All the cool kids are doing this, and I’m jumping on the bandwagon before it gets mainstream. Here is a brief summary of things I accomplished last year, ordered by how much I think they affected me:

1. Did the last four English courses towards a Graduate Diploma in Arts, and got an A minus in each of them. This involved a reasonable amount of creative writing, including a poetry portfolio (A+), two short stories of around 4000 words each (B+ and A+, respectively) and a few other bits and pieces that weren’t assessed.
2. Went on a couple of actual dates with actual women.
3. Started a band, of sorts, wrote a couple of songs and performed them at an open mic night.
4. Wrote some music for my sister’s wedding ceremony.
5. Read one of my stories to a class of seven-and-eight-year-olds.
6. Came third in a short story competition.
7. Left a part-time job I wasn’t very good at (but it was a good experience, and I’m still friends with my former bosses).
8. Left a part-time job I was reasonably good at, in order to start full-time work.
9. Did some freelance copywriting work.
10. Started a full-time job as a technical writer, for the purposes of gaining money and experience.
11. Tried a cigar.
12. Switched from Linux to Apple, and (kind of simultaneously) from desktop to laptop.
13. Decided I look better with a beard.
14. Made my own beret.
15. Drew a few weird comic strips.

As for 2009: well, I have a few resolutions:

1. Stay at my boring office job (and do it well) 
2. Save at least NZ$15,000.00 (for future travel plans)
3. Keep writing songs and playing shows 
4. Keep writing fiction, and try to get at least one story published. 
5. Live deliberately - I’m gonna kick this year’s ass!