The Not Really Resolutions 2014 - The Introduction

What can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment. Even if I did perform horribly in 2013 at my Not Really Resolutions, I've come back in 2014 with another list and with renewed vigour.

(Or at least the feeling that I know I can't do any worse than I did last year.)

1. Read 12 Classics
This is a standard now. Every year I'm pleased that I made this not really resolution in 2011 and have stuck to it. Although I think it's important for reading to remain something that is enjoyable and shouldn't be something that is a chore, I also think it is a great opportunity to learn and sometimes I need a little push to ensure that I don't read complete trash. Thinking about it, I should probably make a similar resolution about watching TV programmes - would stop me watching the nonsense that I watch at the moment...

2. Eat 1 vegetarian meal per week
I don't really know the origins of this one, I just thought it would be kind of funsies to do. I have absolutely no desire to become vegetarian, I likes my meat, but I don't think there's any harm in cutting back a little bit. Plus I was thinking it would be fun to learn some new recipes. I don't know if it will actually work out as once a week, but let's say 52 veggie meals in the year and we'll call it even.

3. Do 1 interesting thing each month
As I mentioned towards the end of last year, I haven't been having a great time of it lately. I have been trying to be more positive but these things don't solve themselves. It is really easy to become bogged down in the loneliness and isolation that I have been feeling so I need to take things in to my own hands. I may not have friends and I may not have a car but there must be a way of doing some interesting things.

4. Save up to buy a car
Life would be much easier in a semi-rural location if I had a car. Especially living in a place with no train station and very limited buses out of it. I only need a small run-around type car, I don't need anything fancy. A car would solve a lot of problems if I could get my hands on one. The Person and I have a big trip to America in March which we are saving for at the moment, but after that I would like to start seriously looking at getting some wheels.

5. Finish the Tetris blanket
I love that I come up with this idea all by my little self and feel super proud of it. The first thing that my little not really creative brain has ever come up with. But I need to make sure that I actually do it and it doesn't become something that I never get around to doing. Even if I do need to crochet a thousand black squares to complete it...

6. Learn something new
A lovely little vague one that I'm throwing in there. I don't want to say "I'm going to learn to knit" or "I'm going to learn Spanish" because who knows what will happen in the year ahead. But I'm-a gonna learn something new this year.

7. Sell something at a craft fair
I had this on my list in 2012 but never got around to it with all the redundancy, moving cities, getting a new awful job etc etc that happened in that year. But I would really like to do this. I'm making myself some pocket money via amigurumi and selling them to people at work and I would like to explore the possibility of building up some stock and seeing if I can find somewhere to sell it.

8. Beat my 10k time
A bit of a biggy! When I'm in to my running big time I really enjoy it and love it. I am signed up to one 10k race in Hull (hopefully it will actually be 10k and not 8k like in 2013!) and there's the potential for another two in the pipeline. I'm never going to be a super brilliant runner but that doesn't mean I shouldn't aim for improvement and why not give it a go. This is a big not really resolution because I'm not a particularly fast runner, but also because as I type I'm currently laid up with a very bad knee. I hurt it just before Christmas and three weeks later I'm still laid up with it. Having been to the Drs I've been told that I may have a meniscus tear - I've got to wait another 2 weeks before returning to the Drs, but in the meantime I have a physio appointment lined up to see if I can get it fixed. It could well mean that there will be no 10k running, let alone beating my previous times!

The last 10k I ran was the Whipsnade Zoo Stampede in June 2013 which I ran with Lucy. My time was 1:09:26 so that's the time to beat!

And there we have it.

There are only eight resolutions this year, as compared to the ten that I have done in previous years, but I honestly couldn't think of anything else that I wanted to do. When I asked The Person if he could think of another two things that I could add he looked at me as if I'd finally lost it and said "Why don't you just do eight?" I figured he had a point.

So. Here we go again! Let's try and aim for a more successful rate than last year's 20%!