Sunday, January 3, 2010

With This Decade/ New Year’s Resolutions

It might seem like a trite thing to do, but really, I haven’t made New Year’s Resolutions since we were forced to for an essay in 4th or 5th grade. I am not the type of person to only set personal goals that have to be completed within a year, because for me, everything in myself that I want to improve should be an ongoing work in progress.

However, 2009 has been absolutely terrible for me overall. I know that a lot of people say that the past year was crappy for everyone because of the economy and all, but trust me, a lot of my problems and the issues I had to face in 2009 were not caused by the recession at all. Therefore, I am determined to steer my life back into the right direction, starting in 2010.

Actually, I am really excited about the possibilities of this DECADE. I feel like decades apparently have a lot of impact on me. I was in Taiwan the first 12 years of my life, and then in 2000, we immigrated to California. Needlessly to say that from 2000 to 2010 brought on numerous and massive changes for me. Also, I graduated from elementary school in 2000 and I will be graduating from university in 2010! I really enjoyed my grade school experience and I certainly can say that the 4 years at Cal have been quite influential for me. As for the years of middle school and high school...they went by rather painfully and hazily. I couldn't get out of Modesto fast enough.

If things go my way, for 2010 to 2020, I plan on finding the right career path for me, finding the right apartment, have my family life finally settled down, and perhaps starting a family of my own? That last one kind of depends on a lot of things.

On a lighter note, I had my hair long (down to my waist for the most part) for almost a decade, and then I’ve had my hair short (always between touching my shoulders and ear length) for another ten years. I plan on growing my hair out starting this year.

It’s weird that I love consistency and stability for the core of things, yet I crave exciting changes and want variety all the time for the peripherals of things.

Anyway, onto my abridged version of my 2010 New Year Resolutions- some were taken out because they were too silly, some because they were kind of mundane.

1. Never fully trust someone until they have absolutely earned it: A lesson learned from the hard way. I really like being optimistic and I like to trust people, but I just keep getting disappointed. I should be cautious about giving second chances as well.

2. Get a kitty, or foster one, or at least try really hard at it: I adore cats. I am not going to get into a dogs vs. cats debate, but cats make me unbelievably happy. I really think that having a loyal and affectionate pet for a companion would be incredibly beneficial for when I graduate and move out of the campus.

3. Cook and bake according to recipes more: I used to always look up new recipes to try and plan on elaborate meals frequently, but I haven’t done it as often in 2009 due to various negative reasons. I know that it can be a very therapeutic and or rewarding activity for me though. I want to challenge making and possibly mastering pies, crème brulée, various kinds of soup, and quiche specifically. Next step will be soufflé! I also want to try cooking other type of cuisines. So far I have only really tried making Chinese, Italian, and American.

4. Stop caring so much about people and things when they are not worth it: Pretty self-explanatory. I am certain that I have wasted way too much of my energy and effort and time over a lot of unnecessary events in the past.

5. Waste less money and time: Need to manage money better and procrastinate less.

6. Elevate and maintain level of physical fitness: When I did sports in high school, it seemed like I would never run out of energy and get sick ever. It’s not practical for me to try to become that athletic again, but I really hope to have a better sleeping schedule and to keep up with yoga, Pilates, hip hop, and belly dancing. Also I reckon that if I work hard now, it’ll be easier to get into the habit of it for the later parts of my life.

7. Read more: And magazines do not count. Libraries are cool places.

8. Attend more concerts, performances, and exhibitions: My usual excuse was that I don’t have the time or money or that I am too lazy to travel that far for that experience. Such crap.

9. Appreciate more: As in myself, friends and family.

10. Maintain my high standards: Others always tell me that I expect too much of people, but honestly, I shouldn’t have to lower my standards. They should rise up to mine. I may sound like a unreasonable bitch, but really, I just expect everyone to be decent human beings.

The end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010 so far have been amazing for me (I will blog about my winter break once it is complete). I really hope that this will continue.

To wrap it up, to all my lovely fellow UC Berkeley (yes, I hella play favorites) recent and almost graduate friends, this decade is ours. Carpe diem.