A Page From E. Levitt's Diary: New Year's Resolutions

 Dec. 31^St, 2023.

I’m not going to write ‘dear diary’ here. I dunno. Too classic, so I guess I’ll come up with something else. Maybe, 'Esme Levitt’s Innermost Thoughts.' Anyways, here are my New Year’s Resolutions.

1. Do some planning for travelling the world

My goal is to travel the world when I graduate university. I’m only fifteen, but I honestly can’t wait to get started. I would love to learn about new cultures, customs and different languages. The first thing I’ll do is see the seven wonders of the world. I’m particularly interested in the Colosseum in Italy and the Great Wall of China. Call it a neurodivergent special interest, but I’ve done a whole lot of research on ancient Rome. It was the political power for quite a while.

Next, I’m travelling to Germany – in an attempt to find some distant relatives and maybe connect with them. I’ve seen quite a few family pictures, most with stern-faced great-aunts, great-uncles and great grandparents. I’ve found myself chuckling many times over the rather bizarrely named clothes they were wearing – like dirndls and lederhosen.

After Germany, I plan on meeting my best friend in Ukraine, where we’ll go to Ireland together. In Ukraine, my friend will show me the beautiful city of Kiev, where she’ll take me to some of her favourite spots and where she went to school.

Ireland has always been a dream of both of ours. Dublin Castle and St. Patrick’s Cathedral are two landmarks among many others that we both want to visit together.

The first part of my trip is roughly sketched out, although I’m not certain where I’ll go after that. I do know that I want to go to New York City, as the last place to visit.

I’m saving New York City as last because, in my opinion, it’s one of the best. I’ve been to New York twice, once with my parents and once on a class trip. Both times I fell in love. I wasn’t sure it was possible to fall so deeply in love with a city, but there you go. It has so much history – as the immigration city, Broadway, the Statue of Liberty and much more that wouldn’t fit here. I love how Central Park is the perfect oasis, smack dab in the middle of the city. I love the astonishingly beautiful architecture, the eye-catching mix of people and cultures that live there. Anyways, that’s enough about New York.

2. Learn something new every month

My life is very repetitive and predictable. It stays on the same track, usually not varying. In many ways, this is comforting and reliable, however I’d like to add some spice to my days. Maybe it’ll be learning to crochet, or knit, or draw, or identify various berries and plants in my region. I might learn to identify different types of bees, or to speed read. Ha, maybe I can learn to name obscure 18^th century Irish clothing fashion.

Whatever it may be, I want to add something that takes the boring and the predictable out of my life. I know most teenagers and adults lives often consist of the same things, but I want my life to be more original. Add something that’ll excite me and teach me something valuable!

I’ve always wanted to be able to memorize things quickly. It seems like a rather hard yet very useful trick. I’ll have to add that to my growing list! I think this could enrich my mind, and my monotonous life needs some change. I also think this could be a good time to bond with my family or friends. For example, maybe I could learn some ciphers – my dad gushes over them. Who knew the amount of ciphers this world harbors? The Pigpen Cipher, Atbash, polygraphic ciphers, transposition and substitution ciphers. Many of them have a long and complicated history involving greedy kings and misunderstood peasants.

A famous cipher is known as the Rosetta Stone. When it was first found, it held unknown marks filled with possibility. Eventually, a cryptographer deciphered it and it held the key to all sorts of lost languages.

On another note, maybe I can knit with my grandmother, or take photos with my mom. I could even play video games with my obsessed friend! Although I might be bored into insanity by the time I finish that.

3. Improve physical activity

I’ve read countless articles that lecture the reader the importance of just the right amount of exercise. I’ve always found it frustrating – how are you supposed to get just the so-called right amount? Jeez, scientists, a little more specification would be nice.

I have done research, read until my eyes watered from looking at the screen for too long. I guess that it’s all about listening to your body, stopping when you feel you need to and pushing yourself when you feel you can. I’m not the physical type – I’m more interested in the brainy stuff.

This year, I’m going to do it. I have tried before, but my hope is that this year it’ll finally do the trick. For me, it’s so counter intuitive – why be forcing your body to move when you could be reading in a nice, comfy corner? However, I know that it’s good for me and it’ll improve my general quality of life, and blah blah blah blah. The usual.

I suppose swimming isn’t too bad, though, maybe I can start that. It also exercises basically your whole body all at once. I can take up biking, running, even walking.

I’m so fed up of being the last to be chosen in gym class at school, the second worst at doing almost any and all sports. (I have a sort-of-friend who is much, much worse at sports than I am.) It’s almost laughable the way that I somehow manage to screw everything up. I’m not even joking.

This one time, I scored the second lowest on our school’s “twenty minute run”. I got about twenty laps. Each lap is around a third of a kilometre. My friend scored fifteen, which was decent for him and terrible for everyone else. I thought I did at least okay, until I saw the scores of the rest of the students. The highest score was forty five and the lowest (apart from us) was thirty. I got a fifty five percent on that one. That, my friends, is why I need to up my physical activity.

4. Get a cat

I absolutely adore cats. What’s not to love? They scratch you, bite you, pee in your house, cuddle you and lick you until you reek of old fish.

I have a friend, Cassie, who has three cats. At this point, I go to her house just to see the cats and talk to her later.

I’ve been trying to beg for one for my parents, but they don’t think I can handle the ‘responsibility’. I mean, its not a dog, I don’t have to walk it,...I know I’m being a little rude, but whatever, the only person who ever reads these things are me. I’m fully capable of taking care of a pet, although I’d rather not change its litter box.

One thing I haven’t tried to do, though, is present my parents a list of cons and pros to let them know that I do know the so-called bad side of getting a cat. Maybe that’ll help my case! I know my parents like it when I can see both sides of a situation. It may help my plea, it may not, but there’s only one way to find out, right!?

Anyways, that’s it. Maybe I’ll add something later. Happy New Year and Happy Christmas!

More will come tomorrow. Maybe I’ll even have exercised by then.