Bonggggg.....bongggg....bongggggggg

SO hands up who did something nice for New Year? Come on, stick up your hand there if you went to a party, or met friends for champagne and fireworks, or snuggled up with your other half for a romantic evening?

Now hands up all of you who ate something rancid in a takeaway and then threw up in a bar, ruining everyone’s night with your bout of food poisoning?

Oh.

Only me then?

Yes, that’s right. Starting the year as I mean to go on, I spend most of New Year’s Eve feeling decidedly rotten after eating something (possibly gone off chicken/mayonnaise) in a fast food joint, which culminated in me retching in the pub, rushing to the loo to be sick and then going home early. (And before you smart arses out there say it, I wasn’t drunk, I’d only had three drinks.) Well Happy New Year to you too!

Apart from ruining the night for the people I was with, it was also a big disappointment for me because for once I had actually taken some time with my appearance and outfit and had gone out with the express intention of enjoying myself. Usually I hate New Year, so this was a new departure for me. I EVEN wore pointy red glamorous shoes, risking blisters and hobbling like an old woman for the rest of my days. But alas, it was not to be. I ended up in my night-dress, curled under the covers with a mug of tea by 12.15am. No midnight kiss for me!

On the upside I did have a very friendly taxi driver who, when I told him the reason I was going home early was because I was unwell, rolled down all the windows in the car for me and then didn’t stop at any red lights all the way home, not one! He also advised me to have some hot tea to settle my stomach and go to bed early AND he didn’t add any extra charges for New Year’s Eve like a lot of drivers do.

Aside from the bad start to the year though, I’m determined that 2006 is going to be better than last year. For various reasons I didn’t have a great 2005, one big factor being that I was seriously ill for most of it and had to undergo major surgery, which I’m in no hurry to repeat. Things appear to be improving healthwise (I’m down to eight pills a day from 16, woo!) and there are also positive changes happening at work and I feel older and wiser so I’m really determined to enjoy this year.

And so to New Year’s resolutions. Usually I break most of mine by January 3 at a push, so this year I decided to make resolutions I’m actually going to enjoy keeping! (I dropped the ‘run 10 miles a day’ one, shudder!)

I’m going to blog more often, probably once every two days, but definitely more than I have been doing up to now. Paul over at The Life and Times of an Irish Emigrant (the link’s there in my sidebar, lookit!) is also going to try to blog every second day so I’ll have to keep up with him!

I’m going to go to more museums, exhibitions and art galleries. It’s something I have a good interest in but up to now have just been too damn lazy to do it. Saturday mornings from now on will be for wandering around galleries NOT slouching in front of programmes for the deaf, moaning about my hangover.

I’m rejoining Weight Watchers (tomorrow night actually!) and I’m going to try 10 times harder to stick to it.

I’m going to re-instate my direct debits to charities. I had a couple set up, but then changed bank account details (long story) and never renewed my subscriptions. All it takes is filling out a couple of forms, a lot online, so that’ll be really easy.

I’m going to seriously look into doing some volunteering. For a while I’ve been thinking of giving up some of my time to help others, but haven’t been sure of how to go about it and have also been mindful of starting something and then quitting it (a big failure of mine). I want to be 100 per cent sure before I start so I’ll make an appointment with my local volunteer centre to see what advice they can give me. I’m thinking of maybe doing something with my writing skills with young people in my own area, if an opportunity like that is on the books. Watch this space for that one, it may take some time, but I’ll do something about it this year.

I think that’s enough to be going along with don’t you?! I’m off now to look up the opening times of the National Gallery. See? I’m doing it already! Mexican wave in celebration of me!

Pic: www.acustomdj.com