Hi everybody,

I just wanted to ask if any of you have made any kind of New Year's Resolutions.

Do you believe in doing so and do you think it's a waste of time?

I personally haven't made any and have quit doing so about 8 years ago.

And I'd also like to know if anyone is looking to achieve something special this year.

My wife and I have to get our garden and patio done - we built a house last year (thank God that's over!) - it's going to kill my back but I can't wait to sit outside and have a great time bbqing.


Udo

I think people make resolutions because they want to have good habits, make improvements, etc. and the start of a new year gives them an added incentive to say goodbye to their past and say hello to their future self. The drawback is that if they break their resolution, they might just go back to their old habits for the rest of the year and wait until next year to start over again. So really it's an artificial start date. If these good habits are so good to have, then the best day to start is right now. Remember that old phrase, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life."

Enjoy your trips to Ireland and Greece. They are also on my list. I mostly got interested in Ireland because of the music of Enya, which eventually led to my discovery of Loreena because of the inevitable comparisons. And the Corrs are probably my favorite pop band and U2 my favorite rock band. For a small country, they sure do produce a lot of music. Greece, OTOH, has always fascinated me since childhood. I remember the movies "The 300 Spartans" and "Ulysses" and found them very heroic. I always wondered what it'd be like to live the life of a Greek warrior. If I had to run a marathon, Greece would be the place to do it, but I don't think I'm up to it. You're very lucky to have that ability.

I mean why do people make New Year's Resolutions anyway?

I don't make them - like I said - but I still see every new year as a kind of new beginning. For me it's like changing clothes - taking off the sweaty worn out ones at the end of the year and starting everything in a fresh and positive way.

@Antonia,
Dein Deutsch ist perfekt! Viel Spass beim lernen. I myself would like to learn Greek but I just don't have enough time to start off and keep up with it.

@Dan
That sounds great. Two trips a year is cool. I'm going to visit Ireland and Greece this year myself - first for endurance (running a marathon in both countries) - then for pleasure.
EBay is actually very easy - they explain it to you step by step.
A cool way to invest for the future is to buy a house - that's the best way it works in Germany. I'll be paying mine off until I get my pension and then I can live for free - or almost...

I don't really make resolutions per se. Past experience has shown it's impossible to keep them all. And when you keep making the same resolutions over and over, it sort of becomes ingrained in you what one needs to improve on. We can't be perfect, all we can do is try our best, and I think that's enough.

In general, I'd like to see as many of my "must see" sites on my personal list over the next 20 years. To do this would require 2 trips a year, which does stretch my vacation time and money quite a bit. This year I have penciled in China and the Canadian Rockies.

My other basic goal is to do a lot of de-junking and eliminate clutter around the house and garage. I also need to learn how to sell stuff on eBay so I can move some of this stuff.

Another project is to figure out how much money I have, where does it go, and what's the best way to invest my savings.

I think these things will keep me busy for the year.

Hallo Udo! Wie geht's?
As a New Year's resolution I have started taking German lessons. The German language seems a hard one to learn, but I love languages, so won't give up!
Auf Wiedersehen!
(Sorry if I made any mistakes, but the first thing I do when I am learning something is to put it into practice).

Antonia