2010 & 2011

It is very easy to focus on the negative rather than the positive. I know I am far too good at it. So in the spirit of positivity I am going to look not at things I didn't do in 2010, but instead focus on the things I DID do.

Singing

I've been saying for years that I would like to be able to sing. Not for any particular reason, just to know that I could open my mouth and feel confident that what comes out won't send dogs fleeing for cover. I plucked up my courage and sent an enquiry to a local music school and was allocated a tutor. It has been amazing fun for me and I come out of each and every lesson with a glow of happiness.

Yes, I could progress better and faster if I was more disciplined about practicing between lessons, but you know what? I don't care. I am enjoying the lessons themselves tremendously and it's not like I have a concert looming in my future. I am doing this purely for me. It will take the time it takes and I will have a great time throughout the journey.

Style

Another thing I've been wanting to do for the longest time is to get "my colours done". You know, having one of those sessions where someone trained tells you what colours you look best in. So off I went. Half a day spent with a lovely consultant discussing not only colours, but styles as well. What to think about with accessories, belt or no belt, skirt lengths, coat shapes.

I walked out of there with a wallet of colour swatches as well as a booklet of what styles and shapes are the best for me. But the brilliant thing is that most of the time I don't even have to look at them. Caroline explained (and showed) why I want to make certain choices, which means that I can now look at clothes and most of the time just know whether the style will do what I want it to. Same with colours. Dark over light, muted over bright, warm over cold. Easy!

Volunteering

I've signed up as a volunteer for the London 2012 Olympics. I think they have handled some of it appallingly (For instance sending letters to residents asking them not to use their cars during the Olympics. Seriously - you didn't consider that people will still need to get to work?), but with it being just around the corner it could be fun to be involved.

They are calling people to interviews over the next few months, so I may not be offered a spot - but I think it could be an experience if I do. You can put down 3 areas you'd prefer to help out in and went for things to do with media, helping out in the Olympic village and something else along those lines. There were 11 areas, so there were more that I thought sounded interesting, but also some that I would not go for. Like working in the ticket office or with catering or recycling. Not my skillset at all and also not something I'd get any enjoyment out of doing. If I were to get offered something like that I would have to turn it down.

Skiing

We booked our 2011 ski holiday. We're going to Cervinia for I's birthday and we are both looking forward to it a lot. Last year we didn't get around to going for various reasons, so I am very pleased we got it booked in.

My problem is that I have to book trips at least 2-3 months in advance. That early on I'll be all excited and think it'll be great fun. Too close to the departure date and I'll get bogged down in the horror that is travelling. You know, trekking to the airport, queuing at the airport, sitting at the airport, sitting on the plane, queuing at another airport, sitting on a coach. Add in 2 people with stomach problems that are exacerbated by travelling and you have a recipe for "why don't we take time off and just chill at home". So very, very pleased we got that booked before the cold feet set in.

The future

We have talked a lot about the future this year. Not dream talk "if we didn't have to work, we could" or vague "sometime it'd be nice to" talk, but proper discussions about what we want out of life. Where do we want to live, what do we want to prioritise?

I am not entirely happy living in the suburbs, to my mind you have all the drawbacks both of city-life and country-living, but none of the upsides. But I am not blind to the many practical reasons why so many people live there. We're still throwing around some different ideas about what exactly we'd prefer to do, but in the meantime we are hard at work paying off extra chunks on our mortgage. The thinking being that when the time comes we will (hopefully) have more equity in our house which is something that gives us more options. At the moment we've set a deadline of 2012 for making a decision and starting down whatever path we chose to take.

Of course that is year away and in the current climate much can change in a year. I's work is probably facing redundancies, though the staff don't know yet how many or exactly where (very big place) - so that's kind of a big question mark for this year and possibly the next.

2011

Looking forward I don't have any major goals for this year.

I'm going to give the whole going to the gym thing another try for a couple of months, if it still doesn't work out then I'll cancel the membership. No point in paying for something you don't use, no matter how good it would be for you.

More singing of course.

More writing. I got out of the swing with it for the last few months last year, but I do want to keep at it - so I'll try to keep that up.

And of course there will be a fair bit of pondering of what I really want to do as our self-imposed deadline looms closer.

Happy New Year

Autumn is here, summer is over. Afternoons might be warm but mornings are chilly and the air has that smell of seasons changing.

As my friend pointed out, autumn definitely feels like the time of changes and starting afresh. Maybe it is an ingrained response to all those years in school, when starting back at school was when things really changed. January 1st or December 31st are not really any different from each other. It is still winter and nothing is actually different.

Birthdays are pretty much the same, you are technically a year older, but your life doesn't change because of it. (Unless of course it is a birthday that allows you to do something new/legally - have sex, buy alcohol, drive a car.) A new school year, however, is when things tangibly change.

During summer (at least when working in an office), things tend to slow down somewhat. Colleagues, suppliers and clients are all taking time off at various intervals during the summer months - leaving business moving at a slower pace than normal. That combined with your own summer holidays means that when autumn comes you are energised and ready to make changes / get going again.

So in the spirit of this, I have some New Year's Resolutions.

1) Gym
Looking at the scales and in the mirror, I could stand to lose a few kilos. I'm technically not overweight, but only by a kilo or two.

There also the fact that my lifestyle is completely sedentary. Apart from small bouts of walking (like to the station or to get lunch), I spend the bulk of my awake time sitting. 95-100% of my working time is spent in front of the computer. 2 out 5 days I work away from the office meaning no proper monitor, no proper chair or foot rest, so my posture is even worse than normal.

Most everything I do in my spare time is done while sitting. Going to the movies, reading a book, playing on the computer, socialising. So I desperately need some regular physical activity.

