I think New Year’s Resolutions are pretty stupid. If you think about wanting to do something, you should just do it then. Or at least start feeling guilty about putting it off right then. You don’t need to wait until the new year to start getting in shape or reading more books or volunteering at the soup kitchen; if you want to do it, do it. That said, we as humans are always looking for ways to creating meaning out of nothing, patterns where there are none and easy ways to compartmentalize and structure things in our minds. So the end of a year seems like a good time to take stock of what I want to be focusing myself on in the near and not so near future. A friend of mine wrote a similar post, which he seems to do every year, and he made the VERY important point that these are just goals. I don’t intend to actually accomplish all this but by having something to work towards, progress is made and life is improved. Posting these up for people to see helps to keep me focused, cause I don’t wanna have everyone asking me why I didn’t do anything this year. Also, some of these things will be a lot more fun/easier to do with someone else. Some of these I’ll get done and be finished with them forever, others will be lifelong pursuits. A life without goals isn’t a life worth living, even if the only goal is to have fun.
1. Finish everything we have been talking about doing with the house since we bought it…
It’s been over a year and there are still projects and organization and setting up of things that hasn’t been finished. A whole lot of progress has been made but there is still plenty to be done. The idea of continually improving my living space is one that will go on forever, but finishing stuff that is only a matter of time and motivation and has been planned since we moved in needs to get the fuck finished already.
2. Deadlift 450 pounds…
It’s sort of an arbitrary number but one that I think is both challenging yet attainable. I’d love to smash past this, and think I could, but I’ll also need to keep working hard to get up there. My current highest set of five is 310, but due to student teaching and life and laziness, I’ve got a lot to do just to get back to that level.
3. Run a marathon…
Chino wants to do it, so do I. Maybe we can get it done this year? Big problems: we both wanna run the NYC marathon and that’s a pain in the ass to get into since it’s by lottery, plus I don’t think either of us are all that fond of actually running. I’d love to do one of those crazy viking obstacle course type adventure runs, but I’m not into paying a bunch of money to do so. If that happens though, I’d be satisfied.
4. Get official Krav instructor certification…
I’ve been teaching classes now for a couple years yet I still haven’t gotten my paperwork in order. As our head instructor says “Are you teaching classes? Well then you’re an instructor.” But at the same time, it would be nice to get the satisfaction and recognition of going through the official testing process and coming out on top.
5. Climb 5.12…
Might be a bit ambitious, but I could do it before. I’m tired of working at a climbing gym and climbing like a baby. No reason why I can’t be smashing 5.11 at least other than my own lack of drive to regain my climbing ability and fitness.
6. Finish designing a game…
As with any good gamer nerd, I’ve had lots of ideas for games. Some I’ve even taken so far as to write some basic rules and make a half assed playtest set. None have ever been developed to the point where I’d inflict them on anyone but my closest friends and family. I’d like to get something that I feel proud of and want to share with everyone.
7. Write more…
I like writing. I already do it with some regularity and have for years been a contributor to various publications. But I’m also very undisciplined and don’t write near as much as I’d like to. I suspect this will be a lifelong goal for me, but I’ll be happy if I just get a bit more done and finished.
8. Get the F:AT podcast going…
It’s been talked about, I’ve thought about it a TON and now I just need to get that boulder rolling. Inertia is a motherfucker when it comes time to start an ambitions project.
9. Book more weddings, especially weddings for couples in the New Haven area…
I love doing weddings. I love that I’m able to do so many out of state same sex weddings. I don’t love that 90% of my weddings are something that I will hopefully not be doing in the future once some other states, or GASP! the feds, figure out that two dudes getting married is a basic human right.
10. Get a real teaching job…
I dunno if it will be a lifelong career, right now I think it’s pretty doubtful, but I still really want to get in there and teach. My certification is just a matter of other people processing my paperwork at this point so that’s pretty awesome. Getting a real job that pays full on adult money for the first time will also be a refreshing change of pace.
11. Spend more time seeing my friends…
As we grow older it’s way too easy to turn into hermits. I wish to actively combat this. We improved a lot last year, and I hope to continue that trend this year. The only hang up at this point is being able to afford it when it involves traveling. That just means we’ll have to have people come visit us more I guess.
12. Write and record music…
I miss it too much. Even if it’s just me warbling off key to a Casio, I need to be making the sweet sweet jams. Much better goal would be to get a real band going again, but I think that relies too much on other people. I’d still really like that to happen though.
13. Play more D&D…
Since we moved to New Haven it’s been tough on my role playing seeing as how the people I played most with are now over an hour away. Getting a regular group going again needs to happen.
14. Work more gaming conventions…
Every one I did this past year was a highlight, there are plenty more out there that I should try to be at. List for last year: PAX East, ConnCon, WBC and NYCC. This year I’d really like to add Origins, ConnectiCon and AnonyCon at the least. All of these are within driving distance which makes them easily done. I was set to work both ConnectiCon and AnonyCon but had other obligations those weekends. I’d like to eventually lay the groundwork such that I am able to get paid to fly out to things like PAX Prime and Winter Fantasy but I don’t see that happening this year.
15. Be a better dude to Trish…
Lifelong aspiration. We all slip up and have room for improvement, in our relationships even if we are the nicest dudes in the world. Hopefully I can drop the ball less and pick up the slack more as time goes on.
16. Make more money buying and selling games…
I’ve been doing pretty good this year with selling/trading stuff. I’d like to make my game acquisitions, at the very least, a zero sum financial activity. Even better would be to make some decent bonus money from hunting out hidden treasures at tag sales and flea markets. I’d also like to get into this with more than just games, which leads to…
17. Learn more about the collecting/valuing aspect of stuff I’m into…
Watching shows like Pawn Stars, I wanna be one of those dudes who knows about things like the value of different bayonets or how to spot a fake coin. The two areas I find most interesting (besides games of course) are old weapons and old money.
18. Learn to sail…
It’s been a goal for a while now. Last summer I sailed a boat for the first time and it ruled. It was a little baby boat and I did a meh job of it, but it made my desire for sailor skills that much higher.
19. Make Turtley Awesome a place people I don’t personally know go read stuff…
Basically revolves around me writing more and telling people to go look at it. It happens a little bit already, but student teaching really killed all my momentum.
20. Write my Master’s Thesis…
I should be finishing the last of my course work in finishing the History MA this spring semester. All that’s left then is to write my thesis. Hopefully it’s awesome enough to help me…
21. Get back on track for my Political Science PhD…
I would really like to do this at Yale, which means that I need to bust my ass and get myself accepted there. Otherwise, I’m going back to UCONN. Either way, I really want to get that fully in motion. Timing wise, this might not really be able to start until next year, but no matter what, there is a lot to do now to make that happen.
22. Relax about the fact that I WILL fail some, or even many, of these goals…
At the very least I’m sure to fall short of what I’d like. But I need to remember that it doesn’t matter. Life is only what I make it and I wanna make it awesome.
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