Samuel Jones' Diary, Part A

                 
Well, another year has come and gone. I did intend on writing a nice little Christmas blog, but I never did get around to it. Frankly I’m surprised I managed to go a complete year and still be writing blogs on here.

                This time of year makes me think about one of my favourite books – Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding. At the beginning of the book the protagonist, Bridget Jones, sets down a whole lot of New Year’s resolutions, and at the end she presents a little summary of the year that was. I tend not to bother about making resolutions because they tend to go out the window within a few days. I did try to get around it one year by saying that my only resolution was not to have any New Year’s resolutions but then I realised I’d broken it before I’d even started it.

                I would like to reflect on the year though. It’s been a long year – full of travel and heartbreak and friendships and breakups and sunburn and heartships and friendups and sunships and heartburn. So I thought I’d take a look at 2011, Bridget Jones style.

Number of overseas holidays: 2

Number of countries visited: 9 (impressive)

Number of ex-boyfriends: 1

Number of current boyfriends: 0

Number of times have fallen in love: 6

Number of times have decided to give up on men altogether and become a nun: Several hundred

Number of times have actually become a nun: 0

Number of languages attempted to learn: 15

Number of languages can actually speak (excluding English): 0

Number of languages can actually speak (including English): ½

Number of religions have wanted to convert to: 3

Number of religions have actually converted to: 0

Number of messages sent on my phone: … Oh dear.

Number of times have attempted to get fit: Aprox. 13

Number of times have succeeded in getting fit: 0

Number of books finished writing: 2

Number of books started writing: 5

Number of blog posts: 28

Number of publication rejections: 2

Number of articles published: 2

Number of books I now own: 700+

Number of New Year’s resolutions made: 7

Number of New Year’s resolutions met: 1

You’d think that having read some of those things I’d be depressed. And I was until today. But this has been an amazing year. I have done so much, learnt so much, grown so much. The good and the bad… I don’t regret it. No regrets. And I think I’m ready to face another year.

Farewell 2011. You shall be missed.