Resolutions 2010

A new year, a new chance to set goals to see if I can achieve whatever I can think of. Being the second year of resolutions, I can definitely say I’ve learned quite a few things about myself and the positive effects of tabulating what I do in a full year. First off, I’m inclined to accomplish things rather than let them marinate for another decade or so. Second of, I can actually see where the year has gone. I see movies I saw, games I played, books I read, trips I took etc. So what’s new for 2010? Well let’s see.

Category #1: PHYSICAL. Last year I had a decent rate going until I had a neck spasm and injured my neck. Then lack of mobility and laziness settled in and I finished up way under par with lots of what I wanted to do. So for this year, I’m simply going to repeat my ’09 goals and add onto them.


Bicep Curls
0 / 5,000

Butterfly curls
0 / 5,000

Pushups
0 / 5,000

Sit-ups
0 / 10,000

Jumping Jacks
0 / 10,000

Squats
0 / 10,000

Pullups
0 / 1,000

Tricep press
0 / 5,000

Workout 40 times with Wii Fit, Insanity or Active for the Wii
3/40

Miles run/walked
1 / 100
Last year was pathetic at best. I need to pick this up this year, no excuses allowed. Hell running or walking more than 3 miles is laughable at best.

Category #2: HEALTH. Some things that used to be in physical are being changed to health and various new goals are being added.

Meditation/Reflection/Goal setting hours/ Breathing exercises
0 /100
Last year I sucked at this. This year should be somewhat better or so I’m hoping. Here’s to a more focused 2010.

Eat less sugar
Spend two weeks in the year without eating candy or desserts
0/2

Spend two weeks in the year without drinking soda
0/2

Go to the dentist
0/2

Go to gastroenterologist
0/1

Go 4 times to the chiropractor with my fiancée
0/4

Go to general practitioner
0/2

Category #3: PROFESSIONAL

Professionally I think 2009 was a pretty good year though I was kind of tentative with a couple of things. Let’s bring it to the 2010 and beyond.

Freelance jobs
0/10

Work proposals
0/10

Category #4: ACTIVITIES

One of the good things about 2009 is that I kept pretty busy between work and all the things I wanted to accomplish. There were truly few or no boring moments of my year and I like to keep it that way. Plus, all work and no play makes me a dull boy.

Surf Sessions
6/50
Repeating the number of surfs from last year. It was great to almost make the final tally and pushed me to ride and find surf instead of stay home and widdle time away. My goal is 50, but I have all intentions of surpassing this number. Let’s see by how much I can do it.


Swim / bodysurf / water activities
0 / 10
Didn’t achieve this 2009 goal, let’s bring it into the new year and do it.

Local tourism
0/4
4 local trips with my fiancée

Movies
1 / 25
Gonna bump this down to 25 which is a full 15 movies less than last year. I need the money for the wedding.

Watch DVD’s I’ve bought
1 / 20
Watch even more of the stuff I’ve bought just to put it to good use. I’ve enjoyed watching what I’ve bought and don’t want to stop. As for a specific number, let’s put 20 to be able to quantify this goal.

1. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me B-

Finish Videogames
0 / 15
Finish 15 games during the course of 2010. I have three games already started so that’s one hell of a head start. Let’s see if I can pull it off.

Finish Reading 20 Books
0 / 20
Finish reading 20 books
Also have some books I started reading and really want to pick up where I left off last year and get a lot of reading done.

Playing guitar
2 / 100
Keep playing like I’m playing or more so. Recording and learning songs will most probably come later. To be able to quantify it, let’s say I have to sit down to play guitar at least 100 times for at least 15 minutes or more.


Category #5: KNOWLEDGE
0 / 15
Continue learning every day, such is my mission but I’d like to also put down in writing stuff I’m learning. Let’s say 15 knowledge posts for the year to be able to document and track my progress.


Learn Random Info
0 / 100
Every single day I try to find new random information, now the trick is to find other sources that aren’t wikipedia. Lol. To put a number to this let’s say 100 new things to learn.

Read the news and post a blog entry
0 / 20
Did this last year and actually enjoyed not being disconnected from the world. Might actually start posting about stuff I read about on the blogs just to add incentive to the thing. Let’s say 20 news blog entries.


