new year, new leaf

i didn't manage to meet too many of last year's goals, but i did get several of them done and some of the others i made a bit of progress towards - i borrowed a flute for a few months, even though i didn't get to buy one, and that was grand and made me realise how much i've missed having one. so most things on the list i did get at least partway towards even if i didn't get to a point where i could tick them off. i think the only one i totally failed on was the weight loss - i went backwards - but one out of a whole list isn't bad, i think. still, aiming to do better with this year's list. there've also been some surprise achievements in 2009 which i couldn't have foreseen - 2 performances of my music and a film score commission for a start, selling a score, and tons of random travel for a follow-up!

this year, the situation's a little different. i'm working, for a start - have just been extended till may - so a lot of the things i'm thinking about now are to do with coping with work, keeping sane and healthy and just maintaining a balance between the things i have to do and the things i want to do. we're also becoming increasingly aware, with the impending departure of two very dear friends from these shores, of both our limited time (for now at least) on this side of the world and the things we want to do before we have to leave.

so without more ado, here's what i'm hoping to achieve this year, all neatly categorised. i'm updating it as i go along - achieved things are in grey/strikeout, while failed things are in mauve.

music

• start work on recording a cd of piano music with my friend cashman first steps taken for this we've talked about it and I've started putting together a list of possible pieces to include and to finalise layout/publication stuff for those pieces
• enter one call for scores february: sent egg the 8th and the 2nd whitman song off for consideration for the borealis festival in norway. performed in march :-)
  
• work on my ear training a little each week, or at the very least once a month
• write a new piece for consideration for this year's london new wind festival (the mob who played my pieces of eight last year) working on the last tweaks to this now - it's going to be performed on 28 September!
  
• explore some of the unlistened-to corners of my cd collection
• upgrade to the latest version of finale - this can't be too hard - it's a claimable expense! done at the end of january - and it's AWESOME! why did i wait so long??

general creativity

• keep an illustrated journal/sketchbook for the year as a way of trying to draw more regularly (but i'm not going to try to shoehorn myself into this one as to how often i do it or commit myself to filling the book)
• if finances and time permit, i'd still like to do another course at central st martin's - maybe the drawing london on location one once the weather warms up a bit more
• knit a hat and gloves to go with the green strangling vine scarf that doesn't match anything
• try recycling some yarn into a new project - help to clear some of the worn-out jumpers i'm not wearing without having to throw them out
• bake pumpkin scones
• try to clear some of the collage materials i've got lying around by working in my composition journal/new journal every couple of months so the collection doesn't get too out of hand or irrelevant. hmm. been working on collages, but mostly on the ipad which doesn't really solve the collage box problem. need to rethink this item possibly.
  
• finish writing my web book. i'm about a third of the way through the first draft now, but if i leave it too long it won't be relevant. aiming to have the first draft finished by the end of june, final draft no later than october. first draft fail :-( final draft fail :-(
  
• learn enough crochet (*shudder*) to do a crochet cast-on for knitting.

health & sanity

• bring my weight under control again. i'd like to have it down to under 70kg by about august (i'm 76kg at the moment, thanks to a year of no exercise and the excesses of christmas), and be able to maintain that right through till next christmas. partial fail. 70kg by august turned out to be impossible as ankle didn't really start improving till august, but the numbers are gradually shrinking, thank heavens. less is definitely more. 31/12: revised back to TOTAL fail
  
• as part of point one, i want to start doing some regular exercise again, preferably of a couple of different types - wii, walking, yoga, etc. obviously this has to wait until the sprained ankle is fixed... august: starting to do this - walking several times a week now and have pretty much decided to join the gym. it's been a difficult road though - while the ankle really started to improve in august it's still having regular setbacks. overall moving forward, but not in any sustained and reliable way.
  
• walk part of the thames valley path
• cook at least 5 recipes out of my new greek cookbook - january: chicken souvlaki, mushroom pilaf, february: tomato pilaf, drunken pork, chicken with fresh oregano (although made with dried oregano but that doesn't sound so enticing)
• eat less sugar. i want to cut out buying sweets pretty much altogether doing well with this one - i don't really think about sweets much any more. haven't bought chocolate in quite a while. generally only buying them when i really really specifically want something, which is sort of the point i wanted to get to. yay
  
• take more time over things and do more things that force me to take time over them, like drawing, knitting and baking. get out of the habit of rushing everything
• try to learn some techniques to deal with the headaches without drugs, seeing as how they seem to be becoming a semi-permanent part of my life - pilates, perhaps, maybe some stress management stuff i did a relaxation session with my physio which has helped stress levels. basically, though, the headaches stopped once i had stopped work and the initial stresses of parental visitation's early stages were over. obviously i should neither work nor socialise...
• allocate one evening per week again for composition, plus one hour per other evenings for getting essential admin stuff done - updating accounts, writing emails, paying bills, clearing my inbox - so far so funky (february) - managing to do a little composition every night, even! august: been getting into a fairly regular groove with this recently - well, the composition, at least, which is the main thing. inbox fail, but that's next on the list to tackle. 31/12 update: composition progress with this one turned out REALLY well. the inbox stuff never really quite got there, but i'm pleased the first step was working.
  
• re-read getting things done 31/12: started this again about a week ago, so it's not really fully done but at least it's underway
• get back to doing my weekly review every week, however roughly ah... on again, off again
  
• clean up my desk at least once every couple of weeks. um. not really a success
  
• declutter a bit - get rid of some clothes that i can't wear in public, read and dispense with at least 2 books. july - got rid of 3 tshirts I don't wear to the charity shop. haven't really had much time for reading, but i've finished 1 i can get rid of at least - michael palin's hemingway's chair (a good read - glad i read it, but don't think i'll be wanting to re-read it, or at least not before we go back to aus)
  
• cull the damn time out magazines. fed up with the huge pile. done! before the move too!
  
• sleep
• take regular weekends out to do bugger-all
• review my commitments, social networks, chores, and see where i can simplify and/or cull.

travel

• do at least two of the following travel things i want to do before we leave the northern hemisphere:
  • barcelona
  • prague
  • walk across luxembourg
  • spend 2-3 days in the louvre
  • visit the palais de tokyo in paris
  • properly explore the garden of the musée albert khan in paris
  • walk through the bois de boulogne in paris (sensing a theme here?) well, i did go to paris, but unfortunately i was too crippled and in far too much pain to do any of these things :-(
    
  • go back to cornwall with djeli and spend a good full day at the eden project. go to tintagel
  • spend a weekend in the tate in liverpool
  • holiday in the lake district
  • visit a german christmas market this was on the list as something to do with parents, but a combination of urgent composition deadline, extreme weather, houseguests and impending christmas made it no longer feasible
    
  • road trip through italy
  • corfu
  • go back to the greek islands
  • do a residential cookery course somewhere - greece, italy or france, probably
  • go and visit haiku in sweden
  • edinburgh. festival time! spent 4 days in edinburgh in august - awesome! i can't wait to go back!
    
  • bruges
  • go off somewhere on my own for a week/end of composition
  • attend a summer festival
  • attend dartington summer school

other

• clear my debt with djeli
• buy a new camera if i find one i like and can afford - this one's causing me too much stress, and then disappointment when the photos turn out rubbish (not to mention time trying to fix them in potatoshop). done. invested in a canon g11, which i'm really loving - well worth it!
  
• have a real birthday party while we still have friends (plural) in the country. fail. too much going on with the house-hunting and i never got around to organising it. heigh ho.
  
• start making regular backups of my computer

Comments

[kitty]

[this is good] a lot of great stuff on these lists! I especially like "walk across Luxembourg" - what a fabulous idea!