Resolutions

So, today the Christmas decorations are supposed to come down and the festive season is really over, which to me means I have all that cold winter to get through with very little else to brighten it up, and no cash left to spend either. Mind you, we still have plenty of wine and chocolate left over to see us through the dark nights, so it's not all bad...

Every year I tell myself I'm not making a New Year's resolution, but when it comes down to it I always end up with a big list of things I want to accomplish. I've come to realise this is a pretty bad idea, since it only leads to an inevitable feeling of failure a year later (of my ridiculously long list of about eight resolutions for 2007, I managed to achieve about two, and they were the easiest ones).

Anyway, since I have no money and no urge to go out into the cold, I think this year I'm going to stick to one resolution that involves staying in a lot - learning to play the guitar I bought for myself last year. It's been gathering dust for several months now, and I haven't managed to progress beyond playing the same few chords one after the other in very slow succession - mostly that's because I get frustrated with myself and give up too easily. I'm sure there are harder things I've managed to master, but those are mostly things I've done because I've had to. It's about time I did something just for the fun of it, so I'm determined to stick with it this time - and hopefully, in a year's time, I won't be re-reading this with a sense of failure...!

Pre-Christmas penny pinching

What a miserable git I am. It's a Friday night, and while everyone I know is out celebrating Christmas in one way or another, I'm staying in and studiously not spending money.

As an atheist, it's ridiculous to like Christmas as much as I do, but I really do love this season. I love that while it's cold and grey outside, town is lit up with decorations and people are getting dressed up and having fun together. I love the buzz in the office on the last few days before the holiday, I love the over-eating and I love getting to spend a good chunk of time with my family. But unfortunately, for about the fourth year running I have no funds to properly enjoy it all and am finding myself ducking out of social events for fear of going over budget... which makes me pretty poor company at the moment.

Don't get me wrong - I fully plan to go out on Christmas Eve, I've managed to buy what I think are decent presents without spending a fortune, and my closest friends and I are planning to share a cheap home-cooked meal tomorrow that will cost next to nothing. But it would be nice, just for once, to get to this point in the year without worrying about how I'll finance it.

Clearly, I either need a better-paid career, a wealthy benefactor or to stop moaning. And in the absence of millionaire friends or a job I would rather do for more money, I guess I should start thinking about a New Year's resolution to be a little more positive... so here's to some festive cheer and goodwill!