What is my new year's resolution?
I've been thinking a lot about what i plan to do with 2011 especially when it's just two days away. I realised that this year i didn't have any resolutions planned out at all so at this stage, i'm not getting any sense of accomplishment. In order to avoid this feeling again next year, i have decided to jot down a few things of what i plan to accomplish next year just to keep myself going.
1. Facebook
As said many times, i feel like half or even 3/4 of my day have been sucked into this stupid social network website. Yes, the website may be a growing necessity in people's lives at this stage where when it is being accessed at a moderate level, it does serve as a useful purpose. However, when you start going on this website trying to "kill time" like me, you'd be begging for more time to do other things at the end of the day. I'm not sure if there are others out there who spends as much time on this website like i do but this year was an absolute wreck for me that i had to actually deactivate my account just so i can put more focus into studying for my exams otherwise i know i won't be doing well. Another thing about Facebook that i hate is i'm starting to judge people by its statuses and photos mentally. As lame as this may sound, it is unfortunately true. With that said, i'm stuck with the decision to either deactivate my account completely or to practice more self control in not going overboard on it. Although it is the only way i keep myself updated with friends and family back home, some days i happen to learn more things about others when I shouldn't. So we'll have to see about this one but my aim for next year is to get out of this addiction.
2. Workout / Active lifestyle
I haven't really been too active this year as compared to two years ago where it was obvious physically that i did lose a lot of weight. I would say i lost my motivation to workout after i left Auckland in the middle of last year to help my mom out with my brother's crisis. Nonetheless, i had to suffer to consequences of gaining some weight back although not all of them. While i don't think i'll be putting too much time into going extreme with working out as how i did then, my plans for next year is to make it more of a lifestyle where working out is going to be part of my uni schedule either in between classes or after classes. I also bought a new pair of trainers prior to my trip here so i'm also hoping to run more next year. As far as numbers are concern, i just want to be at an ideal body weight where i'm happy with my appearance.
I made this video two years back after shedding a lot of the weight but never gotten around to publishing it on this blog but since we're moving on to a new year, hopefully this will motivate you guys if you plan to add this to your resolution. :)
3. Blogging
Judging by the total number of posts for this year, it's obvious that things have been slowing down a lot around here. Initially, it was mainly due to the lack on inspiration to blog as i couldn't think of stuffs to write. I had to refrain myself from going going back into the 'what-i-did-and-ate-today' blogger which i could slowly tell was coming out of me since i was desperate to write something here. However in the past week, i've been inspired if not excited to kick things back to a start again in this blog. I'm hoping that next year, this blog will be the main stop for everyone to get some updates or to keep in touch with me instead of my Facebook page. Having said that, i've prepared myself to update this blog with interesting stories or discussions by getting this book titled "The Writer's Block
" while browsing around Borders. It's filled with tonnes of ideas to inspire you to write especially when you're having a writer's block. I still do enjoy blogging especially when i've been doing this since i was back in high school so instead of constantly being stuck with ideas or waiting for a classic moment to happen, i thought this block of book will keep me inspired. Of course, the other side of the story is whether i'll have time to sit down and blog especially when i know i'll be doing ten papers next year. We'll just have to wait and see what's gonna happen then hence, why this made it into my list of new year's resolution.
4. Wake up earlier
I almost forgot about this but few weeks ago, i was telling my girlfriend that i plan to try and put in more effort into waking up earlier next year even on my off days. She thought it would be a great idea but predicted that i'll be struggling a lot with that. You see, I grew up having the freedom to sleep in till as late as i want where at times back then, i would get up when people are about to sleep and sleep when they get up. So even until now, there are days where i can sleep in till late in the afternoon although not as extreme as how i was when i was a teen. I envy some of my friends who have weird body clocks where regardless of what time they sleep, they'll still get up at a certain time in the morning even if they've got nothing else plan for the day. I love to sleep though don't get me wrong but i just thought since i get all the time in the world to sleep forever when i die, why not try to put in a bit of effort in this area of my life next year and see what wonders i can experience with having breakfast at 9am instead of 2pm.
5. R.A.K (Random Act of Kindness)
I know there is an official day to do this but starting next year, i plan to try and make this more of a daily habit. Why wait for that day to be kind when you can be kind to someone tomorrow? I thought of doing this while i was writing up Christmas cards for some of my friends back home but after doing about three or four cards, i realised i do not have any more friends to mail the cards out to. And i just happened to buy a box of ten cards. The cards i mailed out to were addressed to a few of my friends that i consider my close friends but the fact that there was half a box of cards left was bugging me more. Then i thought to myself how i would feel to receive an unexpected Christmas card from a random friend i haven't seen in a while. It would still feel good to be thought of by someone even though i might not be close to them at all. It's the thought that counts! Sadly, i do not have random friend's mailing address so i couldn't send the cards out on time. But this idea just randomly got planted in my head which i plan to do it next year so hopefully it will turn out well. It's not just talking about mailing Christmas cards in case you think that's what i'm planning to do but i'm looking more at the idea of blessing to others or even strangers using little physical ways of encouragement. I just think this random act of kindness will put a smile on people's face especially at this stage when everyone is doing things only through the computer.
