Lifestyle New Year’s Resolutions
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Dear Auntie List As our readers prepare to make their New Year’s resolutions, Auntie List is on hand to offer some good advice. Go, people of Scotland, change your lives!
JAMES MUIR, 26, HAIRDRESSER I WANT TO BECOME LEFT-HANDED YUSUF JAVED, 20, SCREENWRITING STUDENT I WANT TO FOCUS ON WORK
I know it sounds weird, but I want to teach myself to write with my left hand. I’m going to start by practising with colouring in books. Plus, I figured it might come in useful for my work, in case of any future accidents to my right hand. Auntie List says: James, that does sound weird. But I’ve got to hand (bada-boom) it to you — this is a whole lot more refreshing than answering letters from yet another person who really, really wants to give up smoking (don’t get me wrong: smoking is just not cool, OK possums?). Why not practise by having your significant other tie your right hand behind your back for a day? Practical and sexy! Maybe not a day when you actually have to cut hair, mind you. I wouldn’t trust you with my bouffant, but when you’re fully ambidextrous and ready to be released back into the beauty industry, www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk sell a comprehensive range of specialised hairdressing scissors.
Sometimes you get lost in the minutiae of everyday life, but I really want to grow up, become more regimented and concentrate on writing for feature films. Which might conflict with my other resolution; to lose weight. Work stress makes me eat more . . . Auntie List says: Darling you're at college! You're only 20! In the words of the late, great Heath Ledger, why so serious? Working hard at college will set you up for life, but it does worry me to hear you talking about stress, sweetie. Do you need to relax more? Perhaps the Glasgow Buddhist Centre’s meditation classes are more your scene (see page 28). It might help you channel your creativity, and as I know you young people don’t like to commit to anything, they also offer drop in courses. As for losing weight, well, you know you’ll always look beautiful to me, pumpkin. Moderate exercise is a great thing in everyone’s life, though: investigate your options in our physical fitness section, also on page 28. Did you know you can learn to dance like they did in 80s music videos at Dance House? Oh, wait, you weren’t alive then . . .
LAUREN COLEMAN, 28, RECEPTIONIST/BARMAID I WANT TO STUDY ANIMATION HANYAO FUW, 28, JEWELLERY STUDENT I WANT TO TRAVEL
I want to spend less time watching telly on the couch, and more time focusing on my own work. I studied illustration but I want to go back to Glasgow School of Art and give animation my full attention. I’m working on applications right now! Auntie List says: You are taking control of your destiny, following your passions, and that is a wonderful, inspiring thing. I will get right off this couch and join you, as soon as I finish season four of Mad Men. Yer Auntie List is no Paul Dale, but I have noticed there’s something different about animated films these days. Those unsightly glasses they make you wear to watch them put ten years on a girl. If you want to buff up your CGI skills you can follow a one-year 3D animation course at Glasgow Metropolitan College, or a full four-year BA course in a similar thing at Glasgow Caledonian University (the deadline to apply to UCAS is 15 Jan 2011). Though it sounds more like you’d more enjoy the one-day Introduction to Soviet Animation course at the Russian Cultural Centre in Trongate 103 on Fri 7 Jan.
I plan to travel to Europe for about a month. But I don t want to travel alone, so a lot depends on when my friends are free. I’d like to see the museums in Holland, and my fashion student friends would love to visit Milan. Auntie List says: Mm. ‘Museums’, is it? ‘Student’, is it? ‘Holland’ is it? Now, you know me, darling, I’m as open-minded as the next agony aunt, but I think we all know that students go to Holland for one reason and one reason only. You know what I’m talking about, young lady? If you do also find time to see some culture, make sure you visit the FOAM Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam’s world- leading photography museum. I advise that you keep moving (I lost a whole year in Amsterdam, back in my wilder days), although if you do happen to end up there for a while make sure you invest in a Museumkaart, available from most Amsterdam museums for only 39.95 Euros – it’ll give you unlimited access to institutions across Holland for a whole year!
26 THE LIST 6–20 Jan 2011