I don’t do resolutions. Resolutions have a habit of evaporating by Valentine’s Day. In years past, when I had gym memberships, I could watch this in action. The day after New Years, I’d have to cut workouts short because the gyms would be packed. By the end of January, it would be crowded, but I could get to all my machines and not have to fight for shower space. By Valentine’s Day, the place would be deserted some nights. Slackers.
So I set goals. I’ll share a few here, but not all of them.
The first is obviously weight. I managed to nail this one pretty good in 2011. In 2012, I maintained, but I need to really get serious again. To that end, I plan to…
- Lose twenty pounds. This weight will likely curb the amount of medication I take, since almost all my problems come from basically being a fat ass.
- Run. I started to get a leg up on this one last year, but I could never schedule it very well. This year, I’m ditching the “100 books” goal. Sure, I need to read, but I need to do other things, too.
- Ride the Little Miami Bike Trail to its Yellow Springs terminus. I didn’t do that last year, and I really regret it. It’s the easiest exercise I can do. My goal one day is to ride from Yellow Springs all the way down to Newport, Kentucky on my fiftieth birthday. I’ll get a hotel room to shower and change, then meet Nita for dinner in Newport when I finish. 76 miles. That’s a few years away, though. For now, I’ll do it in segments.
My day job is programming, but right now, I program what’s called “web forms” in Microsoft’s C#. Basically, you make up a web page, then write code behind the page to make it do stuff. My current boss doesn’t even like this technology, and my old department is moving to a more modern version of C#. So, it’s time for me to learn how to write for…
- Android
- iPhone/iPad – You didn’t think I bought a Mac just to play iTunes, did you?
- Windows 8
It’s a mobile world. I need to write mobile.
Speaking of writing, 2012 was an eye-opening year for me writing-wise. I realized that academic efforts are the biggest conflict I have with meeting writing goals. To that end, I intend to…
- Shop the long-talked-about Holland Bay
- Draft a science fiction novel
- Sell 12 crime short stories, 6 science fiction shorts (under another name), and at least two literary shorts
“Wait a minute! You’re shopping Holland Bay? Why not self-publish it?”
I am so far not impressed with the independent route. Call it ego. Call it disappointment. I think I can do better, though.
As I said, these are goals, not resolutions. Resolutions fail to take into account that life is random and unpredictable. This is the greatest lesson I have ever learned. If you don’t accept and embrace uncertainty, you will always be disappointed and frustrated. Hell, I can get disappointed and frustrated easily enough without dodging uncertainty. Why add it to the mix?
Happy New Year, all. May you get everything you want this year and more.
Edged in Blue 