Little late, but I’ve been super busy… sort of.
1. Own a climbing gym. No fucking around with ambiguity this year, I want a piece of a gym. Last year it was very close to being a thing but ended up not working out, I was subsequently asked to set up and run a gym by the people who sort of fucked me out of being an owner of said gym. That also didn’t work out, but that’s a whole different story/post and legally I’m not sure what I can and can’t say at this point. Anyway, the big multi-million dollar gym has been in the works for some time and now that there are no potential conflicts of interest, I can straight up say that it’s a thing. Most of the plan is set and pieces are in place, it’s just getting together the totality of investment now. Not impossible to wrangle up a few million bucks, but not an easy task either. So while this relies heavily on my busting my ass and hustling, as a final decision it’s totally out of my hands too. Fingers crossed!
2. Send 5.13a. Ratings are of course subjective, but I hit my goal of sending 12a last year, time to up the ante! 13a is really a whole lot more difficult than 12a though, so this is knowingly a bit of a stretch. Either way, upping my own climbing ability is something I need to continually focus on.
3. Get AMGA Single Pitch Instructor certification. Pretty straight forward, I have some knowledge gaps that need filling, but the biggest barrier is paying for it right now. Hopefully I can get it in order this year.
4. USA Climbing Level 2 routesetter certification. Hopefully one of the two they run this year is close enough and has room for me. I set well enough/often enough to do it, just need to make it happen.
5. Stay involved in USA Climbing. Pretty easy since I’m the new regional coordinator for our area, but not being tied to a gym or a team right now does make it a bit more of a challenge to keep on top of.
6. Center my life around more than just climbing. This last year I focused pretty hard on climbing, especially the last half of the year. It’s great to have a prime focus and climbing will still be it (as evidenced by my first 5 goals this year…) but I need to remember to stay on top of the other things I love in life be they more professional or just personal.
7. Take the New Haven Firefighter’s test. They are recruiting this year and it’s something I’ve thought about for a while. Dunno what will come of it, but I can see it working great with my other life goals. Especially if I’m able to get into search & rescue and specialty training type stuff.
8. Fight more! Always a thing, I love it and haven’t done it as much as I’d like to for a few years now.
9. Travel at least once a month on average. Even if it’s just to NYC for a night of drinking or up to Mass for a certification clinic, I want to lay my head under strange roofs with regularity.
10. See far away friends more. Goes well with traveling more; way too many of my friends don’t live close and I want to make efforts to make sure I get to hug them with regularity.
11. Read 12 fiction books this year. Well on my way already! I love reading, but it’s easy to fall out of the habit with so many things battling for my time. I dunno why reading is seen as a more noble goal than play 12 video games or play 12 new-to-me board games, so I guess I’ll add those too! 36 things?
12. Travel with Trish a lot. Last year I resolved to do more epic things with Trish as my partner in crime and it worked out well. Hopefully this next year we can get up to even more far away fun together.
13. Paint a bunch of minis. Thanks Reaper, I now have a few hundred minis in need of painting. Hopefully I can keep up painting with some regularity.
14. Deadlift 450 pounds. Always need to deadlift more.
15. Finish all the house projects I have that don’t rely on money. We have lots of plans for the house, many of them are out of reach for the time being as money is too tight, but plenty of them just take a few bucks and a lot of time. I should finish everything I had in the works at the end of 2012 by the end of 2013.
16. Keep perspective on what’s important in life. I try to as it is, but it’s far too easy to go off the rails with this and get caught up with the everyday bullshit drama of life. Friends, family and making the most of the short time we have is what matters.
17. Be creative. Music, art, writing, whatever. I’m a creative dude by nature but it’s easy to make excuses to not sit down and do the work. I’m always so happy when I have something meaningful that I did with my time but I need to get over my inertia problems and make shit happen. I have a few outlets as it is, but I’d love to explore new ones as well.
18. Be able to play a whole song on guitar. And sing it at the same time. I got close last year but then stopped playing. Maybe I can make Chino help me and then not only do I get to make music, I have a good excuse to see my BFF more.
19. Keep supporting friend’s projects. I know some amazing people who are doing amazing stuff. Gotta keep on going to see their bands, buy their books, visit their openings and everything else.
20. Make 10k from weddings. Mostly just means I’ll need to keep track of how much I make at weddings. I think this is about what I do in a year, but honestly I have no idea cause I never kept track before.
21. Go dancing. I love dancing. I should go out more than a few times a year.
22. Get the FATCast back on track. Climbing gyms and house fires kept us away from the FATCave for most of the last half of 2012. Gotta get that under control!
23. Keep making life better. 2012 was one of the best years of my life. 2013 should be even better. Positive attitude!