Oh Yea, Its Gonna Happen...

So you now how my conceptual goal for the new year was  To honestly speak my mind, instead of hoarding emotional crap until i explode in a sudden, and fierce, inferno of rage/jealousy/melancholy ? Oh yea, i am totally going to be working on that and i feel that te very first instance of this "speaking my mind " will be happening in the near future. Probably next week. See one of my co-workers is just really getting on my nerves, even though we are only 2 days into the working year, and i'm afraid that i'm just going to have to tell him. And it just wont be pretty.

This guy is lazy, obnoxious, and overly opinionated ( though he very rarely has any fact or anything resembling real information/experience to back these opinions up ). He wheedles his way out of work as often as he can, spends hours of the work day pottering around doing pretty much nothing, and even when he's at his desk its under extreme duress and all he does is complain. If i were unfortunate enough to have have to sit beside him i think i would have leaned over and whacked him by now. As it stands, my desk is across the office and i can choose to ignore him, most of the time. But when he skulks into the lunch room while i'm trying to read and enjoy my lunch break, and complains that he's so exhausted ( despite being childless, in his 20's and still living with his parents, so no real exhausting responsibilities ), that he hates this place and its draining him and blah blah blah... well, that just gets on my goat.

If its so bloody unbearable, then QUIT. YOU ARE MAKING THE OFFICE A MISERY FOR THE REST OF US. If my mother has the balls, at the age of 48, to admit that she dislikes her workplace and its atmosphere enough to quit and find another job - which she did ( she started her new job today... ) - then maybe he should grow a pair and do the same.

Too harsh? My resolution doesnt really include being unnecessarily mean, but believe me, this little diatribe will have been a long time coming and will be on behalf of the entire office. Tune in next week to see if it comes to fruition...

I Solemnly Swear: New Years Resolutions 2011

Ooh, my first post for 2011 - how exciting! Except not really, because its one of the obligatory " New Years Resolution " posts that every blogger worth their salt is doing. Mine probably wont be all that much different, but what the hell ? Read on anyway!

#1 - The Conceptual Goal - that is, the thing that i would like to work on whose success and/or failure can not really be physically measured. ( You still with me ? ) Last time i went with the whole abstract, emotional, personal goal thing was 2009, a year in which i promised myself i would say " yes " more often than " no ", thus opening myself up to opportunities i would normally have missed out on. And what did that get me ? A gorgeous fiance, and a crazy, cheeky, spunky baby boy. So the whole conceptual thing kind of worked out for me. So whats the brief for this year? To honestly speak my mind, instead of hoarding emotional crap until i explode in a sudden, and fierce, inferno of rage/jealousy/melancholy. So there you have it - this coming year i will actively try and let others know how i'm feeling, when i'm feeling it, instead of trying to hold my tongue in a vain attempt to keep everybody happy ( everybody except me that is ). I have learned the hard way over the year just gone that no matter how much you hold in, no matter how you want to keep the peace, that sometimes its just not worth it ( and some people will never be happy, regardless of what you do, so you may aswell just get the truth out there from the start ).

#2 - The Physical Goal - that is, as opposed to the conceptual, the thing i would like to work on that whose succes and/or failure, can be seen, felt and measured. Like... wait for it.... weight loss! Oh yea, me and a bazillion other people around the globe, all jumping up on the weight loss bandwagon. As you know, i'm already on that particularly slow thrill ride, but my resolution is : To stay on the path to weight loss, to accept that it may be a long, slow journey, and to hit my pre-pregnancy weight of 67 kilo before November 5th. Which, for those of you cant remember, or do not know, is the date of my wedding. So that gives me roughly 10 months to lose 8 kilos-ish. Thats an achievable goal, right ? I think going into the second hase of Operation Slimdown back in September i was under the impression that the whole weight loss game would be a bit easier. What i forgot is that i'd had a baby and had nowhere near as much time i'd previously had to dedicate to exercise. Now, i think i realise its going to be a little more slow going, and that if i just persevere i will make my goal and be gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawjus on my wedding day!

