A new year, the same old life?

Tired of the same New Year's Eve party?

We are well into the new year. How many resolutions have you made and failed to uphold already? Or have you made it past the two-week mark?

I gave up making resolutions years ago as I always got to mid-January and abandoned them. They were always the unimaginative kind, of the obligatory and globally applicable ‘must try harder’ ilk. For me, if I had to make one, it would probably be something like, 'I must not spend so much money on shoes (and clothes, and books, and music…)'. But of course that’s not going to happen: I’ll cut down a little, but that’s because I didn’t dare look at my bank balance till the end of term, and it was not a pretty sight. But I would not stop going into town and going shopping – my supervisor is in King’s Manor, and the journey into town is a shame without a quick pop into Toppers, and the shoe lounge in Fenwick’s, and Office…

To be honest though, what does New Year really represent any more? It no longer seems like the excellent excuse for a fabulous party and a throbbing headache through New Year’s dinner (if, like my family, you have Christmas, take two, and minus the presents). My best friend and I decided to go out in our hometown: it ordinarily goes down quite well – seeing people we hadn’t seen for ten weeks, getting lairy in the little small-town public houses and our one lame attempt at an upmarket bar, coming to the pinnacle at the roundabout, and normally concluding with dancing on the booth chairs in the grotty but strangely endearing conveniently located pub on the corner. However, even before the lacklustre fireworks popped over town about ten minutes after the New Year, I was already tired of the underage drunk kids crowding the streets, and the crude blokes thinking that before the resolutions kick in, they might as well make the best of their smuttiness. That could, of course, be just my little provincial Yorkshire town.

However I’ve come to realise New Year’s Eve does tend to become very disappointing: it is a highlight in the calendar – new dress, new shoes, cocktails and wine – but it never ever lives up to those expectations. Perhaps a New Year’s resolution would be to not look forward to next year’s? After all, I think some of the best nights out I’ve had have been spontaneous, without any prior notice, and thus without any expectations. And I think the same should be said for spring term uni resolutions. While ‘must work harder’ is sensible for a nice 60-credit term, as a resolution I think I’d have used up all my ‘must work harder’ mojo by now (spring exams = lame), and so instead of expecting to fail my resolution, I shall commit myself to the library, and never leave except for an impromptu night out with no time to look forward to.

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