Did you make a New Year’s resolution? You don’t need to say specifically what your resolution is, if you don’t want to, but you could share your feeling about resolutions in general, if you like.
I was very ambitious this year, and made all sorts of resolutions. I’m going to eat better, exercise more, get more sleep, and generally get into better physical shape. I’m also going to review more classic movies and more TV, finish migrating FlickFilosopher.com to the latest version of Movable Type (which I began in August and still isn’t finished), write a book or two on film, finally collect my reviews into a retrospective of my first 12-plus years as a critic, and write a novel or two. How I can possibly do even half of that while also making more time for sleep and exercise is a mystery, but that’s the magic of the New Year: it makes you feel like you’ve got a fresh start.
(If you have a suggestion for a QOTD/QOTW, feel free to email me. Responses to this QOTW sent by email will be ignored; please post your responses here.)
1) Lower Blood Pressure to 120/80 or less
2) Finish second draft of novel
3) Complete Final Puzzle in Shiren the Wanderer
4) Save 70% of pay for early retirement
5) Exercise 5 days a week for at least 30 minutes
The only resolution I’m worried about is 3) as it involves luck to a large degree. Fortunately, it’s also the least important.
I didn’t make any resolutions exactly, but I did set a few goals for myself. One of which is to teach myself how to knit (long time crocheter, but not so much with the knitting) so I can make a Jayne hat and a Doctor Who scarf. :o)
1: Set up a website to promote my writing.
2: Finish my half written trilogy.
3: Bench press 300 pounds (my college best). I’m at 252 now.
4: Weigh 225 pounds (I weigh 262, weighed 210 in college, but back then I didn’t deadlift, which packs muscle around the “core” muscles).
I know 3&4 are a little shallow, but my mom takes medicine for high blood pressure and my dad takes medicine for diabetes, so I’m navigating the rock and the hard place. They are also likely to roll over into the next year, by which time I’ll be 40 years old. My mom’s best friend put vultures on my dad’s 40th Birthday cake; she’s not invited to my party.
Last year it took me until March to complete my one and only resolution: quit smoking. Again. And hopefully for the last time. Smoke free ever since, fingers crossed.
Anyway, it was such big-deal resolution that I only made that one, and I feel like I have to raise the bar this year, so:
– Find a way to be more patient with my kids
– 30 minutes exercise 5 days a week
– More fruits and vegetables daily
– Volunteer at the County’s battered women’s shelter once a month
– Make more of an effort to visit my family and friends in New York
Surely if I managed to dump a 20+ year nicotine addiction, I can manage those resolutions….
(1) Watch more television
That’s it pretty much. I think one TV series on the go at once is a pretty poor personal commitment to engagement with contemporary culture.
1. Write more.
2. Write more stuff worth reading–i.e. put more thought and effort into my writing.
3. Lose more weight–and keep it off.
4. Go to the gym more often.
5. Find a better-paying job.
6. Watch more old movies–preferably ones I’ve been always meaning to watch someday but never do.
7. Socialize more.
8. Make new friends.
9. Keep up my connections to old friends.
10. Travel–if I get the chance.
11. Read all of those books in my bookcase that I’ve been putting off reading for a rainy day.
12. Win the state lottery.
Of course, I have made so many of these same resolutions in years past that I often suspect that number 12 is the most realistic one.
Oh, well. We’ll see…
Yeah, but #12 would give you a lot more time to take care of the rest. If you get that one, the rest might be easier.
1. Quit smoking
2. Quit smoking
3. Quit smoking
4. Start chewing gum
Hey Dart:
Trust me, if I could do it, you totally can :) Good luck!
Spend less time on the Internet so I’ll have more time for reading and writing. The quality of this site won’t make that easy. ;-)
Happy New Year, all. Hope you all accomplish something you’ll be proud of.
I have a few. Just trying to be more grateful and whine less about petty stuff. Get on my treadmill every day no matter how tired I am. And start one book at a time and finish it before starting another one and not finishing either of them. Last one is to learn how to cook at least one new dish a month. I have a million cook books and never use them!
Drink better whiskey.
I’m sure that everything else will just work itself out.