New years resolutions

[kodalai]

So I got around to making a list of New Year's resolutions. These pretty much apply only to the next eight months, until JET is up -- but then again, who can honestly say they keep a new year's resolution past that time, anyway?

Usually it is traditional to make some kind of resolution about health and diet -- eat less, exercise more -- but honestly, I bike at least 10km a day, every day, and there's just not very much junk food in Japan to eat. The only health-related resolution I could come up with was "Don't get scurvy."

So --

1. Start studying Japanese again
--I stopped studying sometime last year, when I got the notice that I'd failed the last test on the official JET study course. (I was like 2 questions away from passing the whole course, wtf.) Because of that I couldn't go on to the next level of study, but then again, the JET study program was pretty crap anyway. They had a way of explaining things so badly that even things I already knew, I got confused on. Between that discouragement, and just a general feeling that my Japanese wasn't advancing no matter how much I tried, I just stopped trying.

But learning more Japanese is so important for so many reasons here that I really need to try again. I'll try to start attending the Wednesday night lessons at the CIC building downtown, if I can figure out when/where they are held. (Also, I really wish I'd gotten a J/E dictionary for Christmas. :( )

2. Be less depressed
--Wow, uh, that was getting really bad, towards the end of the year. O_o If nothing else, I need to stop whining so much about the cold/wet/dark and just deal with it more. I need to stop feeling sorry for myself if I expect my situation to improve.

3. Keep up more with friends and family
-- write at least one blog entry or email to family a week
-- comment on at least one family or friend's blog entry a day
-- send at least one package or gift a month

4. Try more daring/innovative things in class

5. Get more involved with other JETs

6. Get involved with at least one school activity (starting April)
--Starting April because honestly, in the last two months of the school year here, the students are hardly doing any school activities except study study study for the standardized exams. Plus it's just so much easier to start over with a new year. The exchange student Michael wants to start a Model U.N. club come April; I figure I can help him with that and meet with students then.

7. Visit at least one other overseas location
--This should be fulfilled in March when I go to Hong Kong! I would have liked to visit Singapore, but I'm not sure that will really be feasible with my schedule. Ah well.

8. Visit at least one new location in Japan
--Being in Japan is exotic enough, but I really feel like I ought to visit some of the locations here that are uniquely Japan, that are not just a major city in Japan. I've been to Tokyo (well, parts of Tokyo -- it's so damn big that you could visit a hundred different parts of it and still miss stuff) and Kyoto, and Osaka lots of times, but I haven't really gotten out of that metropolitan area triangle.

9. Find at least one way to improve professional skills

10. Make at least one new good friend (internet okay.)

Comments

[foxglove6.livejournal.com]

That's a lot of resolutions! Good luck with them.

I'm so sorry we missed each other while you were in the states. You happened to call on a night when my phone was in the bedroom and we were watching ... something on television in the loft of Jay's parents' house. I would've called you back on that number but it sounded like you wouldn't be near it at another point.

Hmm, I have more to say. Expect an email ;-)

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you need a full-spectrum light box as well as a J/E dictionary!

Are either things you could conceivably afford yourself?

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I especially approve of Resolution #3!

[aging-parents.livejournal.com]

Ditto!