New Year's Resolutions

Yes it may well be fully a fortnight into 2009, but I take my New Year's Resolutions seriously, so wanted to give them some proper thought.

Proper thought has been tough to come by of late, as with an ill baby you don't get a lot of sleep, and worry when you should be sleeping. Anyway, enough self-pity.  

Some things to learn:

Spanish. I have banned myself from saying, Yes, I speak Spanish, until I can use prepositions properly. 

To proof read emails for typos. I'm a dreadful typist, which is no excuse.   

Some things to be less dull:

To talk more about my child around those who care, and less when around those who don't (and to have the wisdom to see who fits which category).

Something to change:

To finish books that I start. (For interest, by my bed at the moments are books that I am reading. Reading in as much as I've started but haven't finished. They are: Mister Pip, The Learning Game, Gilead, The Piano Tuner, The Inheritance of Loss, Among The Believers... Open like web pages at the bottom of your screen.)  

Something to give up:

Going to the gym.

Swearing so much - just because it's in a different language doesn't mean it doesn't count. Apparently.

Somethings to start:

The use of sporting metaphors while teaching. It's time to stop being an intellectual snob. These are effective and make sense to students, and my dislike of them stems, on reflection, from people who can only use sporting metaphors and analogies. The exam kicks off at nine. I hpe you're polished your boots, we've trained for this...  My mind recalls a tedious assembly holding up the likes Wayne Rooney as a role model, saying that he brought out his natural talent on the training field, first to arrive, last to leave... and this is a lot like coursework, because...

Something for someone else:

Leah:

To not wake up the SECOND I sit down to do something. It's uncanny. 

Katie:

To wake up the SECOND Leah wakes up. 

Single ambition for 2009:

To see this side of 0700. At no point when becoming a father did I think I would have to take some sort of a monastic oath that meant I should see every sunrise for a calendar year. Enough. 

 

And that is that. Updates on relative success to follow.