7. Avoid Looking and Feeling Dirty - It's difficult to achieve this, particularly in the gym where I can't help giving out dirty looks and feeling dirty after. I don't really work out at the gym so much as try to look busy while slowly surveying the floor for surveyables. Group classes are the best for this purpose, but I have to remind myself to not be deterred by the occasional male who enjoys shaking his hips too much.

8. Watch My Unwatched DVDS and Read My Unread Books - I never made a secret of my packrat tendencies, and over the years I have amassed enough junk in my room to earn my mom's consternation, who's convinced that she's going to get lost among my junk one day. Inadvertently, some of the stuff I take home (as a sad victim of our consumerist society) get overlooked. I plan to find all those, keep them where I can see them and finally finish them within the year. With luck, this may prevent me from further adding to the horrific pile.

9. Stop My Hairline from Receding - Not that my hairline is receding, of course (it's not, really). This is going to be a purely preventive undertaking. I'm not in denial either. Really. I should get my follicles to cooperate within the year. Suggestions are welcome, you know, to help those who might get to accidentally read this.

10. Moisturize - I have never used moisturizers in my life unless really necessary. I have yet to find out the benefits of using them, but I'm willing to start learning. I can start small, with my bloody lower lip for example, which is currently cracked in three places.

11. Find the Original Kendrick - I can't, for the life of me, figure out where this name originated. In all likelihood, Chinoy mothers from the 70s merely conspired to name all their sons Kendrick but I think otherwise. This will require a bit of research, but I believe that the name Kendrick was hypnotically suggested by the Marcos regime to Chinoy mothers while they were undergoing labor (possibly with the help of laced anaesthesia). The whole point of this exercise was obvious - Chinoy males are mutants to be afraid of, and forcing the 'Kendrick' upon them makes them easily traceable through their birth certificates. It's not a name, you see, but a brand.

12. Learn a Foreign Language - I promise to learn Chinese this year. I learned my Mandarin from watching Star Movies during high school, which was more effective than all the years of Chinese education that I was put through (maybe because I was watching Star Movies when I should be studying). My Fukien, on the other hand, was learned just from watching my relatives and pretending to understand squat. Nonetheless, I suck at both dialects even if I can understand both fairly well. Just to make things more interesting, I'm also going to learn rudimentary Cantonese this year. I can start as soon as I dig out the language tapes I bought close to ten years ago in Hong Kong. If things turn out as planned, I'll be able to order a cheeseburger and Coke at any McDonald's in Hong Kong.

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