6. Positivity
I'm not sure if it's a cultural thing or a personal thing but i noticed we Asians can be quite negative. We look at the negative part of things and point it out instead of going for the positive side and complimenting it. Take for example, you've been away overseas for a year or two and you come back home for a visit. Chances are when you meet up with a friend, one of these may be pointed out.
A. Your weight - whether or not you have put on weight or lost weight. If you did, Asians can be quite blunt about it and lay it flat out in front of your face saying either the food there is really good or you've been having a "prosperous" life overseas. However, if you did lose a lot of weight, you might get comments of starving yourself there due to the lack of money, food not being as good as where you're from, etc. Either way, both comments doesn't sound too good.
B. Your accent - people waiting for that moment where you start talking to hear if you've picked up an accent and starts commenting whether or not it's genuine of fake. If you do have an accent, you'll get picked on. If you don't, people start questioning about it and might force you to do one...only to be laughed at when you do one miserably.
C. Your future - people asking you what are your plans for your future. If you tell them you do have plans to migrate overseas for several reasons, they might give you a hard time about it making you feel as if they own you and you should come back home for good for them. But if you do plan to come back for good, you find people bitching daily about how boring home is and flood their Facebook status daily about how they wanna get out of the place.
Those are just a few things i can think of but the point is being Asian you'll hardly get any positive comments about how much you've been missed, how great you look, how well you've done in your studies, etc. Personally for me, i wanna make more of an effort to look more on the positive side of life next year.
7. Hair
I'm gonna try and keep my hairstyle short the entire year. I've always had my hair long just cause i feel like short hair doesn't suit my big face but i'm kinda liking my current hairstyle so i might just keep it around this length. Plus, most of years i've been having more or less the same style of hair so i think it's time i should just move past that stage.
8. Enjoy my final year in uni
It seemed like it was only yesterday that i was getting all excited about coming to Auckland for my studies and now i'm getting ready for my final year of university. I would say my time spent in Auckland has been quite interesting but i'm glad i got to a few friends and bonded well with them. But since next year is going to be my last year, i think it's about time i should really overcome cultural barriers and not let the fear of stereotyping stop me from getting to know more people from other cultural background. I still feel like life in university is 'every man for himself' where there's no sense of teamwork or support. Hopefully in my final year, it'll be different otherwise i would probably close my university chapter on a low note.
I think these are the list of resolutions that have been on my head for the past few weeks and thought it would be better to list them out before i forget them. How about you guys and your resolutions? Certainly hope everyone is geared up and ready to welcome 2011 as much as i am!
As said many times, i feel like half or even 3/4 of my day have been sucked into this stupid social network website. Yes, the website may be a growing necessity in people's lives at this stage where when it is being accessed at a moderate level, it does serve as a useful purpose. However, when you start going on this website trying to "kill time" like me, you'd be begging for more time to do other things at the end of the day. I'm not sure if there are others out there who spends as much time on this website like i do but this year was an absolute wreck for me that i had to actually deactivate my account just so i can put more focus into studying for my exams otherwise i know i won't be doing well. Another thing about Facebook that i hate is i'm starting to judge people by its statuses and photos mentally. As lame as this may sound, it is unfortunately true. With that said, i'm stuck with the decision to either deactivate my account completely or to practice more self control in not going overboard on it. Although it is the only way i keep myself updated with friends and family back home, some days i happen to learn more things about others when I shouldn't. So we'll have to see about this one but my aim for next year is to get out of this addiction.
2. Workout / Active lifestyle
I haven't really been too active this year as compared to two years ago where it was obvious physically that i did lose a lot of weight. I would say i lost my motivation to workout after i left Auckland in the middle of last year to help my mom out with my brother's crisis. Nonetheless, i had to suffer to consequences of gaining some weight back although not all of them. While i don't think i'll be putting too much time into going extreme with working out as how i did then, my plans for next year is to make it more of a lifestyle where working out is going to be part of my uni schedule either in between classes or after classes. I also bought a new pair of trainers prior to my trip here so i'm also hoping to run more next year. As far as numbers are concern, i just want to be at an ideal body weight where i'm happy with my appearance.
