December Check in - January Goals

I'm really not sure how I have done this, but this is the 366th post for the year 2020. I didn't set out to do it, but there - I've written something every day over the last year. I know most if it has been bollox, but It's something. It's also a great documentary of what this year has been to me. 

Coming out of 2020, I'm looking at the good things that have happened.

• I'm fitter
• I weigh less
• I'm better read
• I'm better written in so many ways
• I'm down one relationship, but I'm seeing this as a good thing
• I feel more resilient
• I'm employed in a job I like, with good people in a good company
• And I'm currently one cat up (but missing my normal one terribly - Nanny is loving having him)

As is my way, I'm not doing New Year's resolutions - I prefer the monthly goals - they seem to work better for me, gets more done. 

So here's what got done in December:

Read four books plus finish the one I'm reading. 

Done and more. I finished the following:

• The Girls by Emma Cline
• Love Marriage in Kabul by Sanaz Fotouhi (one of my Faber classmates)
• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
• The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
• Becoming by Michelle Obama (Audiobook, but these count)
• Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (Audiobook - and an excellent casted one it was too)

And I'm about halfway through The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. And a quarter the way through the audiobook of Girl, Woman, Other by Berndarine Evaristo (with a narrator who makes some interesting pronounciation choices - very West London). 

It was a great reading month. I'm hoping to read 40 books in 2021. 

Write more of the novel.

Some got written. Not enough, but some got done. 

Exercise five days a weeks:

Nearly but not quite. I'm back in the gym four times a week at least, I just fell off the wagon when I went to Adelaide - bit that's Christmas and to be expected.

Book some tickets for some theatre:

Not only did I book some tickets, I went to an actual play - A Midsummer Night's Dream in the Botanical Gardens. It was light, it was fun and it was bloody cold but it was so good being back seeing people on stage again. 

Use the vouchers I found's

I'm getting through these. Have a facial booked early January to help rid myself of the Endota vouchers. I've seen a few films, taking the money on the Hoyts and Village vouchers down a bit. 

And the goals for January:

At least half an hour of novel writing a day

I want to have a first draft of this novel done by June, so again, needs to be done. And I like it. 

Exercise five days a week

This one really works for me - I feel so much better for doing the exercise - keeps me happy. 

Paint out the flat

I have until 23 January to get the bulk of this done. Today, I'll kill off most of the spare room now that I can get into the kitchen and the plumbers have gone. This is a big job, but we will prevail. I want the back of this broken by the time I drive over to Adelaide to collect the cat. 

Read four books

Another repeating goal, but it works for me. I want to get through forty books over 2021, so may as well get off to a good start. Audiobooks for long drives do help this. 

See three movies in a cinema (COVID Allowing)

Again, I want to get back into the cinema - I missed it last year.

And over 2021 I would like to see the following movies:

• The Godfather Trilogy
• Django Unchained / The Hateful Eight / Inglorious Basterds
• Spritied Away / Howl's Moving Castle
• The Marvel films I've missed over the years

Well, I'm signing off my final post of 2021. There is a bit of pride attached to this - it's been a commitment, but I'm glad I've done it. 

And now I've got to get painting before going out, masked up, for New Year's Eve.

Today's song (Somewhat appropriate):