Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you all had a nice New Years Eve and got into 2009 safely! My initial plan for New Year's Eve was taking the train to Sneek to celebrate with friends. Unfortunately I fell ill and had to stay home. I was able to have a good time online with dislp38, MikeKuypers, Denyse, Archy_sailor and Bear1 at some point fifer1863 and Gregory_K were added to the fun. Thanks guys for the laughs.

During the day I did nothing special. I am feeling better because I moved taking my prescription drugs to the evening (at dinner time) instead of in the morning. I tried it before, but then it didn't work, but now it seems to work fine. Here's hoping it will last. Now I have more energy to do things, I decided to work on my backlogs that have been building up when I was feeling very miserable.

Lots of laundry had to be done, there was a gigantic pile of dishes, the glass and paper had to be taken out and the place needed to be cleaned up. I didn't finish that yesterday, so I moved on working on it today. Currently I'm taking a break from ironing because it takes a toll on my back. I'm still not 100% and I didn't go to Mass today. Hopefully I'm able to go next Sunday.

Traditionally January 1^st is the time we reflect back on the achievements of last year and start working on our new goals. I did just that. I went a year back in the blog archives to find out how well I did. Last year I had these goals:

I came up with a couple of New Year's Resolutions:

1. Learn more about how to do Time Management: I started a new job last October, I will start my graduation programme in February, I spend a lot of time in soc-nets, playing games on the PC, I want to start podcasting and put up my own website to host my own blog and my articles. I don't have a clue how to do all those things. Therefore I will have to learn to juggle with these things, given the fact that one day has only 24 hours.
2. Lose more weight to prevent me getting diabetes II: I started losing weight last year, but due to stress and a complete turnaround in my life style I stopped exercising and eating very irregularly. No wonder the weight came all back This year I'm determined to get it off and make it stay off. The reason I have to do it is that I'm at high risk getting diabetes. So I have to get it off, preferably before end of this year.
3. Read my unread books on my book shelf: I've been studying so hard and busy with other stuff that my books began piling up. So there are over twenty books sitting on that shelf and the row keeps growing. So I need to do something about it. I really need to learn time management.
4. Get started with graduating in Psychology: I applied for graduation school at Open University in The Netherlands and probably can start with it in February. Which means I desperately need to learn to prioritize.
5. Spend more time with my off line, real life friends: My friends live all over the place. Last year I couldn't visit them because I didn't have money and it looks like this year the excuse seems to become 'I don't have the time'. I don't want to let this happening, so I need to free up time to visit my friends on a regular basis. They happen to live everywhere in the country by now, so scheduling it will be quite hard.

Looking back I'm actually proud about my achievements: I DID migrate my blog to self-hosted and started to write articles and the like, and I DID start my own podcasts.  I also managed to read some books, didn't buy a lot of new books, so the "still to read row" in my book shelf is still shrinking. I managed to schedule more time visiting my offline friends and I started the Psychology degree at Open University. That's not bad at all! The only thing that went south was my weight because I had to start taking these drugs in April and the side effects were brutal. I also managed to go out on a holiday trip to Austria and Bavaria for the first time ever AND I became a Catholic in 2008. It's not bad at all.

So for 2009 I want to keep up the good work. I have listened to Fr. Roderick's New Year's Resolution Tips on his Dutch podcast and he suggested choosing twelve small goals, one for each month. That's easier to achieve then one big goal. Therefore I did some thinking:

1. Starting a healthy Catholic lifestyle: Starting January 1 (so today) I will start living a healthier life, meaning eating the right stuff, don't overeat and count the calories. A also re-start doing Maya's exercise routine again, which helped me lose 15 kg earlier. On the spiritual side I want to increase my prayer life, by praying the Breviary.
2. Regular posting of new content: because of my poor time management I was very irregular with podcasting and blogging. Off course my current medical situation played a big role, but I think I'm able to make it more regular by planning it better and by using WordPress' ability to schedule posts. The idea will be produce the stuff and queue it up, so I don't need to worry  about updated drying up. If something happens there will be enough material in the queue to cover for it.
3. A Drug Free Life: In March I want to stop taking my current medications, so I can resume normality again. The medications helped me in the past, but are hindering me now to work 100% because I am tired and feeling weak all the time.
4. Finding a Job: In April I start applying for jobs, hoping get something that pays reasonably well so I will have more money to spend.
5. Trying to get more active in the parish: At the moment I'm doing some stuff for the sattelite parish, for student, but nothing substantial. I want to apply for the Cathedral Choir (they asked me a couple of times to join them already).
6. Flying to the United States for the Catholic New Media Celebration in San Antonio, TX. I try to save up money to pay the plane ticket so I can go there plus some extra money to stay a bit after the CNMC as a vacation. I want to be back in the Netherlands somewhere in July.
7. Set up a savings account for finishing my room: when I moved in I had no money, so I lack a lot of basic stuff like chairs to sit on. After returning from the US I want to stay frugal and save money to get myself some cupboards, kitchen chairs and a chair for my desk.
8. Have the Student Parish at KEI: Every year in August there's a introduction week for all freshmen of the University and another college. Hopefully we can work out something to be visually present and evangelize there, for example, distributing free 'water of life' and have a special Mass at the end of the week.
9. Starting Open University's Graduate School: I could not finish the courses that allow me to enter the final year, but want to work hard so I can start in September 2009.
10. Rosary Month: October is the Month of the Rosary. I want to do something with evangelization and spreading the devotion to the Rosary. Want to pray the Rosary every day in October.
11. Adventide: Think of a project to stimulate people prepare for Christmas during Advent in the parish and online together with our local Catholic 'think tank'
12. Clergy Appreciation Month: Establish something in the parish for the religious and the clergy to honor them and their dedication to the church.

I know it's ambitious, but I know I can do it, like I did most of the things and some more last year. I want to start my apostolate and hopefully I can get a job that enables me to do as much as I can for the cause. Ora et Labora.

Posted under Daily Life