Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!
This is the official obligatory Happy New Year post!
Happy New Year!
I 'celebrated' last night by sitting on the sofa watching Alan Carr, Jools Holland and the fireworks in London, with a glass of sourz and cranberry, and a long-forgotten knitting WIP - a pair of these socks by Kristen Kapur. The first sock is coming along quite nicely, even though I started it some five or so months ago.
Work and Kuro have been massive time sinks. Even though I only spend eight hours a day at work, it's so stressful and exhausting that I can barely stay awake when I get home, so I haven't really been up to much recently. But I want to change that.
My Goals/Resolutions/To-do List for 2012
- Go to Lithuania - a bit of an odd one, I booked this trip a few weeks ago because I had holiday time left over that I didn't want to take this year, so has been rolled over to January. I'm going away for a long weekend for my birthday with my best friend. Something to look forward to in the near future.
- Go to Japan - I've arranged this with my friend Sophie for October. We are just waiting for the price of flights to come down (we expect by April) so we can book it all up. I've been to Japan before, and dying to go back, and Sophie said, "take me with youuuuu" so I was like, 'k. It's gonna be awesome.
- Cram Japanese like hell - in preparation for my trip back. I've been 'studying' (half-heartedly) for six years now, so I don't think my Japanese is too atrocious, but I would at least like to learn the ~2,000 common-use Kanji (~750 down, ~1250 to go) and a whole buttload of vocab and grammar to make my time there as good as possible.
- Finish the crafty projects I started in 2011 - I have the pair of socks I was knitting on NYE, a knitted shawl, a mohair scarf (though I may frog that one... again :x), a sewn cushion cover, a couple of friendship bracelets and... and... wow, that's really it?
- Sew more - I just invested in a ~proper~ sewing machine for myself, a Janome Sewist 525s. A Japanese make, of course. Ha ha. Anyway it cost enough, so I have to use it lots! I'd like to learn to quilt, too. ETA: Strictly speaking it was actually a gift from my grandma - she gave me money, and I got this with it. Thanks grandma. :)
- Minimise stress at work - before I go back on Tuesday I'd like to make a list of adjustments I could make to my time at work so that I get less stressed out. Simple things like take screen breaks (I currently spend my entire work day sat at my desk), get a bin so my desk doesn't get coated in a layer of sweet wrappers, figure out a few more lunch ideas and actually find the time to eat them, set aside some time each week for getting certain difficult tasks done, etc.
- Learn to cook - I started on this in 2011, but want to continue with it. Can you believe that I'd never properly cooked myself a meal from scratch except for tuna pasta bake, like, ever? I'm still a bit clueless and make mistakes like leaving a pan of milk on the hob on high heat expecting it to take five minutes to boil... but I'm getting there.
- Don't stress about money - I've never been in financial turmoil, but I am petrified of the prospect. I earn a decent wage, and squirrel a lot of it away. However, I very rarely spend it. Apart from my Japan trip (which is already saved for) there is no major item I want to save for (I've given up on joining the property ladder, maybe I'll inherit something one day, but until then, I'll stop caring). I will sit and stare at something I want for ages and never buy it. Even if I do buy it, I will feel regret, even though I could totally afford it. 2012 is not going to be a year of frivolous spending, but rather I'd like to teach myself that if I want to spend £20 on a nice frabic or go out for dinner, I probably can.