“Your Mission Should You Choose To Accept It …”

New Year in the Philippines means a couple of things. It’s a time when firecrackers are as important as food when it comes to ushering in the new year (it’s a popular belief that it is used to drive away evil spirits although subconsciously, I believe it is also a form of status symbol. As long as you have firecrackers to light up while also being able to serve food on the table during media noche, you’re “well off”). It is also the time when business for fortune tellers begin to pick up again (and it won’t stop until a couple of days after the celebration of the Chinese New Year). And, of course, who can forget, it is a time to set new “New Year’s Resolutions” (which, oftentimes, stay as words for some people and never translate into actual deeds. Yes, I am including me on the list of those “some people”).

These “resolutions” may or may not come into fruition for some, but it is fun making them. Although, I would rather think of them as “objectives”. That way, it sounds more guiding and scientific (hehehe). And when you get to achieve them, you will have a sense of fulfillment

So, without further ado, here are my objectives for 2007:

– at this point, you do know that I’m a comic book geek. For this year, I am going to start on (one of) my comic book geek quest: complete the “Sandman” trade paperbacks by Neil Gaiman. There are ten all in all and I have only the first one, “Preludes and Nocturnes”. To make things much more gratifying, I am going to set a rule on this one: these TPBs must be acquired either as a gift or as a purchase but only through cash.

– talking about comic books, I believe I still have a couple that I have bought that I have not read yet. For this year, I will start (and finish!) reading the following (not necessarily in order): (a) Maus, (b) Watchmen, (c) Murder Mysteries, (d) 1602, (e) 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, (f) Owly: Flying Lessons, (g) Bone book 3, (h) Rose, (i) Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, (j) Teen Titans: The Future is Now, (k) Y, The Last Man volume 7: Paper Dolls, (l) Exterminators volume 1

– if there are comic books that I have not read yet, there are books that I have that I have not read yet, too. The list for 2007 includes: (a) Starship Troopers (I’m one of those who loved the movie and I really want to read the book since the protagonist is a Filipino), (b) The Complete Chronicles of Narnia (okay, can I ask for some slack here? Up to “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe” only for this year), (c) Ice Wind Dale Trilogy by R. A. Salvatore (was able to read “The Dark Elf Trilogy” in graphic novel form and I loved it!). There are many others but that would be all for this year.

– other things I “need” to acquire this year: “30 Days of Night: Return to Barrow” (so that I can finally complete the trilogy, an action figure of Iceman and Cyclops (I already have Wolverine, Colossus, and Nightcrawler. Those two will complete my own X-Men strikeforce), DVD copies of “Justice League Season One” and “Justice League Unlimited”, “Teen Titans Season 1 and 2″, and “Avatar, The Last Airbender The Complete Book 1 Collection”

– finish learning C programming via the “Teach Yourself C in 24 Hours” Internet copy I stumbled upon

– pass Exam 2 to be able to get Level 1 certification from the Linux Proficiency Institute (this is part of my objectives, too, from work)

– learn to administer Solaris and improve in being an AIX and Linux administrator

– and of course: plan my wedding properly, attend to fixing/tweaking the house, and be a very good husband to Bheng

That’s quite a list. I really hope I can achieve most, if not all, of them. After all, these are not just resolutions. They’re objectives

P.S. for this post: Be careful of those who say that they “do not believe in New Year’s resolutions”. They are either broken-hearted and, as such, might get into your nerves when they start complaining (and reminiscing) or are non-dreamers (in which case, they would likely help kill your own dreams for you).

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