It's been a little quiet here of late. I won't go into the details, other than to say that I don't want to talk about, and it's really not all that bad. Part of the problem has been that since mid January 2010 I have been without that most essential of element of modern day life: a reliable computer and a stable internet connection to plug it into. I'm clawing my way back into the 21st century now though: I'm even a Mayor on foursquare. I have an iphone, and I live in a house with a surfeit of raw computing power.
All of this is mere apologia and excuse-mongering. The purpose of this post (in academia they call this 'the thesis statement') is to revisit some things I said about this time last year, conduct a review, an appraisal, an audit, and try again. So onto business. In the interests of clarity (and really just assuaging my slightly anal-retentive nature) I'll address each goal as I originally posted it:
Fitness.
Qualify for the Boston Marathon.
Fail. I didn't make the race, partially for financial reasons, but mostly because I was on the move for months and stopped training. On the upside, I did enter (on the spur of the moment) a half-marathon race in Thailand, where I came 4th in my age group. This was a totally decent effort, considering one of the guys who beat me was a professional from Kenya, and I was recovering from one of the most excruciating bouts of food poisoning I have ever had the misfortune of experiencing. The take-home message here, kids, is to stick to a training plan, but make sure it is a realistic training plan, and don't eat oysters in the off season on Koh Samui. I know they look great, but they are really just little time bombs, just waiting to detonate in your digestive tract.
Complete an Olympic Distance Triathlon.
Fail. I missed the season in Cairns, and we didn't move south into that professional job that I was expecting, so I missed (am missing) the season down there. I have, however, bought a bike and made a commitment to racing next June, but more on that later.
Spend more time in the pool. Fail. The less said about this the better.
Professional.
Here's the kicker. I barely managed to finish my thesis, and had to claw back a pass from my examiner to get there. Griffith fell through, or perhaps decided that I wasn't pHd material. I put my head down (in between feeling extremely sorry for myself) and started applying for government jobs in Cairns. That's right - Cairns. After numerous rejections I folded and started applying for hospitality work. I am now a store manager for two outlets of a moderately successful Brisbane based café franchise. This, in essence, is why I have been hiding from the world. I feel like a failure. Which bleeds into the next category:
Be a better partner.
Recently I realised that I have been a self-involved arsehole for the last 6 months or so. My partner doesn't want to live in Cairns, and she doesn't really want to live in a share house. I ignored all the signals (and they weren't that subtle - I'm fairly sure that on a number of occasions she said "I don't want to live in Cairns, and I don't want to live in a share house"), and co-signed a 12 month lease on a share house in Cairns. She, being the supportive and patient person she is, got a job in an industry that she hates and is physically bad for her (more on that on another day, but I'll just say this: RSI-induced spinal osteoarthritis and a slipped disc in her neck). I spent the next 6 months chasing a promotion for a job that I don't even enjoy, spending 6-7 days a week at work and essentially ignoring her (along with all my other friends and family).
Get a dog.
The only resolution I have managed to achieve in the last 12 months is to get a dog. She's been a funny little puppy, and gives the impression of developing into a much larger, but wonderful dog. I can take very little responsibility for this as Hanna has done most of the training, but she is still one of the brightest things in my day at the moment.
So on reflection, I'm an arsehole. And I've wasted the last year. It's time to re-evaluate things (in fact, it's been time for a while, but I've failed to notice this). It's time to start doing things a little differently. It might be time to re-write my resolutions, even though it is nearly April.
All of this is mere apologia and excuse-mongering. The purpose of this post (in academia they call this 'the thesis statement') is to revisit some things I said about this time last year, conduct a review, an appraisal, an audit, and try again. So onto business. In the interests of clarity (and really just assuaging my slightly anal-retentive nature) I'll address each goal as I originally posted it:
Fitness.
Qualify for the Boston Marathon.
Fail. I didn't make the race, partially for financial reasons, but mostly because I was on the move for months and stopped training. On the upside, I did enter (on the spur of the moment) a half-marathon race in Thailand, where I came 4th in my age group. This was a totally decent effort, considering one of the guys who beat me was a professional from Kenya, and I was recovering from one of the most excruciating bouts of food poisoning I have ever had the misfortune of experiencing. The take-home message here, kids, is to stick to a training plan, but make sure it is a realistic training plan, and don't eat oysters in the off season on Koh Samui. I know they look great, but they are really just little time bombs, just waiting to detonate in your digestive tract.
Complete an Olympic Distance Triathlon.
Fail. I missed the season in Cairns, and we didn't move south into that professional job that I was expecting, so I missed (am missing) the season down there. I have, however, bought a bike and made a commitment to racing next June, but more on that later.
Spend more time in the pool. Fail. The less said about this the better.
Professional.
Here's the kicker. I barely managed to finish my thesis, and had to claw back a pass from my examiner to get there. Griffith fell through, or perhaps decided that I wasn't pHd material. I put my head down (in between feeling extremely sorry for myself) and started applying for government jobs in Cairns. That's right - Cairns. After numerous rejections I folded and started applying for hospitality work. I am now a store manager for two outlets of a moderately successful Brisbane based café franchise. This, in essence, is why I have been hiding from the world. I feel like a failure. Which bleeds into the next category:
Be a better partner.
Recently I realised that I have been a self-involved arsehole for the last 6 months or so. My partner doesn't want to live in Cairns, and she doesn't really want to live in a share house. I ignored all the signals (and they weren't that subtle - I'm fairly sure that on a number of occasions she said "I don't want to live in Cairns, and I don't want to live in a share house"), and co-signed a 12 month lease on a share house in Cairns. She, being the supportive and patient person she is, got a job in an industry that she hates and is physically bad for her (more on that on another day, but I'll just say this: RSI-induced spinal osteoarthritis and a slipped disc in her neck). I spent the next 6 months chasing a promotion for a job that I don't even enjoy, spending 6-7 days a week at work and essentially ignoring her (along with all my other friends and family).
Get a dog.
The only resolution I have managed to achieve in the last 12 months is to get a dog. She's been a funny little puppy, and gives the impression of developing into a much larger, but wonderful dog. I can take very little responsibility for this as Hanna has done most of the training, but she is still one of the brightest things in my day at the moment.
So on reflection, I'm an arsehole. And I've wasted the last year. It's time to re-evaluate things (in fact, it's been time for a while, but I've failed to notice this). It's time to start doing things a little differently. It might be time to re-write my resolutions, even though it is nearly April.
