Top 5 New Year Resolutions 2014

I wasn't sure I was going to bother with resolutions this year. My track record has been pretty poor to be frank but I thought I should at least update you on my successes & failures of last year and if I'm doing that I might as well set myself some new ones. Though I'm aiming a little lower this time round.

First the failure report; I did post less top fives but probably ended up blogging more due to my gig reports blog. I did OK with the exercise but struggled to keep things going during the summer holidays. My knowledge of flags, country capitals & the periodic table hasn't improved a great deal, so that appearance on Pointless is still on hold. I cooked a little more often but didn't really expand my recipe collection and I bought two hats, though not sure either could be considered cool.

1. Dryathalon - Exercise and diet will continue to be a top priority and to get 2014 off to a good start I've signed up to take part in Cancer Research UK's Dryathlon. No alcohol from the 1st to the 31st January, it really shouldn't be that hard and I might help raise a bit of money along the way. If you feel like sponsoring me, even the smallest amount can make a difference.

2. Go to less gigs - I love gigs and I find it really hard to resist the lure of an exciting new band but really need to cut back for financial and home improvement reasons. Last year I managed 26, which is the most since my early 20s, and that's a little high when I'm also going to Football. I've already got 5 booked in for 2014, so things don't bode well, but I am going to try and focus on the must see shows.

3. Watch more films - I love films too but with music and football and gigs all taking up time I don't get to watch very many. My TiVo is currently bulging at the seams so I'm determined to make this the year I clear the backlog and fill in a few gaps in my film experience. I might even blog about it, though that might conflict with resolution 4.

4. Blog less - I'm going to try and fell less dictated to by the once a week schedule I've tended to follow. If I blog about gigs (or movies) I'll let them take the slot of a top five. If I write a top five I'm going to try for quality over quantity.

5. Work on the cool hat thing - Of the two hats I got this year I don't feel I really nailed the cool thing. I love the flat cap but haven't quite come to terms with the trilby. I'm not sure I've quite found the occasion to wear it, and if I did I'm not convinced I wouldn't just look like a goon. Might have to find something more suiting to my 45 years, or give up on ever being as cool as Cary Grant.

Anyway, a very Happy New Year to you all. Hope 2014 is a good year for everyone.

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Top 5 New Year Resolutions 2013

Hello and a Happy New Year to anyone who didn't follow my possibly monotonous series of Songs for Xmas over the last few days. I had suggested my first top five of the year was going to be my favourite tunes of 2012 but I've decided to put that back a week and focus on the year ahead instead.

For the second year in succession I failed pretty miserably with all of my resolutions. You can check them out in full here but below is a summary of my complete lack of will power;

Play Guitar - I'd really love to achieve this but the key to playing the guitar well is spending a lot of time practicing and I just don't have enough free time to fit this in. I managed to keep going until around mid-feb but haven't picked it up since.

Decide what I want to be when I grow up - Yeah right. I think we all know I'm unlikely to grow up any time soon so I can safely kick this into touch for a little while yet.

Finish the year no heavier than I start it - *cough* Probably not if I'm honest.

Get more done at weekends - Possibly, though not entirely what I intended. Certainly the DIY list hasn't got any smaller.

Find a cool hat - Geez. I even failed to complete the simplest of tasks. Mrs Top Five did buy me a summer hat which was close, but it sat a bit awkwardly on my head so we took it back and never sorted out a replacement.

So, what I have learned from this experience. A) I am crap at keeping resolutions, B) Perhaps I'm aiming too high, C) It's all the blog's fault. I was going to skip resolutions all together but then inspiration struck and I'm going to give it one last shot.

1. Blog a little less - I like my weekly post schedule as without it I probably wouldn't write anything but I'd like to improve my writing and make it more interesting for people to read. To help me out here I'm going try some non-top five posts to fill in the gaps. I've got a couple of ideas but will see how they turn out before announcing them. Hopefully that will mean the top fives I do write will be worth reading. I'm also on the look out for more guest contributions, so if you fancy writing one let me know.

2. Exercise at least three times a week - I'm 45 this year (I think) and need to sort out my fat stomach, so I'm gonna try to eat more healthily again but more importantly I'm going to get back on track with my exercise rota. I made too many excuses last year to skip exercise and don't intend to do the same this year.

3. Learn about Flags & Capitals & The Periodic Table - Mrs Top Five and I are big fans of Pointless, and quiz shows in general. We've realised the benefit of knowing certain easy to learn facts and in particular, flags of the world, capital cities and the Periodic table. I'm going to try and learn all three. You can test me in December and see how well I did.

4. Cook more regularly - I like cooking and do the roast every Sunday but my recipe repertoire is a little limited. I'm going to add a few new dishes that hopefully the kids will like as well and try and help out a bit more with the weekly struggle of deciding what to eat when we're all together.

