Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Whale Cove (Jan 16/02) - Smoker's cough, bulging waistlines, important projects never complete. These are all signs that personal improvements are needed.

The promise to break the cigarette habit once and for all is always a popular resolution for the new year. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

While some of us try to make changes on our birthdays or on other important dates, the vast majority resolve to transform bad habits into good ones at the dawning of the new year.

Some of us fail and some of us achieve our goals. The important thing is that we're trying to better ourselves and enjoy life to its fullest.

That's exactly what newcomer Robert Genge has planned for 2002. The retired teacher moved to Chesterfield Inlet five months ago to work as the principal at Victor Sammurtok school. His goal, he said, is to enjoy life as best he can in the small community.

"I want to have a good time in the North, get along with the people well, take part in some cross-cultural mingling and make sure the kids have a good time and achieve academically," said Genge.

Originally from northern Newfoundland, Genge joked that he'd also resolved to become a millionaire. He did not however, have any concrete plans for achieving such new-found wealth. Whale Cove resident Agnes Poksiak-Turner said she is determined to visit old classmates and friends in Gjoa Haven.

"People up there keep asking me to come up, but because it's so expensive to travel, I haven't made it," said Poksiak-Turner.

"But my New Year's resolution is to make it there."

She said she also wanted to drop a few pounds and get into better shape so she had more energy to help her friends and neighbours.

Encouraging her artistically-inclined six-year-old daughter, Hazel, is also on the books for the next 12 months.

"She was already excellent for her age, but she's getting even better at her drawing now," she said.

Poksiak-Turner's husband, John, said he quit making resolutions because he always broke them. In fact, it wasn't until he stopped resolving to quit smoking that he gave up cigarettes.

"I never could quit and finally I didn't make a resolution and we quit. That was three years ago," he said.

Rankin Inlet resident Joe Hidalgo didn't bother to promise anything at midnight on Dec. 31, but he said he was still thinking about how to improve himself in 2002. One such resolution might include taking a stab at remembering the names of people.

"It's just a matter of programming myself to do it," said Hidalgo, a resident of Rankin Inlet for 11 years.

"I have to associate certain characteristics with people," he said.