New Year Resolutions?

Its that time of year. No, not time to make those new year resolutions, but to have already broken them. This year I have not fallen into the trap. No new year resolutions made. Instead, I have goals for the year, and whats more, I have a cunning plan on how to achieve them. Break them into manageable, monthly targets!

So, what do I want to achieve this year? I have places I want to visit. Health and fitness plans are on the list. Dreams of sporting achievement also. Not forgetting exercising the mind and learning new skills. The first part of my plan is the "Stick" method. I make my goals public so that you, my esteemed friends, can beat me with a stick if I don't achieve them. Lets see what I have in store for 2008:

Travel
Inspired by Monica's books, "Places to see before you Die" and "501 must visit natural wonders", there are many exotic places to see. This year I intend to break the holiday mode of "Manchester" and "Venice" and visit one of these places. The favourite so far is Peru to see Machu Picchu and lake Titicaca.

More local destinations to visit include Sevilla, Madrid and Morocco. Madrid being favourite to try out the new high speed rail link, the AVE. Malaga to Madrid in 2 and a half hours. Also, to visit Monica's friend Mila.

Learning
2008 will be the break through year with my Spanish. After over 2 years of self paced study, my pace being study for a couple of days and then forget it for a couple of weeks, 2008 will see a rapid improvement. My level of Spanish will move into the "Advanced" stage so that I can understand and participate in a conversation in the local tapas bar. To help me, I intend to restart my "1 to 1" lessons at the local school or with a private tutor, and continue to go to the Friday "Advanced Spanish Conversation" class organised by the Ayuntamiento even though I don't understand a bloody thing and I am the class dummy.

Each time I go to Venice, my level of Italian has improved. I aim to continue this progression in order to impress the Vianello-Cipolato family. My first visit was extremely basic. I mastered the words "Ciao", "Piacere", the basics. The next visit I added a few directional words like "destra" and "sinistra". The last trip was more of a breakthrough, thanks to the "Michel Thomas Italian Self Study" tapes. I was able to string a full sentence together. "voglio stare a casa stasera perché sono stanco". There were suitably impressed.

Something new for 2008 will be taking a "Creative Writing" course. I have always wondered if there was a short story, or dare I say it, a novel inside me waiting to be written. Hopefully, 2008 will tell me if there is.

Sport, Leisure and Health
The greatest sport of them all to play, Golf. 2007 was a bad year for my golf. I did join a local golf society "TOGS", but back injuries and the cost to play had curtailed my number of games. Hopefully with my financial burdens being eased with the sale of 41 Oakcroft (please somebody buy it soon!), I will be able to buy a new set of clubs and get out on the course more. Will 2008 be the year that I finally break 80? That is the tough goal set for the year.

Watching live football in recent years has been very sporadic. The occasional Latics game when I get my timing right with my travel plans to the UK. 2007 saw my first Málaga CF game, all be it a friendly staged in Nerja against La Liga Almería. 2008 I hope to see my first league game at the Roseleda. If I like it, who knows, maybe a season ticket?

Health and fitness usually takes the form of buying an abono at the local gym "Time Sport". Take a few classes of Spinning with Jorge. A little weight training when my fragile back can take it. In short, no real target or goal to reach. This is about to change. The shocking fact revealed by the bathroom scales confirms what Monica has been saying "you fat bastard". A whopping 95.6Kgs, 15.1 Stones in old money. A body mass index of 26.4 which Tesco informs me is "Overweight". So I need to reach the magic figure of 89Kgs (14 Stone) to get back in shape.

2008 will see a continuation of our walking trips. The intention is to do it more regularly and get back into shape. The ultimate goal we have had since staring our rambling has been to reach the top of one of the local summits. That is either Mount Cielo or Maroma. Each one a tough climb, a round trip taking at least 8 hours. The best time to do it is early spring. Will we be up for the challenge so early in the year? Or will it have to be an autumn assault?