move on.

11. Leave room to add point 12 and 13, etc as I go along with this. Make it up as you go along certainly applies here.

If I don’t report back you know its all going well!

Like me this list is a work in progress. And I suppose I am not only making the late New Year’s resolutions that I said I never make but I am also spring cleaning my life and clearing out dead wood. I’m making things happen because I have to, no one else will for me. So bring it on.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You go girl and I've a few of my own ready to embark on. Here's to the summer 2006. Bring on the Summer of Shove!

JL Pagano said...

Good on ya ... they are not so much New Year resolutions as Life ones, and best of luck with them all. I've always found blogging about what I intend to do helps me along the path to actually doing it.

KnackeredKaz said...

You go girl!

Sorry, I'm watching Oprah right now, so I'm all over my bad self!