Greatings & Gettings

First off - Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to my (ir)regular readers. I hope you've all had great holidays, or at the very least got really drunk and laid. I'll be swinging by your blogs over the next week to catch up with the goings on in your worlds.

I've had a fairly busy but enjoyable December, which accounts for my lack of posts in the past month. As we had a family friend over from Canada this year, I headed home earlier than normal. Fortunately my work can be done anywhere (as long as there is electricity and broadband and mobile coverage of some description) so I didn't eat into my annual leave too much. It was great to catch up with many old friends and family, eat way too much good food, drink far too much alcohol and spend much too much on presents for the nieces and nephews. Naturally there were the expected holiday arguments, including one with my best friend of 15+ years which I don't think has been resolved. But the positives always outweigh the negatives over Christmas imo.

So what's in store for 2008? For me, I plan on a year of gettings:
- getting over
- getting on
- getting fit
- getting out

I've already started on the getting fit - today is my 3rd day of reduced smoking. I haven't quit all together but am gradually increasing the time between cigarettes - currently I'm at 5 hour intervals. Yesterday I only had 5 cigarettes where previously I would have smoked about 15 on a Saturday. There's no proven science behind my approach, just my own twisted logic. I finished a pack of smokes on Thursday night, then went for as long as I could (3 hrs) on Friday before giving in to my cravings and buying a new pack. Using this 3 hrs as my benchmark, I then waited 3.5 hrs for my next smoke, 4 hrs after that for the next and so on. Saturday started at 3.5 hrs and again increased by half an hour for each cigarette. Today started at 4 hrs, meaning I've only had 1 cigarette thus far today. My cravings are definitely reducing and I'm finding it easier to go for hours without a smoke (altho the 5 hrs last night was killing me after a few scotches!). I'm back to work tomorrow, so that may be a challenge given that many of my work colleagues are smokers - but that's where the other gettings kick in.

Getting over will be a psychological move to get over the shit that has held me back or plagued me during my life. Getting on will entail getting on with my life, personally and professionally. Getting out will literally be that - getting out and doing stuff, including the possibility of an overseas holiday. And I've got more planned for getting fit, building on the exercise routines I started late last year in a vain attempt to make myself the world's most desirable man.

Naturally, things may all go pear-shaped or I may just forget it over time, but the intention is there.


Songs played while writing this entry:
"The Horse" Marshall Jefferson
"Missing Link" Dinosaur Jnr & Del The Funky Homosapien
"Punisher" Underground Resistance
"Zebra" John Butler Trio
"No Rain" Blind Melon
"Beds Are Burning" Midnight Oil
"Der Klang Der Familie" 3 Phase
"Platina" Twilight
"One" U2
"Creep" Radiohead
"The World Has Turned And Left Me Here" Weezer