I shall have my cake and eat it too

Wow. Just like that, we're in the 2nd week of 2014. Did you guys make any resolutions? I gave it a lot of thought end of last year and decided I will once again make a list of resolutions for 2014. Yes, I can see some of your eyes rolling. Now I know it can be pretty meaningless sometimes to keep making resolutions and not really keeping them throughout the year. But let me explain my thoughts.

I feel that one of the best things about starting a new year is you get the chance to start over. The chance to set some goals to shoot for. And so what if you don't keep all your resolutions? The effort you make to improve your life, to grow and be a better person; the hope that you can achieve it one day - that's what keep us going.

Were you moved by what I just wrote? No tears? Okay, just to make you laugh, hopefully until you pee or the tears come (whichever occurs first), I'm going to tell you about the resolution I was vaguely bouncing around in my head and not quite fully committing to it because of so many issues one of which includes lack of self-control. The resolution was NOT TO EAT CAKE.

Cake does not kill me. It just makes me fat and slightly ill which means I have to go to the toilet a lot. It's probably a dairy thing.

Cake has always been my weakness. If I eat it once in a while, it's okay. The problem is if I don't eat cake for a while, I will eat a lot of it until I'm ill.

So I dilly dallied and before I knew it, New Year's come and gone and my resolutions are still not cast in stone. And since nothing was cast in stone, I decided to go ahead and start 2014 by EATING A LOT OF CAKE. Yes, I broke the resolution I hadn't yet made. And I spent half the day going in and out of the toilet. I had two slices left which I probably should throw out on account of my going in and out of the toilet. That would have been a wise thing to do. I thought about it for a good 5 minutes. No, that was a lie. More like 5 seconds. I weighed the cons versus the pros. Go toilet many times versus EAT A LOT OF CAKE. Having given the matter considerable consideration, I told myself:

I shall have my cake and eat it too.

So, my first resolution:
Don't tell myself not to eat cake. (I will want it more)

What? Not funny enough? No tears? Nothing? Not even a teeny bit of pee?

Moving on... This next resolution is pretty serious. You know how I've always talked about how accident prone I am? The reality is I am a careless person. I get hit, kicked, scraped, knocked pretty easily. I mean, I'm probably the only person you've heard of who lost her hearing after being knocked on the head with a gym bench weight. (long story) In fact, I ended last year pretty badly. First, I dropped a pair of scissors with its pointy end down on my foot and just barely missing my toes. The scissors broke and thankfully I kept my toes. Second, on the last day of my Vivocity craft market, I was so dead tired that when I went to bed, I did not sleep in a proper position and ended up hurting my neck. It hurt really bad for two weeks. It was tough sleeping and you know sleeping is my favourite thing to do.

My second resolution:
Be more careful. Don't get myself injured.

My third resolution:
Be less cranky. 

Hubs informed me recently that I'm a cranky person. It was quite a revelation to me because I've never ever remotely considered myself a cranky person. So hearing it from his mouth made me want to hurl myself on him and smack him around on his face until he said I wasn't a cranky person... But  that would prove I'm cranky. So I did all that hurling and smacking in my mind instead. How did I get to be such a cranky person? Have I always been this way and people not let me know because they're afraid I'll hurl myself on them and smack them around on their faces? I don't really know how to be less cranky (having only been informed I am cranky recently) but I am not happy that hubs (and possibly other people too) thinks I'm cranky. So I will start by being less complaining. And less ranting. And be more forgiving. Okay, maybe that's a stretch. I think the first two's a pretty good start.

My fourth resolution:
Make less. Create more.

Being someone who does the craft market circuit, I often went for quantity. I've been doing craft markets since 2009. It's been 5 years of making and hawking. This year I don't want to do so many craft markets. Some people will remind me I say this every year. But this year's for real. But why don't I want to keep doing craft markets? There are many reasons - too much competition, tiredness, boredom. If I am freed from craft markets, I have much more time to explore my creativity with my bags and pouches. I do want to continue making and selling a small number of my bags and pouches. How can I achieve that without my regular craft markets? So that's something I have to think about and work on.

My fifth resolution:
Keep learning new stuff but go beyond "making stuff".

I've never stopped enjoying being a student, opening my eyes to possibilities. But for the past few years, I've mostly kept learning about making stuff. That's not going to change. This year, I hope to expand my horizon beyond handmade like software and internet things. These have always been a vague thingy for me - never fully able to get the whowhatwhyhah? Tidying up my blog is going to be my number 1 priority. And I have to keep working on my Adobe CS software.

So there you have it. 5 goals to shoot for in 2014. May this be a good year for you and me.