Hey Plain Jane

My list of New Year resolutions is quite monstrously long. It is so long and seemingly so critical to my general life happiness that I decided I should break the whole thing into smaller bite size chunks of possibilities, consider the goals, objectives, strategies, blather, blather, blather. I began this task days ago and much to my disgust, have found it all too much to finish. I just know I want a bunch of things to be different! But I also know that without some real effort and organisation these things will not happen. Perhaps it is an ongoing thing.

So, I’ll list them here, and they may get elaborated upon as the week goes on. 

FAMILY:
I resolve to spend more quality meaningful, fun and soul-loving time with my family.
I resolve to spend time creating and nurturing traditions within my immediate family. 

A film, a picnic, going to a festival, or a Museum or just a walk or a lagoon swim. This year I want to go camping at least once with Jack and John. Why? Because we’ve never been camping together. Because camping can fill up your spirit even when you don’t believe in all that. Because invaribaly something small or large goes awry on camping trips and the fun part is testing your combined mettle to fix the problem. We live in the oldest continuous rain forest in the World, the original Gondwanna-land, on the shores of one of the seven natural wonders of the World. At age 5, Jack has not seen any of it except that forest-laden range of mountains that tower in the distance from our yard. Unbelievable fact. That’s just shameful.

Go crabbing and fishing. Spend a night at Green Island or Fitzroy Island resort. Do a Daintree River Cruise in a fruitless search for crocodiles (who are far too clever than to hang about waiting for tourists to spot them). Do the free Tai Chi and aqua-robics classes at the Lagoon some early mornings. Plus I want to get some time away with John, just the two of us.

I also need to visit my hometown this year once, if not twice. There’s a reunion of some sort, being organised by our beloved school captain who is now the Editor of the hometown newspaper. Besides, I haven’t been home in years.

HOME
I resolve to take the risk of selling and building a new home in the midst of world economic mayhem. 
I resolve to be more economical, more organised and  more diligent when it comes to domestic management. 

House sold, home built, moved by Christmas 2009. End this procrastination.
Be organised: cupboards cleared.
Know what I own and be content.
Make do.
Throw trash responsibly, but throw it.
Plan meals.
Be on time, every time
One “buy nothing day” per fortnight 

Jack baptised.

WORK
I resolve to passionately pursue creative employment to fulfill my needs and to pay the bills. 

Set up a recycled art business?
Four hours with my craft pal, Soo, once a week.
Part time job that brings in at least $200 cash per week
Build my Art confidence.

LIFESTYLE

I resolve to take back control of my errantly menopausal body and claim the right to be fit, slim and energetic.
Lose 10 kilos (one kilo per month)
three gym classes per week
Thirty minutes exercise per day

Write lists.

Told you. The resolutions are a-plenty. Almost all of them are part of an overall picture of me in 2009 as a more organised, sharper, fitter, more responsible, more thinking individual. I’ll let  you know how that works out….

I’m not in the habit these days of putting an image of myself on the web, but I will make an exception because this photo is so weirdly not me but it is me. The other Saturday I was prevailed upon to do a photo shoot for an upcoming play by my theatre company.

I’m not actually in the play, but the show requries some media (slides projected on the stage). One of the subjects of the play is a real life bag lady who lived and roamed the Outback in the 1930’s. Her name was Annie Bags, and she was one of those famous itinerants who get themselves ingrained into the history as being both peculiar and noble.

Annie is said to have wandered back and forth between the outback town of Charleville and the coast for many years, no-one is exactly sure why I suspect. She was always surrounded with animals, hence the small dog collection in the photo. Annie never appears in the play but her story underpins the action.

What I can tell you about this photo and the photo shoot. It was hot. I had several layers of clothes on and a ferociously matted and heavy wig. The dog I am holding is the sweetest little Jack Russell called Tilly owned by one of the crew. Honest I could just brought him home in a handbag. The other dog is Tiger, and he is stuffed. Tiger has a longish history with the company; he originally came as a prop for one of my plays in 2004, and has been hanging about both back stage ever since. He crops up every now and then on stage. He really is quite old and moth-eaten and fusty. I like how the photographer has aged the picture with a heavy-duty Photoshop make-over.

Strangely enough it feels a bit like a bag lady mentality going on around here lately. All grubby and every which -way. Mountains of stuff are slowly being sorted out; this pile for storage, this pile for charity, this pile for the dump.

We are employing one of our friends to complete a long list of maintenance jobs for this house so that we can get it on the market as soon as possible. He will be working here for three weeks….yes, the list really is that long.

It will be good to cleanse ourselves of ten years of junk we have accumulated here.