31,536,000 second chances

My last two New Year’s Eves have been terrible. 2011’s festivities started out fine, and then one of my then-boyfriend’s family members got into some kind of fight, cracked his jaw open , which gave way to a night full of dramatic tension. That was fabulous…  As for 2012, I thought it was going to be great. My sister and her friend visited me from our home town, and I was living with my then-boyfriend. I thought maybe we’d be able to go and see the fireworks over the Brisbane River. But it turned out my sister and her friend were both getting over break-ups, so they passed out at 10.30. So I thought my ten-boyfriend and I could go and watch the fireworks in person, but he passed out at about 11. (None of these episodes of unconciousness were alcohol-induced, just by the way). So I was left to watch the Sydney Harbour fireworks on my laptop by myself.

So this year, I gave up. I stayed home with Mum, watched a movie, and then brought in the New Year with an episode of Castle. No alcohol, fireworks, or merriment. Just another night. Because we put too much emphasis on having an awesome NYE and it never goes as planned. So why try to fight the inevitable? I prefer the feeling of New Year’s Day: knowing that a blank slate of 365 days is awaiting you. Of course, that’s true of any day in the calendar year, but New Year’s Day is like pressing the reset button. Especially for this year, seeing as I plan on moving interstate. Far away from the dramas of 2013. The freshest of starts.

My 2013 was fine. Nothing special. I mean, I graduated from my first degree (Bachelor of Fine Arts [Creative and Professional Writing]), but I am actually continuing my studies so that I can become a practicing psychologist. Then  the plan is to go into “creative writing as therapy”, like art therapy but with words instead of paint. While researching “creative writing as therapy” I found that I both have to move to London (sweet, right?) and complete another twelve month course in order to be qualified. So I’ve passed a milestone, but I have a long way to go yet. 2013 also brought about the end to a four year relationship, resulting in me working myself too hard and gaining a total of just under ten kilos (stress eating + silly season = not a great time for waistlines). Plus, I had some pretty serious family drama.

Everyone has stories like these. And it’s on New Year’s Day that you can reflect, see how you made it through, saw what you were made of, and how you can use that knowledge to your advantage for the coming year. That knowledge usually boils down to New Year’s Resolutions. Those promises people make to themselves and keep for about a week. I’m guilty of it. In fact, the only year I kept my New Year’s Resolution was back in 2007, when I made a promise to myself to get fit and I managed to go from a size 14 (just. I’d gone clothes shopping with Mum and I tried on my usual size 12, didn’t fit, so I decided to lose weight instead of being labelled a size 14) to a size 9 (just. I had one pair of jeans that were a size 9. And to think I used to think I was chubby. Ha, I’d kill to be a size 9 at the moment. Back at 14. Yay).

So I want to keep my resolutions this year. The most important one is the whole weight thing, because of the health and self-esteem benefits blah blah blah. BUT I also want to get published at some point this year, as well as manage to save enough money to spoil myself for my 22nd birthday. (My last two birthdays? Kind of like my New Year’s Eves: disappointing. Definitely fixing that this year). And maybe, after that, save up for my very first trip to London. That would be magnificent.

POSTSCRIPT:
One of my favourite bloggers, thebookboozer, nominated me for my very first blogging award! I was so flattered, and my head may have grown a fraction of a couple of inches.  So here’s a little cyber shout-out: thank you so much!

So, here are the rules for accepting this prestigious award:

Rules for accepting the Awesome Blog Content (ABC) Award:

• Display the Award on your Blog.
• Announce your win with a post and thank the Blogger who awarded you.
• Present 8 deserving Bloggers with the Award.Link your awardees in the post and let them know of their being awarded with a comment.
• Write a word or phrase about yourself for each letter of the Alphabet.

So, here’s the award:

And here are my eight nominations (in no particular order. I’ve always wanted to say that!):

1. The Collective
   This particular blog shares my obsessions: Doctor Who, Sherlock, Harry Potter, ships, YA, and validates my love for all things fictional. I love these guys, go check them out!
2. thebookboozer
   Can you nominate someone once they’ve been nominated? Oh well, too bad. Sometimes it’s like reading my own thoughts on the screen. If you love YA, Neil Gaiman, and honest, relatable book reviews, check out this blog
3. eASYbAKED
   I stumbled across this blog completely by accident, but the recipes on here are incredible. I like to dabble in baking when I’m not feeling too overwhelmed, or too body conscious. I would have made twelve of the peanut butter cup cheesecakes already if my local Woolies actually stocked them! Check this out!
4. britishaisles
   I don’t think I have to explain this one. I am in love with all things British and Britain is all this blog talks about. In a totally entertaining way! If you too long to have a British accent, and have Union Jacks all over your décor, then this blog is for you.
5. allisontait.com
   I found this blog on my WordPress reader, so I hope it is actually WordPress, but oh well if it’s not. If you’re a writer, want to be a writer, or just like well-written blogs, this one if for you.
6. Scum Mag
   I didn’t realise this was a WordPress account until I looked it up on my phone one day when my first update lit up my mobile inbox. This is an online journal, a little left-of-centre, that publishes the most impressive and entertaining stuff. I first heard about it in one of my classes, so I think its Aussie. So all of my international followers should check it out: Aussie writers are sorely under-represented outside of our sunburnt country
7. Waiting for Satan
   This is one of those blogs that entertains and has a message. A little  like The Oatmeal, but less polished. And that is a good thing. The post about the temper tantrum the American politicians threw because Obama wanted to do some good? Hilarious. You need to read this blog.
8. Interesting Literature
   Last, but definitely not least. This blog posts all sorts of awesome trivia about literary things. Like Sherlock Holmes, which was the first entry I ever read. If you need to show some of your hipster friends up at a party, particularly now it’s the New Year, read this blog before you go. They’ll hand over their plastic spectacles in a heartbeat, I promise.

And now for the Alphabet of Me:

A: ambitious
B: brown-eyed
C: clumsy
D: determined
E: eager
F: forgetful
G: graduate
H: hungry (at present)
I: independent
J: jocund
K: kintsukuroi
(a noun meaning  ” to repair with gold”; the art of repairing pottery with gold or silver lacquer and understanding that the piece is more beautiful for having been broken.) 
L: loving
M: moral
N: nostalgic
O: open-minded
P: psychologist (one day!)
Q: quirky
R: reader
S: scripturient
(an adjective meaning “to have a consuming passion to write”)
T: tsundoku
(a noun meaning “buying books and not reading them;
letting books pile up unread n shelves or floors or nightstands”)
U: untidy
V: veracious
W: warm
X: – there are no words, starting with x, that describe me. I’ve never even had an x-ray! –
Y: young
Z: zaftig
(a real word, I swear, used to describe a plump woman without those horrible connotations. I love Google)

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