It’s been a while, have you missed me?
I know it’s been a while since I’ve been back to this place, in this space. And in reality maybe my question shouldn’t be whether you have missed me (or my writing), but rather have I missed this? This freedom to write? The time to write? I think that is the crux of the matter, I am actually really busy at the moment, barely have time to think about what needs to be done next, without actually thinking about what to write in a post. I actually have a number of posts on the go, but I don’t want to publish any of them until I have the time to go over them, do a bit more work and put a bit more thought into them before they are seen out in the world.
Today I don’t really care, so this is what you see. I post without much meaning, but a post none-the-less.
It’s time to go home, and home I shall see, never before, but before I will be.
2009 (Re)Start
I haven’t been neglecting my blog. No really, I haven’t…I’ve thought about posting, but the holiday season was upon me and I was actually happy to leave my computer behind for a largely non-computer O/S holiday. So unfortunately, you were put on the back burner. Ouch! Hope you don’t feel too neglected.
But I’m back that’s the good news, and possibly better is that I was recently reminded that I do actually have a blog and yeah I have plenty to say!
I was reading Sophie’s blog post (a random occurrence which reminded me of my own blog) about 2009, and it resonated with me. Much like Sophie, I found 2008 to be fairly un-enjoyable, not necessarily disappointing, but not enjoyable either. The un-enjoyable mostly settling about my vocational experiences in 2008. But, I’m looking forward to 2009, I feel change on the air! And the change is most likely more in my attitude than in anything else.
So as part of my plan to enjoy 2009, I have a number of ‘new year’s resolutions’ (although to call them that makes them seem banal), these are plans I have for this year and I’m placing them here so that I (and you can too) track my progress. (Hmm, accountability! What a scary thought. 
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2009 Resolutions (AKA plans for 2009)
1. Be more responsible
There are many areas in my life that need a bit of work, and some centre around being responsible for myself. So to this end I am going to focus on two areas, finance and health.
Financially: I’m writing up a budget (I have done this before but haven’t quite stuck to it), and am going to learn to save. This has always been a problem for me. But I will do it this year!
Health-wise: I started on this last year, at least partially, I joined a gym (that lasted 6 months), and I started to go to the Dentist and doctor regularly (things that I like to put off as much as possible). In addition to this, for 2009, I want to start exercising regularly (again), go to the optometrist (and get new glasses), the pediatrist (I must get orthotics), and back to the Osteopath for my back, and to top it off, try to eat healthily. Which funnily enough is all tied into budget.
2. Be more energetic/positive
Last year was a particularly negative year (one of the reasons I hated 2008). I want to face this year with energy, enthusiasm and a positive attitude. After all, the only thing you can change is yourself! (In addition, I realised that what you chose to focus on impacts who/what you attract, see Elizabeth Naylor’s post or Dr. Maya Bailey’s post for more discussion, although these are mostly focused on career and income.)
3. Be more relaxed (take things more positively)
Highly related to No. 2 but had to be specified, a lot about life here isn’t worth heart-ache, only people, so I need to learn to take the good and the bad in a positive way. Relax….it’s not the end of the world.
4. See if I want to pursue Gardening/Horticulture
It’s probably a pipe-dream, so this year the plan is to confirm that (or disprove it). I’m mixing this a little with No.6 by reading a gardening/horticulture book, but I also need to expand my garden at home, it is sadly lacking!
5. Complete a couple of Art pieces
Owen has mentioned that I should complete a series of say 3 canvases, or something like that. So this year the plan is to complete at least two 3-canvas series. I attempted to do this last year and ended up with three 2-canvas series because none of my plans worked.
In a semi-related plan, I also plan to visit the NGV, and other such galleries this year, I’ve been in Melbourne 2 years and still haven’t made it.
6. Read 4 non-fiction books this year
So far the books I want to read are The Road Less Travelled by Dr. M. Scott Peck, Future Files: A History of the next 50 Years by Richard Watson, a biology/gardening book, and with one up for grabs, possibly a human computer interaction/usability book (although the Future Files book sort of fits into that category).
8. Go away for more weekends/Explore Victoria
This is two-fold, I really do want to go away for more weekends, so that I can relax more often, but in addition to that, for the last two years I’ve been telling myself I’d get around to seeing more of the state of Victoria but have rarely got around to it. So I’m throwing that off, am going to buy the Melbourne and Regional Victoria Lonely Planet Guide and see more of the beautiful land about me. Initial plan is a weekend trip to Ballarat in Q1 2009.
And lastly (at the moment)…
9. Keep more regular contact with the fam
Nuff said.
Hmmm, another time waster – sleep
The least important, but the most important! It seems time comes to haunt us in our sleep.
Boredom and tops songs!
Before I start on the topic of boredom and so on, I recently heard a TOPS song by Madeleine Peyroux. I really like Madeleine Peyroux’s album Careless Love, but I hadn’t heard her song ‘Was I?’ before. She released the album with this song on it (Dreamland) 12 years ago, so it’s not like I didn’t have a chance to hear it before, I just never looked into what albums she had around so in love with Careless Love was I.
Boredom
A friend of mine microblogged that ‘[I] am glad to be bored sometimes…’ and referenced an article at Boston.com ‘The joy of boredom‘ and it got me to thinking. I have recently started work at a new place of employment and have been sitting pretty idle for the last couple of weeks…basically doing nothing, and I was bored. Upon reading this article, I started to appreciate boredom a little more (and wished I had considered this article earlier so that I could have utilised my time more creatively, but then I wouldn’t have been bored anymore).
During that time, that so much time that was available to me, I considered many things, about myself and also about my future. Would I want to stay here for longer, pondering the benefits of time – having it, that is, and what possibilities it really holds.
I digress somewhat from the article, which ponders time past, when having time to be bored was a common occurance and the only distraction was your ponderous thoughts. It was a time for reflection, and inspiration – sure there wasn’t a feeling of accomplishment to accompany thought processing, nor a hightening of productivity, but as the article asks ‘is accomplishment really the point of life?’
In fact the article goes on to argue strongly that ‘boredom — so often parodied as a glassy-eyed drooling state of nothingness — is an essential human emotion that underlies art, literature, philosophy, science, and even love.’ WOW! What a statement for the need for time, and especially the time for nothing. I keep turning around in my life to see that time is at the essence of Western affluence, and ultimately the issues we face today, and I wonder if ‘thinking we need more time in our lives’ is the biggest lie that we face today. Isn’t it true that we have enough time for each of the things we need to do each day, if only we used it more wisely/ cut down on that activity or those activities.
Maybe it is not just limited to activities but also to things in our lives. As the article goes on it discusses the new ‘Trinity’ we have in our lives, nope, its not the holy Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – although the way we behave might indicate that it is, it is the other trinity – Keys, Wallet, Mobile Phone – the things that we can’t leave the house without!
I have been thinking on the topic of ‘being alone’ or having ‘alone time’ for some time – mainly due to rarely having it, and not actively pursuing it either. Have we used social connectedness to dull our senses to needing spiritual connectedness? To the ‘great mysteries of the world: what is truth, what is beauty, what is being?’ (E.G. Wilson, quoted in the article)
Anyway it is a (number of) thoughts to ponder on (and about time to stop with the post as it was getting wayyy to long).
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