Fitting the battle of life

There aren’t many here, but these will do for now. I don’t think the new year is the only time to make resolutions, so there may well be more as the year progresses.

1. Post here regularly. It’s a wonderful break from actual work but still creative, so it’s not mind-numbing to the point I can’t get back to work. In fact, writing blog posts kinda helps me get in the mood to work, at least more than facebooking does.
2. Install and post a review of Hardy when it comes out officially in April. If there’s a -uk release party in London or nearish that I can get to, I’ll blog about that as well. Call it a Hard-on. No, on second thoughts don’t. A Hardy-fest will do fine.
3. Write a few simple how-tos. I’m not the most experienced user in the world, and nor can I solve bugs or anything like that. But if people need to know how to do simple things I’ve worked out how to do, I really ought to share that information.
4. Push for the two of my friends who’ve expressed an interest in installing Ubuntu to do so, and help them do it and support them through the transition. This may well be the hardest part, but it’s one I’m most committed to. If they get past the installation and into everyday use, then perhaps they’ll understand why I’ve been raving so much about it. (On a slightly related note, we had a couple of friends round the other day, one of whom cheekily saw me spin the desktop cube around…suffice to say, she was impressed.)

That’ll do for now, but there will be more to come I’m sure. As ever I’ll update on these towards the end of the year.

Following on from my earlier post about debating new year resolutions, thought I’d better get some down regarding the reason I’m here in the first place - my English degree. So, without much further ado:

1. Do consistently better in my tutorial essays this term. Last term’s were ill-prepared and last-minute jobs, so this term I’m going to do better.
2. Spend more time in the library. It’s quiet, there are few distractions and it has lots and lots of books. Why do I not live there already?
3. Not miss lectures. I might have missed a couple last term through hangovers and such…am hoping to drink (spend!) less this term so that shouldn’t be an issue.
4. Read all I need to for seminars. It bugs me that I wasn’t prepared properly for them last term, as it meant I probably didn’t get as much out of them as I should have. I’ve got some top seminar leaders this term, and want to impress them. I’ve already got some of the books ready to read, the hard part is sitting down to read them.
5. Get ready to revise…

For some reason the new year is the time to make resolutions for the 12 months ahead. Over the next couple of days I’ll be posting my resolutions and aims in various categories. Today it’s debating.

1. Break again. My first semi-final at Kings was a good moment, and obviously one I ought to be repeating. If I can do it once I can do it again (assuming it wasn’t a lucky fluke). All it requires is some good, solid performances, starting at Warwick on the 26th.
2. This leads neatly onto number 2: make it to Euros in the summer. We haven’t sent teams for a while, and I want to be there. Debating well in tournaments this term will get me a place in Tallinn.
3. Sort out the debating guide for the Society. This is a project I’ve wanted to get done for some time, and really want to get it written and improved by our best debaters this term. I’d hoped to get it done for the start of this term, but it actually involves quite a lot of work, so I will be happy for it to be done this term ready for the incoming debaters in September - so we can perform better at President’s Cup!
4. Some other minor goals include running UCL IV to be really enjoyable by everyone who comes, making a few good floor speeches, and so on.

I’ll report back on these at the end of term, and see how well I’ve done.