Seven Things

Another year over and what have we done? Quite a lot actually. J and I celebrated our tenth anniversary with a weekend away in Whitby where I mirrored her proposal to me nine and a half years earlier under the whalebone arch, only I had a ring to give her. So I win that one I think. We both got jobs, and neither of us suddenly got sacked which was nice. In fact, we both still have jobs going into the new year which is a first. J has finished writing her thesis and passed her viva, so 2013 is looking to be the year she can finally start calling herself  "Doctor".

So not making resolutions seemed to work out pretty well for me. On the other hand, I did drift a lot while I wasn't working and am starting to get stuck in a "work, wash up, sleep" rut so maybe I ought to try and set some goals for this year. Don't worry though, "blogging more often" definitely won't be one of them.

Inspired by reading this GeekMom blog post, I decided to have a go at the 7 Things x 2013, only instead of using the first things that came into my head I put some thought into it. (Mostly because I didn't really want to learn to sew or find Jesus, and "Stop: Hammetime!" doesn't really work as a goal.)

So let me present my Seven Things for 2013:

1. Learn how to ... play the violin (again). After all, we went and bought one.
2. Start ... "Family Game Night/Afternoon". "Screen-free Wednesday" has been a success at getting the boy off computer games and TV occasionally, but the last few days of trying out our new games has reminded me how much fun playing together as a family can be. Probably better for the weekend than on school/work nights, so I think this may have to become our new Sunday afternoon tradition. If I can convince the other two.
3. Stop ... being afraid. I've made great progress on this, especially over the last year, but I still find myself shying away from even simple things like ordering food. There's really no need for it. I know I can do it, and so I should. Of course, I can't really stop myself being afraid: I should say "Stop fear preventing me from doing things" but that's just less catchy.
4. Take a vacation to ... Dublin. We will make it this year, dammit!
5. Find ... a better place for my money. I'm currently banking with one of the Big Four, and while I've often thought and talked about moving, the usual inertia and worry about forgetting something important has stopped me. I'm also terrible as making decisions. But it's time to start putting my money where my mouth is, and while I have an income and ought to be saving some of it, it seems a good time to start.
6. Try ... fish fingers and custard. Well, I have to, at least once.
7. Be more ...  involved. With the world, with my family. Even with Twitter. I've been slowly withdrawing from everything, partly because I'm tired from work, partly because I lost my laptop and posting from and reading on my phone just isn't the same. And yes, I suppose depression plays a big role there too. But while it's important to have "me time", I still need to spend time and interact with my family and friends. And maybe it's not too late to save the country from the Tories. 

 Ok, some of them are vague, with no defined goals or benchlines. Some of them are simple and straightforward though, and those aren't necessarily the most likely to happen (we've said year after year we'd go to Dublin to see folk but...J made it! I didn't). But I think all are reasonable and potentially achievable, and none of them put undue pressure on me to do something I struggle with. And that's all I ask from my New Year's Resolutions.