'Tis the season for introspection

Hmm, resolution time again.

Not wanting to be one of those gits who say "I don't make resolutions", I retired to bed after the midnight festivities and made my list. I didn't get to sleep for an hour, as fresh promises popped out one after another. Thankfully, when I woke up I couldn't remember half of them.

I'm not going to clog the blog with the full run-down. But it's enough to say that this is going to be a Very Big Year for Jen. Hopefully, a Very Small Jen, after a couple of months of resolution number 4.

2005 was a weird old year. I thought I had scabies for an entire month. I sang a song in Swedish in public. I got two celebrity kisses (a peck and a proper one). I ate at a French restaurant in India during a power cut and had the best dessert of my life. I had a wart issue which was threatening to take over my life but which has vanished suddenly. I came up with a plan which could make me terribly successful. I started seeing a psychotherapist. I gatecrashed the party for the British Soap Awards, and nobody in charge noticed. I cut my losses with someone who was never going to let me in and make me happy. I was star-struck by Sir Ian McKellen. I made more new friends than I did during my entire time at university. I took 10 days to lose a stone in weight. I almost got fired. I sat in the Mastermind black chair. I took singing lessons. I graduated. I went to three funerals. I went to a posh spa for free. I came within a fraction of a second of winning £50K on live national television. I started to feel in control of my life, and to get angry. I started to see all the doors that are open to me rather than concentrating on the few that are slammed shut. I worked in a mental health unit, a Christmas decorations wholesaler and a community college. I swam in the Arabian Sea, paddled in the Irish Sea and threw a chip into the Channel. I made up my mind to be happy.