New Year Goals

I don't know how this year - 2008 - will pan out. I have no foresight of what stories will unfold. It would be nice to have some idea of course.

I'd like to have some idea not least because others also want to know. My parents, grandparents would love me to come home. Others tell me to make the most of the opportunity - that wonderful thing called time - that I have on my side.

It's time to set some 2008 goals, such that whatever I choose to do this year, I can say I have progressed forwards on the windy road of life!

1. Regular exercise! Get fit again! Regular means actually going to the gym, considering I'm paying for it. It will require routine, and not staying in bed just because the European sun did.

2. Achieve something that will help my career, since I won't be starting work in Melbourne in March as originally planned. This involves gaining experience that will make me more employable, and will either be a new skill, or advancing my current skills.

3. Experience life in a new city. Non-english speaking, different. Immerse myself in a new culture. I have now spent more time in London than any other place apart from Melbourne. And yet, I have always found myself happier in the places I have been other than London. Because of the lifestyle differences, because of the so-clearly different priorities and attitudes which I perceive between London and continental Europe, not to mention between London and less developed countries. It is easy to be assailed by the overzealous prioritisation of work over life; and you can only acquiesce to the low quality of food, the artificial ingredients, the lack of sun. You can be beaten down by the selfish masses if you let yourself be. I remember when I first arrived, i wrote that I felt like I walked faster just being here. It was a shock after the leisurely cycling around Copenhagen. It was a shock after the laid-back lifestyle of Firenze. It was a shock after the familiar lifestyle and surroundings of Melbourne. And it's still a shock to me today, this rushed life. So, while I'm not quite ready to resume living in Melbourne, I am ready for new experiences...

and so number 4. I need to save!