Doctor Resolute

This seems to be the best time of day, year, month, season and so forth in which to ponder the idea of the Resolute. That is, taking the meaning derived from logic; the decided, that which one has planned, thought upon and decided is the best choice amidst them all.

I find it almost laughable that there are so many 'resolutions' plucked from mid-air for tonight only, seemingly, by so many people. Are these bold promises not by definition meant to be clear and well defined. Are they not meant to be kept beyond the close of the year in question?

I did a small search on Wiki, if for nothing else to see if there was some origin or source of this seasonal appetite towards an annual promise of self-improvement. All it could tell me was that, like the Christian Lent, it leaned towards an annual self improvement or sacrifice.

I will always hate this theme of the turn of hour being somehow marked and celebrated. How one turn of hour can be more important than another and be any more or less worthy of thought and meditation never fails to flummox me. I have lived a fair amount of my life now hour by hour, because I have been unable to cope with thinking on any more than that. Maybe that is what I dislike so much about the "New Year": It is a whole 365 days, an amalgamation of 24s that goes beyond the reaches of my limited mathematics. One hour, one day, at most a week, I can cope with. The idea of so much dispelling itself forth and the inevitable pull into it is a thing of horror.

So, when one makes said Resolution, does one really intend it for that full, huge expanse? Is this why the success rate for such promises is slim. Why many rarely make it beyond the first week?

This year, I find my mind's determination mocked by Television scheduling. In previous years I have chosen this as a precise end point. It is seen as such by many and that made it tidy and it made sense. To me there was nothing in the next day that would be any different to the last.

This year, for the first time ever, there is a second part to the Dr Who episode aired on Christmas Day. In previous years, one had had to wait a few months for this (at which point one has stopped caring so much what happens next as one can barely recall what happened to start with) so it is of little consequence. This year, this 'secondment' is on tomorrow.

It may seem a small thing to you - but it really throws a spanner in the works of my thoughts. Something that would stop my immediate action towards stepping from this mortal coil into the next just at the right time... all because of my own wish to see complete the story of David Tennan't Doctor. What could be worse than leaving something so incomplete? When I realised they were doing this, the first thing I did was went 'Oooh, more Tennant, how intriguing' the second thing I did was cry.

I am now much less Resolute. Less fixed. In short, I am flummoxed out of my own decisions by a small buffoon in the BBC who decided that as scheduling goes that made sense.

So, I wonder: How many of you make such time fixed resolutions? Do you make New Year's Resolutions? Do you stick with them for the entire year? What are your success stories? What are your failures? Has something ever come along that made you rethink them? Have you ever stopped at a different time of year and, taking a re-evaluation decided there and then to make one?

While you ponder and write your answers, I am going to find where my Dad put the bottle opener and re-learn how to use the blasted thing (I am sure they made it difficult on purpose).

I wish you success... whatever your plan may be.