All this and resolutions, too.
Jan. 18th, 2017 02:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
heliopausaWell, "all this" is probably false advertising, but here's two things which caught my eye in the morning's news:
Horse-snowboarding! A new snow sport. (link goes to German broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, with link to video, 1 min 40 seconds.)
This one doesn't reflect well on me, because the article is about serious stuff (refugees in Belgrade) but I was distracted by the photo that went with it. It struck me as very Caravaggiesque, in the bold perspective as well as in the light-and-dark of it. At first I didn't understand what the main figure was doing; his lifted hand seemed to me to be raised in recognition of significance, or maybe sheltering/shielding the other figure - which was my misreading entirely, of course, but I thought I'd share the picture with you nonetheless. (And the article's good, too.)
Okay! Resolutions -
I had ambitious plans for language learning - to make marked improvement in French and Vietnamese and to learn one Chinese character a week, ending the year knowing fifty characters. Well - my French is about where it was, my Vietnamese is definitely better :) but I've only learned twenty Chinese characters. So... veering close to a fail. But on the other hand, it's fun to see that even with that tiny Chinese "vocabulary" I can generally pick out at least two or three characters in any body of writing, even short ones (because I chose from a list of the hundred most common ones). So in the language acquisition category, I'm scoring that as breaking even.
I was going to knit my first ever pair of socks; in the end, I've finished one, and not-finished the second, and I've decided to avail myself of todayIamadaisy's useful scoring system, and count that a pass. :)
In terms of writing, I resolved to finish and send away one original story - it's finished but I'm still trembling on the brink of sending. I also resolved to keep on with the Atrementus collection, which I have, but much more slowly than I would like.
Practising the recorder: for the second year in a row, utter dereliction. :(
Tai Chi: well, I'm not much better, but I was, until the last two months of the year, going fairly conscientiously to the morning sessions - so I must be somewhat better, surely?
and
So what's the plan for 2017?
Languages: I think it's worth picking up the Chinese plan again, but will only have the same shamingly low ambition - to end the year with fifty characters. To continue with Vietnamese, and make measurable progress. French... ummm... no resolution recorded.
Reading: To read the entire Palliser series, in order. I've read the series before, but piecemeal, and not attentively.
Oh - this year, to actually keep a record of books read, starting today; I'll make a sticky post of it.
Writing: to advance the Atrementus collection by four stories, which should take me pretty close to the end.
To write and submit another original story - with plot, this time!
To write at least one actual postage letter a week (postcards count).
Recorder: I think I need to be more precise in my aims, so: to practise for twenty minutes a day, every day until the end of Tet. Yes, I know that's paltry, but I'm hoping it will prove that it's manageable, and it avoids making wild resolutions that lead to failure.
Tai Chi: return to daily sessions five days a week, after Tet, when it will be a little less cold and dark in the morning.
There! The long-delayed New Year's resolutions post is done - and now to make a sticky post to record books I've read, as I read them, in 2017
Horse-snowboarding! A new snow sport. (link goes to German broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, with link to video, 1 min 40 seconds.)
This one doesn't reflect well on me, because the article is about serious stuff (refugees in Belgrade) but I was distracted by the photo that went with it. It struck me as very Caravaggiesque, in the bold perspective as well as in the light-and-dark of it. At first I didn't understand what the main figure was doing; his lifted hand seemed to me to be raised in recognition of significance, or maybe sheltering/shielding the other figure - which was my misreading entirely, of course, but I thought I'd share the picture with you nonetheless. (And the article's good, too.)
Okay! Resolutions -
I had ambitious plans for language learning - to make marked improvement in French and Vietnamese and to learn one Chinese character a week, ending the year knowing fifty characters. Well - my French is about where it was, my Vietnamese is definitely better :) but I've only learned twenty Chinese characters. So... veering close to a fail. But on the other hand, it's fun to see that even with that tiny Chinese "vocabulary" I can generally pick out at least two or three characters in any body of writing, even short ones (because I chose from a list of the hundred most common ones). So in the language acquisition category, I'm scoring that as breaking even.
I was going to knit my first ever pair of socks; in the end, I've finished one, and not-finished the second, and I've decided to avail myself of todayIamadaisy's useful scoring system, and count that a pass. :)
In terms of writing, I resolved to finish and send away one original story - it's finished but I'm still trembling on the brink of sending. I also resolved to keep on with the Atrementus collection, which I have, but much more slowly than I would like.
Practising the recorder: for the second year in a row, utter dereliction. :(
Tai Chi: well, I'm not much better, but I was, until the last two months of the year, going fairly conscientiously to the morning sessions - so I must be somewhat better, surely?
and
So what's the plan for 2017?
Languages: I think it's worth picking up the Chinese plan again, but will only have the same shamingly low ambition - to end the year with fifty characters. To continue with Vietnamese, and make measurable progress. French... ummm... no resolution recorded.
Reading: To read the entire Palliser series, in order. I've read the series before, but piecemeal, and not attentively.
Oh - this year, to actually keep a record of books read, starting today; I'll make a sticky post of it.
Writing: to advance the Atrementus collection by four stories, which should take me pretty close to the end.
To write and submit another original story - with plot, this time!
To write at least one actual postage letter a week (postcards count).
Recorder: I think I need to be more precise in my aims, so: to practise for twenty minutes a day, every day until the end of Tet. Yes, I know that's paltry, but I'm hoping it will prove that it's manageable, and it avoids making wild resolutions that lead to failure.
Tai Chi: return to daily sessions five days a week, after Tet, when it will be a little less cold and dark in the morning.
There! The long-delayed New Year's resolutions post is done - and now to make a sticky post to record books I've read, as I read them, in 2017
