Thursday, January 01, 2009

A Guid Ne'er to ane an' a'

Original image 'Writing Resolutions' originally uploaded to Flickr by Tojosan.

This is the start of my new regime to write blog posts on a far more regular basis. Part of my motivation to do so is the encouragement I have received from others on microblogging site Twitter -its always motivational to see other people doing something that you want to do in the same way.

And therein lies my first tale of serendipity for the New Year - perhaps one that augurs well for 2009. I was looking for a photo to illustrate this post, and searched 'creative commons' photos on Flickr, and the picture above was the first one I saw - but I simply could not believe my eyes when I saw that the person who had uploaded the picture was Tojosan, the same Tojosan that I follow on Twitter! What are the 0dds of that I wonder, that of the 44,000 Creative Commons photos tagged 'resolution' in Flickr, the one I picked should be one uploaded by someone I know, someone that I didn't even know had a Flickr account?

Anyway I digress, the purpose of this post is to outline my plethora of resolutions that I REALLY want to achieve this year. There are many, but I am determined to succeed this year if I can.

My New Years Resolutions for 2009
  1. To stick to my resolutions
  2. To follow a much more rigid and rigorous lifestyle, I've been too lackadaisical for too long
  3. To apprecaite the lyrics of Bob Dylan more by listening to different Bob Dylan song every day
  4. To walk to school each day
  5. To use no carrier bags in shops & leave all coathangers and other reusable packaging items at shops
  6. To read a book, watch a film, and listen to a new CD each week
  7. To do a random act of kindness at least once a week
  8. To teach my own children something new each day
  9. To improve the quality of my photography
  10. To comment on each Blog post I read
  11. To create a podcast of 'Wee Free Men' by Terry Pratchett
  12. To speak to my own children each day (whether or not they are staying with me)
  13. To meet all of the school-based targets I have set myself (see a future Blog Post)
  14. To make a machinima with my son
  15. To take better care of my psoriasis
  16. To go to bed with an empty email inbox as first pledged by Bill Thompson
  17. To respond immediately to emails
  18. To visit a town I've never been to each month
  19. To establish MirandaMod as a leading model of unconferencing
  20. To curb what bad language I use
  21. To have a far more positive attitude no matter how I feel about something
  22. To ensure my THREE major goals relating to Moodle are met this year (see future blog posts)
  23. To pay all my bills and handle all important paperwork immediately
  24. To pass my Grade Two singing exam
  25. and... To sing 'Hallelujah' to the whole school
  26. To phone my parents twice a week
  27. To be less wasteful of food in the home
  28. To allow no one to upset me or to belittle my achievements
  29. To DO rather than just SAY I will DO.
  30. To start what I fi........nish ;-)

Phew... that's a long list but one I want to meet and I will be disappointed in myself if I don't. Let's see how I get on.

Todays Dylan song is 'Song to Woody'. This was one of the first songs Bob Dylan ever wrote and whilst being a sort of prayer to Woody Guthrie, it includes words that could be so apt for the way the world is at the moment: "...I wrote you a song, 'Bout a funny ol' world that's a-comin' along. Seems sick an' it's hungry, it's tired an' it's torn, It looks like it's a-dyin' an' it's hardly been born".

How could a man as young as Dylan was at that time, write lyrics of such timeless poignancy? It's a lesson to us all!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. Talk about fate. I'm honored that you chose that picture. It meant a lot to me to share that.

Great list. I'm especially touched by the ones related to your children. I wish you all the best on those ones for sure.

Take lots of pictures. Capture your walks, our food, your children, your bed head, yourself dancing, the sky, the grass, your ass. Ha.

Write something to someone every day. Email, twitter, blog, a note to your children.

Most of all - remember to breathe. Seriously. Take time to just do that. Relax and breathe. Do it outside if possible. I recommend doing it at least once in the snow, once in the rain, and once in the glaring sun as well.

Cheers and best wishes in 2009.

James B said...

An impressive list of resolutions. I need to have a think about mine now! Good luck!

daibarnes said...

That is a mighty list. I bow to your self-knowledge. Be sure to print and attach to fridge door. There's at least one I can help you with which I'd be very happy to do.

BTW: You are allowed to feel bad and sometimes things will make you feel bad. And good! (wootwoot).

Wishing you a HNY sir.

Gus said...

That is a great list, it inspired a few items for me to add to mine. Good luck with your list and everything else in 2009.

Unknown said...

I really love your list. I will have to add some of these things to mine.