Halloween's Resolutions

I know it’s weird but let me explain what this means. It’s just that every New Year, people formulate a list of plans, or goals to be exact to accomplish for that year. Some people get to fulfill the promise they made themselves while some miserably fail. As for me, the New Year has already arrived.

I turned 21 last September and ever since I got to college I told myself that the real New Year starts September. It’s just logical, right? I was born on the month of September so you shouldn’t argue with me when I say that I want the “Real” New Year on September!

Unfortunately, people won’t celebrate my own personal New Year with me because if the start of the New Year would depend on our birth months, we would all have different New Year celebrations. But I won’t give in to that, a compromise should be made.

Since the “Traditional” New Year starts January, why not meet halfway? Count 2 months ahead starting September and you reach November. Count 2 months back from January and you reach November. And so, the “Compromise” New Year starts November. And instead of calling it “Compromise New Year’s Resolution,” why not just call it “Halloween’s Resolution”? And so be it.

I started formulating resolutions even before September. I named the article 21 Things to Do Before You Turn 22. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to complete the list on time. Thinking of 21 weird things is quite difficult, specially knowing that some of the entries would just seem normal to others. I could only think of a few weird things and so I stopped writing and gave myself more time. Now I would just have to list whatever I want to, no more quotas. Begin!

Write a fictional blog starting November...

I am so psyched about this idea. I’ve always wanted to write a novel, but again to use the word “unfortunately” (Ok fine let’s toss in the Romance equivalents); Por desgracia, I don’t have a lot of time specially now that I’m already working. I would barely have time for anything. Another concern is that even a good story would turn out to be trash if you don’t have that ability to narrate stories creatively. In order to be an effective storyteller, brilliant ideas won’t suffice, you need creative writing skills. So what now? Should I transfer to the BA Creative Writing program? Hell no. Because of this I plan to write the novel when I turn 40, which is a rather long wait. 19 years? So I’ve just decided, why not use the blog? I could use the blog as the medium to tell the story but instead of narrating it 3rd person omniscient, I could just do it on 1st person point of view with the main character doing what normal people do, blogging. It would be updated every week so it would be like a weekly series and because it is a blog, there would be no pressure to write as if writing a piece for Oprah’s Book Club. It would be just like reading someone else’s blog entries! But I would have to warn you now. Starting on the first Sunday of November, a new category would be added to the existing Weekly and Special categories in my blog. It would be named Luna’s Corner. Yes, the main protagonist is a girl and to top that, she’s pyrokinetic. Has Dan the Wrathful met his match? It would be of the fantasy genre, written as if it were a normal weekly blog. Excited na ako!

Dye my hair white...

Yes white, as in totally white. I’m not promising anyone anything about this, not even myself. In my Spanish class last semester a lot of people underwent drastic changes with their hair and a lot of people branded them as depressed. When I had my hair cut they asked me if I was depressed. I wasn’t. I was but not so much. I believe that this year the Great Depression, the mother of all depressions, would hit me hard. I could feel it. And when that time comes that’s when I would say that I am truly depressed. But what does it have to do with the hair? Well, it’s just that I’ve always envisioned Dan the Wrathful having white hair with a ball of fire on the left hand. I can’t do anything about the fireball but I think something could be done with the hair. So what does this mean? I don’t know. Maybe boredom and depression are best buddies and when one hits a person the other would hit him or her too. Maybe I just want to have a radical change in my life? I don’t know. One thing I do know is that this particular resolution won’t be 100% sure. There is a possibility but it is not as sure as the fictional blog. This is crazy, it got 3 star-(what? You’ve got to be kidding me!)-rating in the unpublished article mentioned above. Well... Let’s see if it comes to fruition this year or the next. Just thinking about it makes me cringe

Read and finish foreign language novels...

