A Bit Behind - But it's the New Year!

Wow,

It's been four months since I posted but you know what? It seems like so much longer.

Challenging times - A lot has happened in my life and I'd like to say that I've grown a lot as a person and as Christian... but I'd probably be wrong about that but I live in hope anyway.

You can't really use a blog as a diary because there are a lot of things that go on in your life and a whole heap more that go on your head that you really can't share with most of those that would be considered near or dear nevermind the whole world.

Rather than spreading every detail of my private life I'll leave people knowing what they already know. Suffice to say that certain friends are very much appreciated. Some people might like to post every detail of what they do and think on the internet but that's not for me! When friends are there for each other to share and support each other through the tough times and also share the fun times together that's really special. I think we live in a fallen world where friendship has lost its innocence and love is not found on its own anymore, freely given with no expectations in return... and I certainly don't mean the sort of 'free love' others might consider!

New friends - In the last few months I made two 'new' friends. One was Alan who I'd known for years ever since school and we rubbed each other up the wrong way a bit... little did we know about our two mutual passions. The first is that of our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour but much more important than that... WRESTLING! It's the only sport I like because I know that it's real unlike all these other fake sports like Athletics, Rugby, Football, Rowing etc although I often admire the athleticism of some professional dart players too. The second is Laura who's only here for a year but she's on MSN all day while she's meant to be working and she's a pretty fast mover as we've already managed to set her up with Mervy McKeown. I feel very blessed to have the circle of friends I have, especially seeing as I'm such a git and I don't deserve any friends!

New year, new start - I'm determined that this year I'm going to improve myself as best I can and all my friends need to encourage me in that because I've got no will-power! I have a list of new years resolutions as long as my arm and some of them have already been broken but I'm also not going to give up on them either. If you all know them you can try and make me stick to them.

1) Closer to God
a) Read the bible every day.
b) Pray more
c) Be more involved in church activities and services.
d) Be more considerate and more complimentary of people.
2) Better diet
a) Wholegrain cereal for breakfast.
b) No crisps on my own in front of the TV.
c) No biscuits, cakes, sweets etc to replace said crisps!
d) Do I really need what I'm about to eat or just being greedy?
e) Regular meal times rather than waiting until I'm starving them stuffing my face.
f) Less takeaways!
3) Better routine!
a) Bed by 1am unless I'm out or have guests (ok, given that it's later than that while I'm writing this I'm maybe not doing too well at that yet).
b) Up by 9am!
c) Showered, Shaved, Breakfast and Brushed Teeth before starting on the computer!
d) Regular exercise... really wanting to join the gym!
e) Keep the house tidy! Anyone who comes in should point out any untidyness and give me a good ticking off! Lizzie's desk doesn't count as I'm not allowed anywhere near that.
4) Money money money! I should be saving more so here goes...
a) NO gambling. Winning or losing is irrelevant as this should never happen. Up until not very long ago it was a part of my life and whilst the bible doesn't specifically forbid it it doesn't tie in too well with the general lifestyle.
b) Budgeting - I've discovered a program called Microsoft Money and it tells me that I should be saving an awful lot more every month than I am so just by entering transactions in to it more that should make me pay more attention.
c) No more reckless spending just for the fun of it!
d) Budget for the year and not for the month... that's right I'm now saving for next Christmas and my holidays to ease the load.
e) Want list. Anything I want I'll add to the list and if I still think I need it then I'll buy it at some point but I don't need to buy everything straight away (assuming I have the money) as then that makes me really difficult to buy for!
5 Communication!
a) I still haven't done many of my 2006 Christmas Cards. If you're expecting one then sorry, I'll get around to it!
b) Blogging. I really need to keep up-to-date with this otherwise I just forget what I need to add! I'll update each of my 'profile' type pages with the same thing.
c) Websites - I need to keep these all up-to-date including doing something with www.philt.net when I get round to it.
d) I'm going to remember to do all my Christmas cards the first week in December this year and also try to work out what I'm getting people.

If you see me breaking any of these rules then try to stop me although I'm very stubborn so you might have difficulties!