With the New Year comes New Year’s resolutions. Not all are kept, but it is still fun to hear what people wish they would achieve during the coming year.

So, do you have any resolutions?

Mine is to wear orange socks as often as I can. One, because orange is my favourite colour. And two, to act as a simple reminder to me to stand out, be different, be creative, and don’t follow the crowd.

I bought myself 12 pairs of orange socks on-line, and just received them yesterday. Very funky, don’t you think?

First of all, Happy New Year! Hope you had a great night on NYE, and are ready to take on 2009 with plenty of gusto.

Secondly, thank you to everyone who commented and emailed me suggestions for what I should try and complete in January. I have now developed a new plan, for how to tackle the remaining goals. And I am confident that it will help me get this project back on track.

I took a step back and thought ‘I have 140-odd goals to go, and 50 months to do them’. So really, if I can complete three a month here on out, I will be successful.

So at the start of each month, from here on out, I will pick four goals from the list (three plus a back-up), and put all of my focus on them.

On top of this, I will work on half a dozen ‘progress goals’, which require more than a month to complete (for example, I have on this list that I need to read the first Harry Potter book, for goal 103).

This list then gets printed off, and stuck to my wall, for me to cross off during the month.

So, what is on January’s list?

- Goal 167 - Have acupuncture

- Goal 68 - Drink two litres of water every day for a month

- Goal 114 - Go to a public place in my pyjamas (this will be done on Jan 10 at Piccadilly Circus, for anyone interested)

- Goal 78 - See 10 live performances (I have seen nine so far, so one live gig this month would make it ten)

Feel free to make nominations for February - some of the nominations already in will be in my February list, but feel free to keep suggesting away.

I NEED YOUR HELP!

As you may have noticed, I haven’t posted much of recent times. I guess given this is a six-year project, there will be slow times. This is one of them.

I could keep blaming my new surroundings, and the late hours at work. But I have been doing that for a couple of months now, and it doesn’t do much good.

So I need your help to get me going again, and blow the cobwebs away.

All you have to do is look at the list of goals I have left, and nominate one (or two, or three) for me to complete in January. Then I will do my best to complete it in January, and dedicate the goal’s completion to you.

So, nominate away!

I was just looking through some draft posts, and I found one that I was planning to write, showing a picture of the price of petrol in Melbourne.

At the time (just a few months ago), the price was hovering around 183 cents a litre, but everytime it was there, I didn’t have my camera handy. So I never got the picture.

Anyway, having a look at Melbourne’s petrol prices today, I realise just how much has happened in a few months.

The latest price I see is 112 cents a litre. A fair drop, no doubt caused by the credit crunch and other global factors.

Just shows how much things can change, in a relatively short space of time.

So conversely, this must therefore also show how much YOU or I can change in the same relatively short space of time.

Just think, if you started something new today, like surfing, and gave it a red-hot go for six months, imagine how good you would be at the end of six months.

Just discovered that my train journey back in June has inspired a Facebook group to do the same, but on a much bigger scale. If you are on Facebook, check it out.

Named the Great Victorian Rail Adventure, here is their description of the journey, which happened in October:

Watch as we avoid sleep, wholesome meals and South Australia, travelling the entire V/Line and Connex serviced Victorian Rail network in 96 Hours.

293 Stations
42 Strategic Changeovers
And enough legal documentation to be worthy of a staple.

I am very happy not to be the only person crazy enough to want to catch the train for an extreme length of time.

Trev sent me this picture, of a K183 steam locomotive.

Here’s his description:

About an hour and a half east of Melbourne in the small town of Yarragon is a steam locomotive in the park, driven past it heaps of times but have just noticed its engine number K183…

K class steam engines were not designed for high speed Passenger trains although they could do it if the need arrived, mostly they were used as general purpose locos….

so no need to hurry with your project as like the K class engine given time the job will be done

Although I am occasionally concerned that I won’t finish Project 183 in time, perhaps I should take a leaf out of the book of the K183, and be the tortoise, rather than the hare!

Thanks Trev, for both the image and the tip.

If you are having trouble starting your list, I might have the answer for you.

I have just finished reading a book by Phil Keoghan, who you may know as the host of the Amazing Race TV series (one of my all-time favourite shows).The book is called NOW (stands for No Opportunity Wasted), and gives you simple instructions on how to start your list.

He recommends coming up with a goal for each of the following 8 areas:

1. Face your fears (choose a goal that involves overcoming one of your greatest fears)

2. Get lost (choose a goal that puts you in a situation completely removed from your everyday life)

3. Test your limits (choose a goal that will really stretch your physical and/or mental limits)

4. Take a leap of faith (choose a goal that involves taking a leap into the complete unknown)

5. Rediscover your childhood (choose a goal that releases your playful side)

6. Shed your inhibitions (choose a goal that takes you out of your comfort zone)

7. Break new ground (choose a goal that involves making a contribution)

8. Aim for the heart (choose a goal that impacts on someone else in a really positive way)

The book comes crammed full of examples for each type of goal. My favourite is about a man named Banana George (named so because of his love of the colour yellow), who achieved goal 5 by taking up water-skiing in his fifties. He is now over 90, and holds a variety of Guinness World Records in the area. At 75, he took up snowboarding. And rode his first bull at 84. He epitomises the phrase that you are never too old to learn.

The overall objective of the book is in the title. No Opportunity Wasted is a phrase that should engrained into everyone’s memory, to remind them that the time to start is NOW, and every second that you wait is an opportunity to live life that you have wasted.

If you are struggling to get started, read this book. I guarantee once you have finished it, you won’t be struggling any longer.

I found out recently about a lady named Barbara, who has taken the plunge and started her own list.

This in itself is a cause for congratulations, as starting the list is, I think, the hardest part.

What I really like about Barbara though is that she is 61 years old.

It would be very easy at 61 to say that it is too late to start. Too hard.

But not Barbara. She has set herself 147 goals to achieve before she turns 70. 147 because she was born in 1947.

You may think that the things on her list would mostly involve grandma stuff like knitting and helping out at the local op shop.

Well, you would be wrong.

Among Barbara’s goals are to go hang-gliding, go to a rodeo, do the City to Surf (again!), ski at Thredbo and visit Antarctica. Naturally there are some grandma ones in there, like opening a bank account for each grandchild and putting $1 per week into each account, and making and donating 12 baby quilts.

But my favourite of Barbara’s goals is the last one – to ‘live, laugh and be happy every day’.

To anyone who thinks that they are too old, or it is too late for them start, take a leaf out of Barbara’s book, and start today.

For anyone interested in reading about my adventures in London, I have started a new blog - HeathInLondon.blogspot.com

You will notice my trademark on the right hand side - a list of things to do while I am in London. If you have any suggestions for things I should do, or places I should go, I would love to hear them. 

I have just discovered a phone that, for its time, was revolutionary.

Introducing the 183 Space Saver!

It was described as one of the first attempts at a compact wall phone, for those that had little wall space.

Now, if I could get my hands on a 183 phone, that would be really cool.