follow your feet: Reflections on the New Year

Happy New Year! Because that happened… Another year, another minute, another second closer to death. But I guess that’s every minute of every day, isn’t it? Oh, happy days!

The New Year is normally a reflective time of year. Or at least, it might be, if you’re that way inclined. I’m not one of those ‘reflective types.’ I don’t own a mirror. The end. No, actually, I lie. I do own a mirror. I didn’t make time to ‘reflect’ this year. But I did have a fleeting realization that I actually managed to achieve one of my 2015 resolutions. Which was a shock; I felt quite clammy and faint for a while afterward. I, slightly ironically, managed to kill two birds with one stone by seeing my resolution through to the end. The first bird that I killed was by making the resolution a ‘thing’ and actually managing to do it. Not only that but I killed a second bird by fulfilling my life long dream of actually sticking to a New Year’s resolution. I feel that Tony Robbins would be proud of me! I am quite happy to minimize the details of the other five things on my ‘2015 resolution list’ that did not get done including, but by no means limited to do a be a nice person, eat healthily, stop taking your parents for granted and so it continues.

And just while I am blowing my own trumpet about getting things done, I want to talk briefly about today, Sunday 16^th Jan, 2016. To date, it is the most successful day of 2016 because today, I got my priorities back in order. I made a list of things to do today and in the number one spot was ‘have a nap,’ with number two being, ‘baking.’ So, yes, finally, after the chaos of China, the time in Taiwan, the near miss with the fucking tourists driving on the wrong side of the road up past Lake Dunstan on the way to Central and learning how illogical logical computers are after my first two weeks at work, life finally has had some order restored.

Anyway, back to the ‘reflective types’ while I wasn’t reflecting, a though occurred to me about 2016. I decided that seeing as in 2015, I had actually completed one of my resolutions and achieved a life goal of completing a New Years resolution (a life goal I didn’t know I had until after I had achieved it – the world works in mysterious ways) that in 2016, I would not set any resolutions. A wise person once told me that if you aim low, you can never be disappointed. Another close and personal friend of mine who likes to lurk in the shadows rather than in the spotlight has resolved not to make any changes to her current way of life. Her reasons are far more noble than mine. She reasons that this year, her resolution is to be thankful for what she has and where she is. Which is beautiful and noble. Just to clarify, both of these people are real. Not imaginary. Anyway, I too have decided not to resolve anything this year because I have no fucking clue what I am doing or where I am going. Which is fun, but not conducive to New Years resolutions. How can I resolve to be nice to people, if I don’t know who I am going to have to be nice to? Because, just being honest here, I really struggle to be nice to people that I don’t like and I don’t want to make a resolution that I can’t keep. Not any more. Not now that I know how great it feels to complete and achieve!

Sunny bliss /Central Otago, Home

Ooh, and I managed to make it out of China alive, which is fantastic! And I’m still more or less in one piece. I know that travelling is supposed to make you a more understanding and better person, blah blah blah. Think what you like, but I will say this, travelling to China has most definitely not made me any less racist. I have attached some photos after the long drought, now that my blog is not illegal an my internet works sufficiently.