I made this video two years back after shedding a lot of the weight but never gotten around to publishing it on this blog but since we're moving on to a new year, hopefully this will motivate you guys if you plan to add this to your resolution. :)
3. Blogging
Judging by the total number of posts for this year, it's obvious that things have been slowing down a lot around here. Initially, it was mainly due to the lack on inspiration to blog as i couldn't think of stuffs to write. I had to refrain myself from going going back into the 'what-i-did-and-ate-today' blogger which i could slowly tell was coming out of me since i was desperate to write something here. However in the past week, i've been inspired if not excited to kick things back to a start again in this blog. I'm hoping that next year, this blog will be the main stop for everyone to get some updates or to keep in touch with me instead of my Facebook page. Having said that, i've prepared myself to update this blog with interesting stories or discussions by getting this book titled "The Writer's Block
" while browsing around Borders. It's filled with tonnes of ideas to inspire you to write especially when you're having a writer's block. I still do enjoy blogging especially when i've been doing this since i was back in high school so instead of constantly being stuck with ideas or waiting for a classic moment to happen, i thought this block of book will keep me inspired. Of course, the other side of the story is whether i'll have time to sit down and blog especially when i know i'll be doing ten papers next year. We'll just have to wait and see what's gonna happen then hence, why this made it into my list of new year's resolution.4. Wake up earlier
5. R.A.K (Random Act of Kindness)
I know there is an official day to do this but starting next year, i plan to try and make this more of a daily habit. Why wait for that day to be kind when you can be kind to someone tomorrow? I thought of doing this while i was writing up Christmas cards for some of my friends back home but after doing about three or four cards, i realised i do not have any more friends to mail the cards out to. And i just happened to buy a box of ten cards. The cards i mailed out to were addressed to a few of my friends that i consider my close friends but the fact that there was half a box of cards left was bugging me more. Then i thought to myself how i would feel to receive an unexpected Christmas card from a random friend i haven't seen in a while. It would still feel good to be thought of by someone even though i might not be close to them at all. It's the thought that counts! Sadly, i do not have random friend's mailing address so i couldn't send the cards out on time. But this idea just randomly got planted in my head which i plan to do it next year so hopefully it will turn out well. It's not just talking about mailing Christmas cards in case you think that's what i'm planning to do but i'm looking more at the idea of blessing to others or even strangers using little physical ways of encouragement. I just think this random act of kindness will put a smile on people's face especially at this stage when everyone is doing things only through the computer.
6. Positivity
I'm not sure if it's a cultural thing or a personal thing but i noticed we Asians can be quite negative. We look at the negative part of things and point it out instead of going for the positive side and complimenting it. Take for example, you've been away overseas for a year or two and you come back home for a visit. Chances are when you meet up with a friend, one of these may be pointed out.
A. Your weight - whether or not you have put on weight or lost weight. If you did, Asians can be quite blunt about it and lay it flat out in front of your face saying either the food there is really good or you've been having a "prosperous" life overseas. However, if you did lose a lot of weight, you might get comments of starving yourself there due to the lack of money, food not being as good as where you're from, etc. Either way, both comments doesn't sound too good.
B. Your accent - people waiting for that moment where you start talking to hear if you've picked up an accent and starts commenting whether or not it's genuine of fake. If you do have an accent, you'll get picked on. If you don't, people start questioning about it and might force you to do one...only to be laughed at when you do one miserably.
C. Your future - people asking you what are your plans for your future. If you tell them you do have plans to migrate overseas for several reasons, they might give you a hard time about it making you feel as if they own you and you should come back home for good for them. But if you do plan to come back for good, you find people bitching daily about how boring home is and flood their Facebook status daily about how they wanna get out of the place.
Those are just a few things i can think of but the point is being Asian you'll hardly get any positive comments about how much you've been missed, how great you look, how well you've done in your studies, etc. Personally for me, i wanna make more of an effort to look more on the positive side of life next year.
7. Hair
I'm gonna try and keep my hairstyle short the entire year. I've always had my hair long just cause i feel like short hair doesn't suit my big face but i'm kinda liking my current hairstyle so i might just keep it around this length. Plus, most of years i've been having more or less the same style of hair so i think it's time i should just move past that stage.
 |
| Over the years |
It seemed like it was only yesterday that i was getting all excited about coming to Auckland for my studies and now i'm getting ready for my final year of university. I would say my time spent in Auckland has been quite interesting but i'm glad i got to a few friends and bonded well with them. But since next year is going to be my last year, i think it's about time i should really overcome cultural barriers and not let the fear of stereotyping stop me from getting to know more people from other cultural background. I still feel like life in university is 'every man for himself' where there's no sense of teamwork or support. Hopefully in my final year, it'll be different otherwise i would probably close my university chapter on a low note.
I think these are the list of resolutions that have been on my head for the past few weeks and thought it would be better to list them out before i forget them. How about you guys and your resolutions? Certainly hope everyone is geared up and ready to welcome 2011 as much as i am!
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