Back and Happy and Grizzly Too

I am back from Dubai and still a bit dazed from it all. Had a fantastic and awesome time, it went so quickly but was great, I wish I was still on holiday.

Have lots of work to do but am ignoring it all. We're being HMI-ed (inspected) when we get back after half-term (STRESS!) so all the books have to be marked up to date and we need to make proper loooong detailed lesson plans for the inspection days. Lame. Can't be bothered, think I will have a panic on Sunday night instead. That will be the official end of half-term for me, and hopefully after Spurs beat Chelski in the Carling Cup Final on Sunday, well, I will be a bit drunk, so the lesson planning will be fun!

I had a knee appointment today and it was sad because my ACL graft is ruptured so I need to have ANOTHER knee reconstruction, which is obviously crap news. I dealt with it better this time, I am not as devastated, mainly because I expected it to be coming, and also because I am less into contact sports and stuff now, I can deal with a busted up knee better than I could when I was at Oxford, when everything I did required a super duper knee. Still, it's not great news, and buying lots of random stuff afterwards was perhaps not the best idea (although I DO now own a lovely pair of brown leather boots and also lots and lots of socks and blusher, excellent).

A busy weekend planned and next week too is super busy, I don't think I have a complete day of unplanned stuff until the following Sunday, BUSY! And Puja, the capitals are for you :)

Finally, just so you know, an emirate designates a political territory that is ruled by a dynastic Arab Monarch styled emir (thanks for that Wikipedia!). The seven dwarves are Sneezy, Sleepy, Happy, Grumpy, Dopey, Bashful and Doc. And it's totally worth watching Severance, a silly British comedy horror film, gorey and goofy at the same time.

That's all for now.

New Year's Resolutions

Today I am in my New Year's daze. This is a part reflective, part reactive, part proactive daze. In accordance, my New Year's resolutions:

1. Sleep more
2. Try and do the right thing more (with the intention that this will lead to less drama)
3. Appreciate what I have/find the positives
4. Stay drink-free for January (and not go on a resulting BENDER for the rest of the year)
5. Be meat-free in January (this may lapse to red meat-free only)

These are poor resolutions compared to last year since they're not entirely SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-constrained) but anyway. I need to work on them, so in 2008 I shall try. Besides, I didn't formally achieve last year's either, so I'm not going to compare them.

When I asked my mother what she'd be resolving, she said she didn't need to make resolutions because everything she did was alright already. That's what I'm aiming for. Ultimately.

What else? Today I indulged in a bit of Strauss with my father. Being an insomniac meant we could watch the whole Vienna New Year's Day concert, which was just lovely. One day I'd love to get there live. There was a special piece written for Euro 2008, which I'd completely forgotten about. Clearly this will be a good year because there's football in the summer. I also got a bit more involved in my current mini-obsession - Peter Pan and all things related. Basically I don't understand this story (this Disney version AND the written version; the former because I've never watched it properly, the latter because I've not read it at all) but I want to. Anyway, we watched Finding Neverland late this afternoon and it was entirely gripping. I'm not sure it was a real story, but it was beautiful, and Johnny Depp was excellent, as was the little boy who played Peter. I am still sad for Peter as a character in this, but at least in the end he was able to imagine.

Maybe that should be resolution 6...spend more time in the imaginary.

We're going to the temple now, I'm not sure whether I should call that a good start to resolution 6 or not...still, being there brings me peace, which is always good.

Good luck with your resolutions.