New Years 2010!

I have been writing ten resolutions every year for the last few years now - and then scoring myself on them. Part of the resolutions is that once I make them, I never look at them again - the idea being that if I care about them, they're things I'll remember and make happen. So we'll see how I did this year.

Resolutions for 2009:
1. Still be alive (Yup... that would really help me out.)
[Success: I am writing this a month early, but I can only assume that I'm still alive. Otherwise, won't this be a depressing note.]

2. To not hate solo traveling
[Success! I can't believe I thought I'd hate it. Why that's just crazy talk!]

3. To have stepped foot on 5 out of the 7 continents in the world
[North America, Asia, Europe, Africa... ... ... FAILED! South America is still a few months away, and Antarctica / Australia are after those. Curses.]

4. To have seen 5 new countries (this shouldn't be hard...)
[Success! And then some.]

5. To have [amount removed] in savings left (hopefully much much more by this point, but... you know.)
[success: I do indeed still have this much left.]

6. To have met up with at least five people from different countries who I can unawkwardly talk to
[Success: One day in Iceland took care of this one.]

7. To not lose my camera memory cards.
[Success: Hasn't happened yet.]

8. To keep travelogues and not lose them either.
[Sucess: Man, I'm on a roll!]

9. To not have been kidnapped, disappeared, mutilated, or any other form of terrible.
[Success! Sweet!]

10. To have seen one of my overseas friends whom I've not seen in a while. (don't know if this will fit in in the pre-2010 schedule though.)

[Success! This is the best I've ever done. If it wasn't for that stupid "five continent" thing... But, alas, there it is. Well - I tried hard.

Final Score 9/10

Resolutions for 2010

1. Start writing again - and I don't mean writing travelogues, I mean poetry, and fiction.

2. Continue to keep up with my travelogues.

3. Start the process of writing a book - any book - that I will look to get pubished.

4. Get my British passport.

5. Take at least one trip out of North America, post-year long trip

6. Have visited all seven continents

7. To have seen, or make real steps in planning to see Chernobyl, Easter Island, or the Middle East.

8. To be back in the process of finding a teaching job.

9. Maintain my website, and try to - I don't know - do something with it.

10. To have sorted through all of my photos, and created photobooks for the terrible thousands of images I shot this year.

Well, that's that taken care off. Happy New Year to one and all. I'm still in Africa - but not for much longer. Soon I should be headed off to Thailand, and start to experience the traveller's world that is South East Asia.