즐거운 성탄절 보내시고 새해 복 많이 받으세요 (jeulgeoun seongtanjeol bonaesigo saehae bok manhi bateusaeyo)

Here's how that sounds: http://www.omniglot.com/soundfiles/korean/christmas_kr.mp3

Here's what it means: Happy New Year!

Resolutions. I have them.

1. Get fit. I don't care if I lose 10 pounds or 50, or none at all, but I want to be able to take a flight of stairs without getting winded. I want to fit into a pair of nice trousers without having a huge roll over the sides. I want to be rid of this "back cleavage".
Steps to take: Don't take the elevator unless absolutely necessary. Try that Hapkido place in Itaewon. Get a bicycle in the spring and bike to work if possible, or at least get off a bus stop early and walk the rest of the way. Do try hiking again, at my own pace. Get the yoga mat out more and practice those leg lifts and such. Do Aikido stretches daily.

2. Revise the 2009 NaNoWriMo novel. It's not great literature, but there are niche publishers out there who will take it-- though it needs to be polished within an inch of its life first.
Steps to take: Get feedback from people I trust and respect as writers. Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.

3. Write something new. Fanfic, novel, short stories, poetry, whatever. Do it, and do it more often. I used to fill up notebooks in high school with the crap I wrote. I need to do that now, and not worry so much about the final product.
Steps to take: Just write.

4. Draw every day. I've been slipping on this in the past couple of years. Time to buckle down and change that.
Steps to take: Just draw. Start with that New Year's picture.

5. Be honest with myself. I'm not going to uphold all, maybe not any of these goals, 100%. But I need to try. I also need to get better at recognizing when I'm being ridiculous, selfish, unreasonable, and contrary, and just knock that nonsense off.
Steps to take: When upset or angry, take a moment to step away from the situation. Go to the bathroom. Breathe. Stop thinking for a little bit. Then, REALLY think.

6. Manage my money better.
Steps to take: Write up a reasonable budget, and really stick to it. Write down every expense, even those little trips to the convenience store in the morning for breakfast on the run and purchases on iTunes. Decide what can be reduced, what can be cut out entirely. Stay on top of paying off debts. Start putting more money into savings.

7. Be a better teacher.
Steps to take: Keep reading the articles. Implement new techniques. Find out what works, what doesn't, and only keep the stuff that works. GET ORGANIZED. Get more sleep. Find non-candy prizes to reward students and start using a points system instead of instant gratification. Don't let them smell fear, don't let them see frustration.

8. Learn Korean.
Steps to take: Find a place to take lessons. Start practicing things like numbers and such from the books I already have. Memorize one new Korean word or phrase per day, and use it in an actual conversation with a Korean person. Learn more useful phrases, like how to give directions to a cab driver, and how to order a pizza, and what to say if a kid is doing something entirely inappropriate in class and I can't call in my co-teacher for backup.

9. Read more. The mind atrophies without stimulation. Audiobooks are nice, but they're not reading.
Steps to take: Find out if the English-language library has anything worth checking out. Do hang around What the Book more. See about finding free or cheap Kindle books and putting them on the iPod (since I have a free Kindle app now). Read or re-read the books I already have on hand. They're THERE, for goodness sake, READ THEM!

10. Start comicking again. It doesn't matter what, just as long as it's comics.
Steps to take: Doodle comics about crazy life in Korea, re-work the FTLY storyline, do that ESPers comic with Geoffrey Corsier, or just do one-shots. Anything. And then post them online by whatever means available.

That should do me for now. Happy New Year, everyone, and I hope the Year of the Rabbit treats all of you gently and with great prosperity!