Resolutions 2008 Evaluated

Summary: Fail.

I made some belated resolutions about a year ago. Didn't really achieve any of them. Here is a run down:

• Thesis: some progress was made in the last year ... but I am still not finished. Trying to polish the thesis and make it a bit more readable. But I am also looking at some experiment reruns. This will be on my resolution list again this year.
  
• Weight: I did get down to perhaps less than 110kg but am back up now to between 110 and 115 kg. Another one for resolution list this year.
• Finances are not as bad as they were but overall my net position would still be in the red.
• I know a quite a few words of Indonesian but I can't really put them into sentences.
• Community ... not as I intended. I have been drawn into the local Indonesian community a little bit with my wife.
• Write a complete application ... nope.
• Read, read, read ... not really. Still have stacks of unread New Scientist magazines. I did read Outliers ( Malcolm Gladwell) which I can recommend.
  

So, based on those stated resolutions the year could be described as mediocre at best. However, the year did contain a lot of travelling. In March I (and some of my family) were in Jakarta for my wedding. My wife returned with me to Adelaide in mid-March. We spent some time in Queensland for our honeymoon including a trip to Australia Zoo.

In May I travelled to The Hague, The Netherlands for work.

Return from The Netherlands coincided with the conclusion of the first three months of my wife being in Australia. That also happened to be the maximum continuous period she is allowed in the country (she is here on a multiple entry tourist visa valid for 12 months but only for 3 months form each entry). We were expecting to be able to extend the three months but were denied. So we put in a rush trip to Singapore for a weekend in June.

The end of June found us in Grafton for my Nan's 80th birthday. We also started planning for our next trips out of the country. September saw us return to Jakarta to visit my wife's family and our new niece: Kenar.

September also saw my first true Muslim experience: fasting for the holy month of Ramadan. I converted at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta in December last year in order to marry my wife.

Returning to Adelaide from Jakarta at the end of September. The end of September also brought the end of Ramadan. My wife wanted to attend the traditional Id-al Fitr prayers and after some quick searching we found an Indonesian group was celebrating at Flinders University. Attending we were introduced to some local Indonesians and later that day were at the house of the `matriarch' of the community. We now attend someone's house at least once per month.

The end of November took us back to Grafton for my Mum's 50th birthday. This time we went by road, via Canberra on the way to Grafton. Five days on the road.

December was the time of the end of my wife's third three month period in Australia. For this trip we had more time to plan and we went to New Zealand for 8 days. See my previous post for what we were planning to do (and actually did).

And now we are here. Based on this narrative, the year has been quite full. I've also taken a lot of photos this year (as evidenced by the images in this post) and have learnt quite a bit about photography.

So, though I didn't meet my stated resolutions, I did get married, travelled to three different countries, and took a bunch of photos which (I think) have improved significantly. In retrospect, it has been a very good year.