(no subject)
Time to draw up the New Years Resolutions... many of which I have already broken. It's only the fourth but still.
Thick and fast rules are seeming less and less attractive to me, but then again they also seem to be the only way to go to achieve success sometimes. Less of all my vices; alcohol, caffeine, sugar, tobacco; those four remain, thick as thieves, through to their third year of a resolutions list, and show little sign of budging. I'm sure I could go and do a dull detox on a Thai isle and purge them all from my life; and I'm also sure I would be far more dull and unhappy for it. Truth be told, I like them all. Moderation is, of course, key; and I am coming around more to that idea this year than ever. I am eating better than usual, realising the importance of regular meal times and that my metabolism will drop fearfully low if I don't actually eat. For some reason my dramatic weightloss as a fifteen year old border anorexic convinced me that starvation actually worked; well, yes. Of course it did; my metabolism was sky-high, in the mist of a growth spurt, and I stopped eating anything but dinner. Years of going hungry, however, seem to take their toll, and now it seems like I will have to build up my appetite again.
The vices are all connected, of course; caffeine to wake me up from the slight alcohol blur from the night before, get the limbs shaken out. Computer screen makes my head feel dull, time for some more tea. Throw in some Riboflavin energy drink, now we're talking! Fired up for a lunchtime power walk. Too wired, but after eating I slip back into a minor food coma. Then there's perhaps another cup of tea or just sugar to wake me up. After a few hours of sleepiness I'm hyper again - time perhaps for some yoga stretches in the gym, then cycle home, head overspun so I need some more alcohol, a cigarette. So it goes.
So basically, new years resolutions;
1. Build upper body strength - particularly in the arms and back. Do ITB stretches to sort that out. Get abs back by doing core exercises every day, as well as press ups. Not necessarily push ups as they hurt my back.
2. Don't buy drinks in clubs- thereby saving money and also not getting as drunk as usual. If there's re-entry I can nip to combinis and drink canned cocktails outside = fine. Otherwise, just generally cut down.
3. If possible, stop drinking during the week.
4. Only two cigarettes a day.
5. Cut down on chocolate.
That's the health and personal ones over. Then there's also career related ones;
1. Get more involved and engaged in my job. Take the aims and goals seriously, begin to read the Asahi Shimbun more, the view on Japan from other countries and so on. Build a serious knowledge of international politics, current affairs, geography, names.
2. Get out and about in the journalistic world in order to be set up by November, when my contract ends and I am 99% sure I will not renew my contract. Sitting still in an office emailing will drive me crazy enough by then.
Other big goals for the year are to;
1. Hike every fortnight in preparation for the 100km Oxfam hike in April.
2. Study for JLPT 1 in July. Failing that, aim for December (perhaps more plausible with job, we'll see).
Thick and fast rules are seeming less and less attractive to me, but then again they also seem to be the only way to go to achieve success sometimes. Less of all my vices; alcohol, caffeine, sugar, tobacco; those four remain, thick as thieves, through to their third year of a resolutions list, and show little sign of budging. I'm sure I could go and do a dull detox on a Thai isle and purge them all from my life; and I'm also sure I would be far more dull and unhappy for it. Truth be told, I like them all. Moderation is, of course, key; and I am coming around more to that idea this year than ever. I am eating better than usual, realising the importance of regular meal times and that my metabolism will drop fearfully low if I don't actually eat. For some reason my dramatic weightloss as a fifteen year old border anorexic convinced me that starvation actually worked; well, yes. Of course it did; my metabolism was sky-high, in the mist of a growth spurt, and I stopped eating anything but dinner. Years of going hungry, however, seem to take their toll, and now it seems like I will have to build up my appetite again.
The vices are all connected, of course; caffeine to wake me up from the slight alcohol blur from the night before, get the limbs shaken out. Computer screen makes my head feel dull, time for some more tea. Throw in some Riboflavin energy drink, now we're talking! Fired up for a lunchtime power walk. Too wired, but after eating I slip back into a minor food coma. Then there's perhaps another cup of tea or just sugar to wake me up. After a few hours of sleepiness I'm hyper again - time perhaps for some yoga stretches in the gym, then cycle home, head overspun so I need some more alcohol, a cigarette. So it goes.
So basically, new years resolutions;
1. Build upper body strength - particularly in the arms and back. Do ITB stretches to sort that out. Get abs back by doing core exercises every day, as well as press ups. Not necessarily push ups as they hurt my back.
2. Don't buy drinks in clubs- thereby saving money and also not getting as drunk as usual. If there's re-entry I can nip to combinis and drink canned cocktails outside = fine. Otherwise, just generally cut down.
3. If possible, stop drinking during the week.
4. Only two cigarettes a day.
5. Cut down on chocolate.
That's the health and personal ones over. Then there's also career related ones;
1. Get more involved and engaged in my job. Take the aims and goals seriously, begin to read the Asahi Shimbun more, the view on Japan from other countries and so on. Build a serious knowledge of international politics, current affairs, geography, names.
2. Get out and about in the journalistic world in order to be set up by November, when my contract ends and I am 99% sure I will not renew my contract. Sitting still in an office emailing will drive me crazy enough by then.
Other big goals for the year are to;
1. Hike every fortnight in preparation for the 100km Oxfam hike in April.
2. Study for JLPT 1 in July. Failing that, aim for December (perhaps more plausible with job, we'll see).