My resolutions from last year were as follows:
1. Resume my morning walk.
2. Be more frugal in general, this year. Pay down debts.
3. More specifically, don't leave the US this year (travelling is my most expensive indulgence).
4. Forget about the novel. Focus on production/sale of a non-fiction work on the criminal prosecution of insider trading.
5. Learn some Cantonese.
6. Don't lose glasses.
The results? I did pretty well on (1) -- walking early in most reasonably clement mornings.
I have succeeded with (3), but it is chiefly meaningful as a token of (2), and I can't claim success with (2) in general.
I haven't gotten anywhere with a work on insider trading, so black marks for that.
I didn't learn any Cantonese.
I have hung on to my glasses, but I can't give myself a gold star for that, since one of the two lenses keeps popping out. I need to get a kit and figure out how to fix that for myself when it happens.
It has been my custom at this point to let you in on my resolutions for the coming twelve months. I'm afraid that custom is one I have to bring to an end -- or at least a hiatus -- now. My resolutions for 2010 will have to stay offline. If things do work out, though, I'll tell you about it a year hence.
Showing posts with label Cantonese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cantonese. Show all posts
01 January 2010
01 January 2009
Resolutions, old and new
It's time to come to terms with my resolutions for 2008, and how I did or didn't do. Then to launch the new ones.
Last year at this time I wrote as follows:
1. Set my feet down in some far Eastern city at some point this year
2. Learn some Cantonese and/or Mandarin
3. Weigh no more than 180 at some point this year
4. Forget about agents, pitch my novel outline directly to book editors
5. The Met. In a Tux.
I can credit myself with success on points 1 and 5 on that list.
As to (2), I bought Cantonese-language tapes and listened to them prior to my travels. But the only but that has stuck in my mind is the word for "thank you," which I used liberally in Hong Kong. But I don't thing "dah-jay" (a more-or-less phonetic rendition of that word) by itself warrants a claim of success for (2)! I'm going to make it a carry-over.
Numbers (3) and (4) are even more abject failures. Further, I went backwards this year in one crucial respect. I've lost the habit of taking daily morning walks. I want to reacquire that one.
Also, I should mention here that I lost my prescriptionglasses well traveling in mid-December. I've been using drugstore glasses since. I've got to re-acquire new proper eyeglasses and resolve to get through a year without losing them.
The new list of resolutions is as follows:
1. Resume my morning walk.
2. Be more frugal in general, this year. Pay down debts.
3. More specifically, don't leave the US this year (travelling is my most expensive indulgence).
4. Forget about the novel. Focus on production/sale of a non-fiction work on the criminal prosecution of insider trading.
5. Learn some Cantonese.
6. Don't lose glasses.
Last year at this time I wrote as follows:
1. Set my feet down in some far Eastern city at some point this year
2. Learn some Cantonese and/or Mandarin
3. Weigh no more than 180 at some point this year
4. Forget about agents, pitch my novel outline directly to book editors
5. The Met. In a Tux.
I can credit myself with success on points 1 and 5 on that list.
As to (2), I bought Cantonese-language tapes and listened to them prior to my travels. But the only but that has stuck in my mind is the word for "thank you," which I used liberally in Hong Kong. But I don't thing "dah-jay" (a more-or-less phonetic rendition of that word) by itself warrants a claim of success for (2)! I'm going to make it a carry-over.
Numbers (3) and (4) are even more abject failures. Further, I went backwards this year in one crucial respect. I've lost the habit of taking daily morning walks. I want to reacquire that one.
Also, I should mention here that I lost my prescriptionglasses well traveling in mid-December. I've been using drugstore glasses since. I've got to re-acquire new proper eyeglasses and resolve to get through a year without losing them.
The new list of resolutions is as follows:
1. Resume my morning walk.
2. Be more frugal in general, this year. Pay down debts.
3. More specifically, don't leave the US this year (travelling is my most expensive indulgence).
4. Forget about the novel. Focus on production/sale of a non-fiction work on the criminal prosecution of insider trading.
5. Learn some Cantonese.
6. Don't lose glasses.
01 January 2008
Janus
Here we are again, and here are the two faces of Janus. It's time to come to terms with my resolutions for 2007, and how I did or didn't do. Then to launch the new ones.
Last year at this time I wrote as follows:
"1. Breakthrough at work (I'll leave the nature of it indefinite here -- but I'll know it if it happens)
"2. Weigh no more than 185 at some point this year
"3. Contact agents/editors who might be interested in my novel on antebellum US. Begin work on revisions.
"4. Be in Dublin for Bloom's Day
"5. Follow-up on Reason publication, place something else there."
I can credit myself with success on points 2 and 4 on that list.
I accomplished 2 in early November, and again in mid-December. I'll make a related resolution, going a bit further, for this year.
As to 3, I did contact some agents, but those who replied said they couldn't help me with the kind of book I'm trying to sell. And I did no work on revision at all. Black ball for me.
I was in Dublin, though, for Bloomsday 2007 and aye, a fun time I was havin'. There was no Bloomsday tour such as I had envisaged. There were various events that day centered on the James Joyce Centre, and I attended the breakfast. The novel has two breakfast scenes -- one at the castle and one at the Bloom household -- ingrediants from both were included. I also saw a play with a Joycean theme that evening, Himself and Joyce, and generally explored the city for myself the rest of my stay.
No follow-through on the Reason publication. Nor can I claim the kind of dramatic "breakthrough" I had in mind for my resolution 1 of last year, although my worklife has been satisfying in general this year. I feel that when a breakthrough comes, it will involve the rise of the far east within global finance and my ability to contribute to coverage of that trend.
So ... where is the new list of resolutions? Here:
2008
1. Set my feet down in some far Eastern city at some point this year
2. Learn some Cantonese and/or Mandarin
3. Weigh no more than 180 at some point this year
4. Forget about agents, pitch my novel outline directly to book editors
5. The Met. In a Tux.
Last year at this time I wrote as follows:
"1. Breakthrough at work (I'll leave the nature of it indefinite here -- but I'll know it if it happens)
"2. Weigh no more than 185 at some point this year
"3. Contact agents/editors who might be interested in my novel on antebellum US. Begin work on revisions.
"4. Be in Dublin for Bloom's Day
"5. Follow-up on Reason publication, place something else there."
I can credit myself with success on points 2 and 4 on that list.
I accomplished 2 in early November, and again in mid-December. I'll make a related resolution, going a bit further, for this year.
As to 3, I did contact some agents, but those who replied said they couldn't help me with the kind of book I'm trying to sell. And I did no work on revision at all. Black ball for me.
I was in Dublin, though, for Bloomsday 2007 and aye, a fun time I was havin'. There was no Bloomsday tour such as I had envisaged. There were various events that day centered on the James Joyce Centre, and I attended the breakfast. The novel has two breakfast scenes -- one at the castle and one at the Bloom household -- ingrediants from both were included. I also saw a play with a Joycean theme that evening, Himself and Joyce, and generally explored the city for myself the rest of my stay.
No follow-through on the Reason publication. Nor can I claim the kind of dramatic "breakthrough" I had in mind for my resolution 1 of last year, although my worklife has been satisfying in general this year. I feel that when a breakthrough comes, it will involve the rise of the far east within global finance and my ability to contribute to coverage of that trend.
So ... where is the new list of resolutions? Here:
2008
1. Set my feet down in some far Eastern city at some point this year
2. Learn some Cantonese and/or Mandarin
3. Weigh no more than 180 at some point this year
4. Forget about agents, pitch my novel outline directly to book editors
5. The Met. In a Tux.
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