My goal is to go to one lunchtime class per week every week and to try to do two classes a week most weeks. Sure, 3 times per week would be great - but I am trying to set a realistic goal that I have a chance to reach, with a stretch goal to try for.

2) 5 a day
I am rubbish at eating fruit and veg. Sure you get some through things included in lunch and dinner, but to fill the daily quota you need to snack on some too and this is where I fail.

I used to buy fruit with the idea that I'd eat it mid-morning and mid-afternoon as a healthy snack. Unfortunately, I'd then promptly forget about it until it was time to go home.

It is one of those things that I know is good for me, but where the actual doing has no particular appeal in its own right. So in an attempt to up our fruit/veg intake we've bought a blender to make smoothies with. Half a litre of fruit mush with some orange juice or diet lemonade to make more liquid, that should surely count as a few of my 5 a day.

We actually used to have a juicer a few years ago and as much as it was very tasty, it was a pain in the behind to clean. As long as you did it straight away, most of it was very easy, but there was one part that was just impossible. I don't know what it is called, but its surface looks like a fine grater with very sticky outie holes. The only way to get rid of the bits of fruit stuck to it is to scrub it with a toothbrush - every time. Ugh!

The blender on the other hand is very, very easy to clean. After making the smoothies, it takes a couple of minutes to clean the it. Rinse, quick wash, leave out to dry for tomorrow's use. And of course you get a goodly dose of fibre as well, which you don't get with juicing. Win win really.

The goal is to do this three times a week. Twice in the week and once on the weekend. If we can manage four or five some weeks, then great - but that is the stretch goal.

3) Singing

I'm already enrolled for the autumn term (just over a week to go - squee), but I need to get into the habit of practising. So it's time to go pick up a nice, cheap keyboard so I can play scales for warm-up exercises. I tried warming up just by singing some random easy songs, but it doesn't work. Without doing scales that push me to warm up to both ends of my range, I cannot reach the notes I can reach easily when properly warmed up.

My goal is to practise at least once a week between lessons - stretch goal is twice a week.

4) Blogging

I am enjoying writing and I am managing to write down a lot more drafts, but that's no use if I never go back and finish them and hit "Publish".

So the goal is to post at least once a week from now on, more is better, but less is not acceptable. Friday will count as the last day of the week.

In the past deadlines have usually helped me get past the draft / editing stage into the finishing / polishing stage, so hopefully this will work.

5) Clothes mojo

Finally, I need to make a push to sort out my wardrobe - big job (long story, will probably turn into a blog post of its own).

This is more of a project than something I need to get into doing each week, but so far I've not gotten around to it. Autumn is when I swap the summer clothes in the wardrobe for the winter clothes in the loft, so it's an ideal time to create some order.

• Wardrobe cleared out of all unused items - by Sunday 12 Sept
• Wardrobe updated with any necessary autumn/winter items - by Sunday 26 Sept

So that should keep me busy for a while. :-)

The joy of singing

Last night I had my 3rd singing lesson. I'm still buzzing!

I have no illusions about being the next winner of X-factor or Britain's got talent - in fact I doubt that my voice will ever be good enough for solo performance. But that is not the point for me.

When I was around 10 I joined the church choir in my home village. I don't remember how long I stuck with it, but I guess 2 or 3 years. Mostly I just remember enjoying singing, to the point of even attending a regional choir camp one summer (no, it wasn't anything like band camp...).

When I was 13 I moved to a different stage of schooling which meant a bigger school with more students. The music teacher made every single student audition for a spot in the school choir. I got handed a sheet of music for a song I'd never heard and was told to sing it. As I didn't know how to sightsing I did not do well and so didn't join the choir.

At university the student theatre always did one play each year that included singing, I only acted in one of those. It was a harrowing experience. It wasn't one of the easiest pieces out there (the lyrics were set to Mein Herr from Cabaret) and I realised I knew nothing of the craft of singing.

I read somewhere Stephen Fry describing his problem with singing was that he was tone mute, rather than tone deaf. He said that he could hear music perfectly in his head, but he didn't know how to reproduce it. That is my problem. I have no musical training, nor am I a natural at it. I can look at notes and see up and down, but that's about as far as it goes.

A few years ago I attempted one of those "Find your voice courses". The blurb said it was for complete beginners and it started very basic. Breathing exercises and stuff like that - but within a couple of weeks we were onto singing different songs. For someone that was a complete beginner it was a largely pointless exercise. How am I supposed to find my voice while singing in a group and doing a different song each week? You spend your time learning a song, not how to sing.

Since then I have been yearning to be able to sing. Just knowing that if I open my mouth to join in with communal singing of any sort what comes out is not hideous. Or maybe even one day being able to actually join a choir (an amateur one obviously).

So I finally took the step of having proper 1-1 singing lessons. I was incredibly nervous before my first lesson. I had no idea what to expect and most of all I was nervous that it would turn out that I couldn't be taught.

3 lessons later and I'm hitting the right notes based on the piano pretty much every time. This was one of the things I was most nervous about. I wasn't sure how one goes about hitting certain notes with one's voice just based on the piano - and it is quite an essential skill if one wants to aspire to joining a choir. But I can do it!! And with practice I will hopefully learn to trust myself instead of glancing at my teacher at the start of each scale to check that she is smiling and nodding to indicate I got it right.

My homework this week is to work on the blade (I think that was what she called it) - how you get your voice to carry through projecting via your sinuses. Last week I worked on learning "Early One Morning" and now I have learn to sing it while making it all nasal to project it. It sounds pretty hideous, but I'm told is a phase you have to through as you are learning. Once you are able to project the voice properly you learn how to round it and make it sound good. One step at a time, I guess. :-)