2012 Resolutions

Noodle Arms on her first day of school in Adelaide. All shiny and new!

We all love shiny new things and new years are no different. Remember at school you'd get your brand new stationery at the start of the school year and you'd resolve to keep everything neat and draw your margins and whatever? The first half dozen pages of your exercise books would be laid out neatly and precisely, with your best handwriting... then the novelty wore off and the rest of it was filled with randomly scrawled notes and doodles in the corners that were block lettered, coloured-in words like "BORED BORED BORED STEVE NORMAN 4 EVA" written over and over. Or maybe that was just me.

I feel like I wasted a lot of last year because I wasn't well and I didn't do much of anything. I did watch a heck of a lot of TV though! This year I'd like to be a bit more adventurous and out there, but I haven't really decided what form that will take as yet, so I'll come back to that at another time. For now, here is my basic list of resolutions - I haven't included things like health and finances as they're ongoing goals that I intend to keep working on continually and will probably write about regularly. 

1. Complete the 50 Book Challenge. 

Since I wrote about 2011's failboat on that one, I have read one more book - Bossypants by Tina Fey. Not as funny as you'd think it would be, but it had its moments.

2. Disengage from work drama. 

My work is a vortex of drama and there's always something going on. In the last couple of months I've been fairly successful in disengaging, but towards the end of the year things blew up in a big way and I was sucked right back in for a while. Enough of that. It's boring and stressful and since I have a fairly solitary job where I can hide away for big chunks of time if I need to, that's what I'll be doing. I'm going to be crazy busy too, so that will be a good excuse to not get involved.

3. Find a sewing class that Noodles and I can do together. 

I asked her recently about doing something together like a cooking class, or yoga or even something like belly-dancing (to be honest, I was glad she said no to that one). She shot down most of my ideas so when I challenged her to come up with something she said she would like to learn how to sew. She is one of those girls who likes to 'tweak' her clothes to make them a bit more individual and she has a bit of an eye for fashion, so I am happy to encourage this interest. And it wouldn't hurt me to learn either - I can barely sew a button on a shirt. 

4. Meet some of my favourite bloggers and internet people. 

It's highly unlikely that I will be trekking overseas this year (unless I won that $31m lottery last night), but nI would really like do a few short trips and meet up with some people, such as Jade and Su in Sydney, Natalie in Melbourne, and pretty much all the WA girls, just to name a few. I don't do "events", which is why I've never gotten involved in the local blogging community, but individually there are quite a few people around the place I'd like to sit down and have a coffee or a cocktail with. 

5. Stop reading the news. 

Seriously, the news just makes me angry - mostly because of how utterly craptacular mainstream media is in this country. I just get riled up and ranty and it serves no purpose.

That's about it, really. I think they're all pretty doable. Now I'm off to read everyone else's resolution/New Year posts. 

I call this one Bobby Hill.

Goal #4 Walk Away From Drama Magnets

It's no secret I have a mouth on me. I don't like bitchiness for its own sake, but if I've got something to say I'll say it, and I'm not afraid of confrontation. I'm also not afraid of walking away from people who shit me, whether they're acquaintances, friends or even family. If someone pisses me off enough times, I will cull them. And I never regret it.

In 2012 I want to learn to cull quietly. There's no need for dramatics. There's no need for the "No, YOU suck!" sniping.

Just walk away. Leave the drama to the llamas. And the martyrs.

Goal #3 Get Good Hair

Have you ever noticed that when women hit a certain age they start getting a bit zany with their hair? Look around at all the middle-aged women with asymmetrical crops, stripey chunks of various reds and blondes, or a purple over-dye - often a combination of all three. And then they go and top it all off with a pair of 'statement' glasses in a bright colour like green or red. Their uniform is 3/4 crop loose pants (who talked about that once on Twitter? Dempeaux?), linen overshirts and chunky Pat Butcher-style costume jewellery.

I dread the day that I become one of those women, as I'm closing in on that age group. Last night I was watching the Eastenders omnibus (hence the Pat Butcher reference - she's probably what made me think about it) and pondering my ever-growing list of 2012 YOTA goals, and it occurred to me that I would really like to find a good hairdresser next year. I had one when I lived in Melbourne, and I had one when I lived in Geelong, but I've been here in Adelaide for nearly 8 years now and I've never managed to settle on anyone. As a consequence, my hair is looking a bit... less than stellar. It didn't help that half of it fell out a couple of years after moving here, which made me too scared to really do anything with it for a really long time. In my mid-late 20s a friend used to refer to me as "The Girl With The Perfect Hair" (stolen from a Things of Stone and Wood album title), because my hair was straight and shiny and I never needed to blow dry or mess about with it to get it to sit just the way I wanted it (double cowlick notwithstanding). It always looked nice and I was very vain about it. Since losing so much of it, it's still straight but no longer shiny, and it just sits lank and forlorn and won't hold a style no matter what kind of product I put in it or what fancy tool I use. Usually, I just put it up away from my face and get on with it.