5. Find A Cool Hat - Blimey, I mean how hard can this one be!

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Top 5 New Year Resolutions 2012

I might as well have another go at this despite my abject failure last year.

First a quick recap on how spectacularly badly I did before I move on to this year’s equally doomed ideas.

Lose Weight – Despite managing more exercise in general I suspect (I stopped weighing myself around September) that I actually put weight on during the year. This was partly due to my determination to not actually “diet” which may have worked better had it not been combined with my complete lack of will power.

Get Fitter – I made progress with my Achilles injury and by April was doing regular sport once more. I started running again, I cycled into work a few times, I even got back to playing football.

Jobs at home – Erm. No obvious effort here. Too easily distracted. I've actually done more DIY in the first 10 days of 2012 than I managed in the whole of 2011.

Play Guitar – I did not play a note other than a very brief strum whilst trying to help Ben learn to play the Ukulele.

Sleep/PC – Technically I achieved this though I replaced late nights on the PC with late nights on my Smart Phone or, more recently, falling asleep on the sofa in front of some TV programme I’d recorded on the TiVo.

OK so here we go again.

1. Play Guitar – This year I’m setting myself a proper challenge. I intend to be able to play at least 5 songs by the end of the year. When I say play I mean strum the chords. I won’t be trying anything fancy but aim to be good enough for someone to at least recognise the tune. I will also be blogging about my progress, if nothing else this will plug the gaps between top fives that I won’t be able to write because I’ll be LEARNING TO PLAY GUITAR!!! \m/ *Heavy Metal horns* \m/

2. Decide what I want to be when I grow up – Probably at 43½ it’s time I sorted out a proper career. I have pretty much accepted that I’ll never play centre forward for Fulham or England, if resolution 1 goes well there’s an outside chance I could still become a major rock star and I’ve not completely given up on becoming a top selling author. However, I realise that I need to take the bull by the horns and start making a bit of effort with the latter half of my working life. Changes are afoot with my current employment and I’m going to have to deal with change whether I like it or not (I don’t like it in case you were in any doubt!).

3. Finish the year no heavier than I start it – Lowering my sights a bit here. I’ve already started keeping track of what I eat and will hopefully continue my return to regular sport. I'm even considering an alcohol detox for a few months, though not quite yet *cough*.

4. Get more done at weekends – I like my bed too much in the mornings, which means when I really don't HAVE to get up I generally don't. I also hate going to bed at night time and too often end up watching some rubbish TV at one in the morning instead of doing something I'd actually want to do. This year I intend to make an effort to make better use of the weekends by getting up earlier and making sure I go to bed at a sensible time.

5. Find a cool hat – I mentioned this last year. I need a hat. I have a woolly hat for when it's cold or I'm going to Football but I'd like a hat to wear for normal use. Ideally something that would make me look suave and sophisticated like Cary Grant in a Forties movie. I realise this may well be impossible but I like hats and I've reached the point where a baseball cap makes me look far too much like David Brent. I was considering a Trilby but now they've gone and got all trendy I don't think that would work either. Suggestions on a postcard please.

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Top 5 New Year resolutions 2011

First a very Happy New Year to you all! I hope you're still too drunk for the hangover to have kicked in yet.

I'm not one for making New Years resolutions (well, I'm not one for sticking to them at any rate) so I wasn't completely certain about the validity of doing this. However, there are a few things I really need to achieve this year and I figured if I actually publish a list, visible to the entire population of the Internet (or at the very least 6 people I know personally), I might actually stick them out.

1. Lose Weight - I've had a shocking year on the weight front. Hit 40 and suddenly everything goes south. A lack of exercise (see No. 2) hasn't helped, but my failure to adapt my diet is the main cause. I need to cut out the snacks, and reduce the portion size.

2. Get fitter - My achilles has prevented me doing most of the sports I actually enjoy, and some intense periods at work (coupled with a lack of self-motivation) have reduced my appearances in the gym. I need to take the rowing machine by the handles and start burning the fat.

3. Work off the list of jobs that need doing round the house - Procrastination is my middle name and there's a stack of things that need doing around the house I've been ignoring for far too long. Of course some of these will be beyond my fairly poor skills with DIY but I can no longer sit by and let them go unresolved.

4. Play the Guitar - Been trying to do this since I was 13 without much success. I suspect I may have left it too late to start my international rock star career, however, I'm still keen to get some sort of tune out of my acoustic.

5. Spend less time on the PC - Bit of a catch-22 as that would also mean less top fives, but I've had too many late nights when I've either begun some random Internet search marathon or found a late night documentory about bee farming to watch (that's a euphemism obviously). I plan to be in bed by 12 at the latest and turn the PC off by 11.

I'd also like to find a nice hat to wear. Not a baseball cap or a wooly one but something classic. The sort of hat that Cary Grant might have worn. Let me know if you've any ideas what sort of style might suit me.