A Belated - Happy New Year!

So a Happy New Year to all of you peoples out there. Hopefully you all found yourself in the company of good people in the countdown to 2009, and with a bit of luck hopefully you got to kiss at least one of those people. I got me a little New Years peck from an old school friend of my brothers which is not exactly what i had in mind, but hey - i'll take what i can get.

By far the highlight of my New Years was .... the birth of my neice! Welcome to the world little Isabella Grace. Yes, thats right regular blog followers, the impending new baby ( who was due on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day mind you.... ) finally arrived at 2:23am on New Years Day. Happy New Years to everyone in my family. And not only did she finally arrive, but she happened to be the first baby born in our region for 2009. How cool is that ? She gets to be in the local paper and, thus, will go down as part of local history. Bella is totally going to be famous when tomorrows addition comes out! Hopefully i'll be able to post a picture tomorrow, or at least give you a link to our local newspaper, if you want to check out my gorgeous new neice for yourself.

And now, for the part you've all been waiting for - or at least, the part you've been expecting: my resolutions. I've never been the type to sit and make a very specific list of what i want to achieve. I know some people think that putting your EXACT goals on paper and sticking them on your fridge/closet/bathroom mirror is a great way to self-motivate; I, however, am of the opinion that if you leave your goals as general as possible, you wont be disappointed if you couldnt do EXACTLY what you wanted, but you'll appreciate what you did do. Does that make sense ? For example, if you say " I want to save $5000 by the end of the year " and at the end of the year you only have $4500, you'd probably be a little letdown, wouldnt you ? But if you made your resolution " I'd like to save as much money as possible during the year " well, $4500 doesnt look so bad, does it ? So, in the spirit of leaving myself open to all possibilities and not tying myself to one specific thing, here are the three things i want to achieve during 2009:

1. I resolve to continue the gym and health routine I started in 2008. During the past year, I managed to not only start regularly going to the gym, but i kept it up. I've fallen off the wagon a little in the past two months, seeing as i've been a little under the weather, but i am pysched to get back into it. And, not only do i resolve to continue the gym going, but i also intend to push myself just that little bit harder when i can, instead of resting on my laurels.

2. I resolve to spend as much time as is possible with my neices. For the record, that would be H who is now 3, and the previously mentioned newborn Isabella. I like to think i'm a great aunty ( i was going to say good but you know what ? I'm actually GREAT ) already, but i know their have been times in the past year or so that i could have asked if H would like to do something with me, or times when we have been playing and i've given up the game just a little too early. I know she " loves my guts " - as she's just become fond of saying - and want little Bella to be the same way. I want to have the loving, nurturing , " My Aunty Amy is the bestest! " kind of relationship that i've never had with any of my aunts or uncles.

3. I resolve to say " yes " more often that I have done in the past. No, I havent been to see " Yes Man " with Jim Carrey. The truth is i've kind of come to this conclusion on my own - i've kind of missed out on a tonne of stuff because i said no. I said no because i didnt know anybody else who was going to be there; I said no because i was too tired or too lazy to make the effort to go; I said no because i was afraid how things would turn out in the end. Now i'm thinking even if things dont turn out all that fantastically, at least thats an experience right ? I've had a great 2 weeks over this holiday period because i've said " yes ", even when i would only know one person at birthday drinks, or two people out of 40 at a bbq - if i'd listened to the old me, i wouldnt have gone. And i wouldnt have rocked as hard as i did! I've made at least one new friend ( who may be a mother of 5 but she's pretty neat ) and a handful of acquaintances in only two weeks - imagine what i could do in a whole year of saying " yes " ?

And thats about it for now. I was thinking of doing a couple of " Best of " lists - say, my top 5 best movies of 2009, for example - but i've been too consumed by baby cuteness to think that much. Give me another week and i might have come up with them....