I haven't had a hair cut since July last year. INORITE! I was going to Liquid Hair for a while, but the hairdresser I liked went on maternity leave, and even though their customer service is exceptional, the way they push products on you all the time really got on my nerves after a while and I just stopped going. 

I spent a few years in the late 90s with a chin length bob that I really liked, and I've noticed they've been making a reappearance lately, so I was half-considering going for the chop again. But without the same amount of hair I had before, I worry that it might just look like someone put a bowl on my head and cut around it. And my face is rounder than it was back then, so I run the risk of looking like Bert Newton in a Louise Brooks wig. I don't know... it's all so HARD.

So the goal is: find a hairdresser, get a really good cut, and decide on a colour. ONE COLOUR. No stripey chunks or single 'quirky' burgundy streak. I'm leaning towards light blonde. So expensive and so much upkeep, but I really like being blonde, and it suits me. Or maybe red. That makes my eyes look super green. Although, so does cherry black. Decisions...

Goal #2 50 Book Challenge

I attempted the 50 Book Challenge this year, with spectacularly unspectacular results. However, I did read a book on the weekend (Bossypants by Tina Fey - not as funny as you'd expect it to be), so there's one more to add to that fail list, at least. I don't know what the problem has been the last few years - I've always been a reader, and not so long ago I would have churned through that challenge twice over easily, but I seem to have the attention span of a goldfish these days. Any book that doesn't instantly grab my attention is cast aside, and back to my (TV) stories I go, staring vacantly at a screen while vaguely feeling my brain cells die off one by one.

I am determined to complete this challenge in 2012. I'm intending to take up some kind of study as well, so maybe that will spur me on to read more. Jade asked me the other day what books I was planning to read, and I couldn't think of much off the top of my head. I've been pondering since and come up with a list I would like to check out. I'm going to start by revisiting some of the works of Paul Auster, and catching up with those I haven't read. I know he's kind of wanky, but he's wanky in a good way - not in the Tim Winton OH MY GOD DOES THIS NOTHINGNESS EVER END kind of way.

I'm also seriously considering a Kindle. In fact, I've all but made up my mind to get one. When e-readers first appeared on the scene I was a staunch hold-out for paper, but the cost of books and the bulk of storing them is wearing me down. OKAY E-READER, YOU'VE GOT ME. Who's got one? Tell me all!

Also, please give me book recommendations, bearing in mind I'm not a big fan of crime novels aside from one or two authors, and I hate chick lit with a fiery passion. And I don't want to read The Slap.

Goal #1 - Money Money Money

I'm awesome at budgeting. Seriously. I can spend hours calculating the averages per month of every conceivable expense and fitting it all into a neat little chart that shows exactly what is coming in and what should be going out. However, what should be going out never seems to match with what does go out. Because I am what is known as a hardcore fritterer.

A fritterer is someone who spends a lot of money in small amounts, so it doesn't seem like a lot of money is being spent. A coffee here, a magazine there. Some Tic Tacs while buying milk, a new type of Black & Green's chocolate that I notice on the shelf at the local hippie shop while I'm stocking up on rolled oats and chia seeds. A $5 mascara in a throw out bin conveniently located while lining up at Chemist Warehouse waiting to pay for my vitamins. I think you get the point - I piss away a lot of money on fleeting, pointless, impulse purchases.

So my first goal for Year of the Tight Arse is to rein in the frittering. For the past few months I have been using an app called Toshl (there are loads of expense tracking apps out there, this is just one of them) to keep track of my spending. I haven't been religious about it, but just noting down for a couple of weeks here and there everything I buy. In one 7 day period I spent $36.70 on coffee. COFFEE. In the same period I spent $30.30 on lunch, and I have no idea how that happened, as I take my lunch to work almost every day. Other expenses in that week:

• magazines - $16.90
• macarons - $10.00 (note how they get their own category!)
• downloads - $14.18
• beauty products - $30.21
• cakes - $8.45 (again - own category!)
• water - $14.80

So you can see why what's in the budget doesn't match up with what's left in my hand at the end of each fortnight.

I haven't entirely figured out the best way to go about this. I am half-considering doing a summing up post each fortnight (as that's my pay cycle) of what I spent money on that I didn't need. Maybe seeing it written down might spur me to reduce that list each time. But I don't want to bore people senseless with lists of stuff. I don't know...

Are you a fritterer? Any tips to avoid impulse purchases greatly appreciated!