I am a serious language learner and I know that reading would benefit me the most. I have nothing against translations but for me they are like movie versions of books where details are often omitted and sometimes overemphasized. For me reading the original is like reading the book first before seeing the movie, which in this case would be the translation. I love reading and I believe it would be the perfect way to enhance my abysmal vocabulary in the languages I’m learning. I’ve already planned some books to be read for each language. Again I am not sure if any of this would be realized but I hope I could do at least one. I am planning to read Como Agua Para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) by Laura Esquivel. I’ve already seen an original Spanish copy in Fully Booked but I didn’t have the money then. I hope it would still be there once I have enough money to buy it. Don Quixote is an alternative but hello, are you high? Have you seen how thick the book is? For Portuguese I plan on reading Veronika Decide Morrer (Veronika Decides to Die) by Paolo Coelho. The good thing about Coelho’s books is that they are conveniently thin. I’ve always been intrigued by that particular book and been tempted a couple of times to buy it because it sells for less than 300 pesos in bookstores, but then my stubborn self would like to read it in the original Portuguese. The good thing about Portuguese is that it is hard to speak but easy to read, specially if you know Spanish. For French I plan on reading Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint Exupéry. It is a book for children, right? But still if this is to be done I think it would be by the end of the year because I have just started French again (This is like the fourth time I’ve restarted learning it). For Italian I have no idea. I don’t want to read Macchiavelli’s masterpiece in the original Italian. I think Umberto Eco’s books are complicated, what more in the original language! So should I just read Dante’s Inferno? I don’t know. So far the reading challenge only targets the four languages mentioned.

Do public service for my high school batch mates...

When I started the blog I’ve always thought of interviewing my high school batch mates (around 400 in total). Wala lang. I would just like to know what they are doing with their lives after 4 years now and at the same time inform the others via publication in the blog. I also want to include some high school teachers specially the notorious ones. I know this would be time-consuming and again I’m not committing myself to anything. If this goal is to be achieved I think it would start January 2007. I would still have to think about the details. How many should I interview per month? Would 1 batch mate be enough? Should I also interview the teachers or should I leave them alone? What should I ask them? Should it be a serious interview in the form of an article or should it be just a mere transcript of the kamustahan session? Isip isip muna.

Be more than just the average student...

I love school but I haven’t really excelled to realize my full potential. I always have this strange mentality that most students have, that of may next sem pa naman e, pahinga muna ako. I think some people in the university who know me would find this weird. Last semester I had like 32 units (20 enrolled, 12 sit-in) just for the fun of it. Isn’t that loving school more than enough? I think not. Though I attended a lot of classes for the last semester, I would have to admit that I didn’t do my best. Yes I had a lot of classes but what happened was quantity over quality. I spent almost all my time attending classes from different fields of study but I didn’t give my all, not even to one particular class. I would just attend class, listen to the professor, daydream, and then cram once the exams started coming. I could have read all the readings. I could have appreciated and viewed them as leisure readings instead of required readings if I wanted to but I did not. Deep inside apathy ruled and I had a so-so semester. I’ve been a consistent College Scholar ever since I started in UP. What occurred last semester could very well break the chain. Gusto ko na mag level-up. I want to be a University Scholar. It is possible but the question is am I willing to do it? I could do it but do I want to? Of course I want to but in reality would I do everything in order to achieve it? That’s the question. Knowing that I would be having Calculus this coming semester, chances are seen to be slim, or fat, whatever. Oh look, did I commit a grammar crime: Misplaced/Dangling Modifier? Well, do I care?

All of these are due before the year ends. But there are three New Years, which is which? Ok, let’s just make it eerily similar with CRS (UPD’s online enlistment program), the first run would be on September 26, 2007. Second run would be November 2007. Final run would be on December 31, 2007. I think there would be no problem for most of the goals. I just wish I could have included the smaller ones, those which were trivial, ordinary, and less weird.

Well anyway I’m done with writing. I am excited about the fictional blog. I’ve been writing and rewriting the same novel in my mind for almost 2 years now. I started formulating ideas November 2004 and now I’ve done a couple of revisions. I was even pissed off when brilyantes were used in Encantadia because my novel includes them too, except that there is no jewel for Earth. Oh well, it’s common in the fantasy genre. Let’s wait and see. =)