Changes

I'm one of those people who like to write new year's resolutions occasionally and then promptly forget about them within the first couple of weeks. Not because I want to, it's just that I go through so much self-reflection most days of the year that I have plenty of other self-improvements to think about.

Lately I've noticed a few changes to my daily or weekly habits though, which has been interesting and quite pleasing too. The biggest change is that I've started reading books again, and on a regular basis. Last year I would pick up a book, read it a few times, and then leave it on the shelf for a month or more. Then I got really stuck into Nelson Mandela's "A Long Walk To Freedom" - I read it at every opportunity and managed to finish it before the new year - and I also finished off Ernesto (a.k.a. "Che") Guevara's "The Motorcycle Diaries". Both books made me realise that if I ever want to change the world, I will need to have a good knowledge of law, and a great understanding of the people - and it made me seriously consider the option of pursuing a post-graduate degree in law. For someone who's been trying to get rid of all their legal subjects at uni as painlessly as possible, this is a complete turnaround! But the consideration of a post-grad law degree is another story altogether.

I digress! Now I am currently reading another two books - "Swahili for the Broken-Hearted" by Peter Moore, and "Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brian" by Oliver Sacks. The first is a humorous travel diary of sorts - the author starts in South Africa and ends in Cairo, and the narration has an Aussie taste to it (I enjoy the references to Darling Harbour et al, it makes me feel like I'm sharing an in-joke with the author where foreign readers might not). The latter is completely different, focusing on neuroscience and relating tales and cases of people with neurological conditions I've never heard of, with prescriptions of medications that only a Med student might know of. Some of it's over my head, but the stories themselves are quite fascinating and make you wonder at the kind of influence music has on the human brain and perceptions, etc. Once I've finished these two books (I hope to be done by the end of the month at the latest), I'll continue to go through the rest of the books on my shelf that I bought years ago and still haven't read.

Realising that I was reading more frequently has also made me notice just how much reading of other material I've been doing, notably through Google Reader. I've recently signed up to a bundle of psychology blogs, I follow a number of preferred music blogs, and I also read a few friends' blogs - this probably takes up a good chunk of my time during the week.

However I've also noted a distinct lack or decline in an area of my life that used to be all-consuming - musical performance. I no longer play the piano every couple of days - it might be once a week if I'm lucky - and I probably sing even less than that. I truly believe that the quality of my singing and my singing voice is probably now at maybe 40-50% of what it used to be in high school, and it's such a depressing thought that I don't think about it at all if I can help it. But I had this epiphany in the shower last night, and I am hoping to make amends. The irony of it all is that I have more instruments in my house than I've ever had, with Lex lending me his alto sax and his bass guitar!

So if I have a new year's resolution this year - and let's just make it one, because I'd forget any more - it will be to get back into playing music, not just listening to it. How do I propose to change this? Perhaps a bit less blog reading. Definitely devoting more time to myself, i.e. spending less time trying to call the boy when he's busy playing PS3/pool/poker because I'm just disturbing him anyway. Less FB-ing.

Writing all this has brought me to another realisation - I'm not sporty anymore - and most likely becoming quite unfit! I haven't gained any additional weight as a result, but I'm sure a lot of my muscle (not that I had much to begin with) has relaxed into fat. I have great plans in my head that this will all change once the uni semester begins again and I buy a gym membership at Unigym. But until then, I should at least be stretching in my room on a regular basis! I used to do it a lot but then something changed and the routine was lost. Funny how habits fade in and fade out like that.

So - in summary?
More reading. More music playing. More exercise!