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Some Must Do's
January 1, 2021
Happy New Year.
2021 has to be better than 2020, right? I don't actually see it being much easier than last year but I think we are better prepared for the difficulties.
So resolutions. The same ones as every year, I suppose.
Must do more gardening. So many jobs undone. And no matter how much time I spend, I never seem to get any further. And I am so untidy.
Broken this already since it started raining while I was having my breakfast and it's still drizzling. The monsoon is heavy his year, and I'm glad that my plants are getting well-watered, but I don't feel inclined to go out and get muddy.
Must do more writing. Made a good (re)start in 2020. Am mining my past notebooks, because even small things I now know can give me the start for something bigger. Keep building the junk pile too. Must write here. Looking back on all this past journal entries am so sad for all the days I didn't record. Facebook's timeline seems like a special gift - giving me back photos I'd forgotten about, reminding me of what happened. I'm really enjoying pulling everything together now in Penzu.
Must do more reading. Only around 36 books in 2020. My head too woolly to focus. I think because I had a lot of anxiety with Covid and because it's been harder just to relax and read since Abu died. The books I loved the most in 2020 - Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart and Elizabeth Strout's Olive, Again (the sequel to Olive Kitterige) - both very compassionate books and I felt at one with the characters.
Must get more creative writing courses up and running. I am so thrilled that I can teach online and don't see it as any less workable than teaching in a classroom in the "real world".
Really should work towards publishing more collections of Malaysian writing this year. All kinds of practical difficulties to overcome for this though - mostly funding.
Must focus on my health. I haven't and I think I've put on weight I can't afford to put on. I haven't been walking. I need to start that again. I don't walk because this area depresses me. I'll explain why later. if I feel a bit fitter and weigh a bit less the rest of my health problems (like feeling a bit sluggish, like the pain in my knees) will definitely be lessened.
Apart from all this, I know it is going to be very much a sit-and-wait-it-out year. Until there is widespread vaccination for Covid, nothing much can get back to any kind of normal. I'm OK with that. Until all the legal issues are solved re Abu's estate and the house, I can't move on with anything or even see my way forward.
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