Category #6: WRITING

Definitely this is one of my passions and I want to pick it up in regards to some projects that were dangling last year.

WAS
1 / 150
I actually reduced the amount of blog posts for that blog for a very good reason, I have been feeling as if writing there isn’t what it used to be and people don’t care as much and not to sound like a wuss, but well, it gets to me because if what I write is boring, then why the hell write it in the first place? Still the single best thing to vent in my life though, so can’t drop it altogether.

Posts in other blogs
2 / 75

I’m going to insist on writing on these other blogs just for the sake of it all. This isn’t a priority, but would enjoy getting it done for the sense of accomplishment.

Finish book
Up to Chapter 41 so let’s say I’m 41/44 and I want to get to 44 before May.
40.5 / 44

Transcribe book
0 / 44

Write short stories
0 / 10
It was so satisfying to write that one short story that I need to repeat the experience at least ten times.

Essay project
0 / 20
I did NONE of these last year. Will 2010 be the essay breakout year? Who the hell knows?

Draft story arcs for Novels
0 / 3
Let’s pick this one off from last year and put it to good use. I jotted down tons of ideas for the novels but didn’t write down a proper story arc.

Draft Movie Script Idea
0/1
I still want to do this one and hopefully I’ll make time for this.

Progress reports
1/4
This is the first one so I’m off to 25% woohoo. Actually I saw last year that making a progress report every month was a super pain in the ass, so I’m going to be trying just 4 posts for every quarter this year and see if results vary.

Standup piece
0/1
I’d forgotten this one in the midst of it all and I insist on being able to take it up again. Let’s friggin do it.

The Mega Music review
0 / ?
Review each and every album I own. This is not a one year thing, but want to start this year with full blown reviews for all of my albums.

Category #7 Wedding stuff

You bet I’m going to include my wedding stuff here. I need to organize myself and what better way than to always have a list staring me in the face.

Confirmation
0/1

Get coordinator
1/1
100%
Meet and greet with coordinators and pick one.

Plan honeymoon
0/1
Look at destinations once again and also cost and start making arrangements.

Invitations
0/1

Flowers
0/1

Decorations
0/1

Dance Classes
0/1

Find an apartment to live
0/1

RANDOM ACTIVITIES

Buy a box of contractor bags and take one with me to the beach to pick up garbage.
0/1

Make a great Halloween costume duo concept.
0/1

Have our first house dinner with family.
0/1

Invite two couples over for dinner.
0/2

Have at least one jam session before the year is over.
0/1

Cook for my fiancée four times.
0/4

Take my car for maintenance twice in the year.
0/2

Clean up my MSN messenger list
1/1

Clean up my Facebook Friend List
0/1

Organize my room and throw away anything that isn’t necessary
0/1

Fix light bulb in garage
0/1

2009 Resolution Report Card

So a year has come and gone and resolutions galore were made at the beginning of last year, and I did pretty good in some, excellent in others and pathetic in a few as well. Here’s the tally and my explanation for the outcome in each section.

PHYSICAL

I was in good form leading into November when I got a marvelous next spasm that knocked me out of exercise contention from this set of resolutions. True, I insisted on not doing any more exercise in the form of free weights and such and truly have only myself to thank for not achieving this. These same goals will be adopted into 2010 with my eyes set on achieving each of them.


Bicep Curls
3,100 / 5,000
62%

Butterfly curls
3,100 / 5,000
62%

Pushups
3,100 / 5,000
62%

Sit-ups
6,600 / 10,000
66%

Jumping Jacks
8,200 / 10,000
82%

Squats
5,500 / 10,000
55%

Miles run/walked
3 / 100
3%

NOTE: This is one of the problem spots I want to address. Walking three miles in one year is ludicrous at best and truly explains my lack of cardio.


Yoga classes
Never found information on this and said goal will probably have to wait until 2011 when I’m more settled down and have my own time table to work with.


Meditation/Reflection/Goal setting hours
8 / 100
8%

Yet another pathetic result in one of my resolutions. You’d think it’d be easy to sit down and think and relax, but it’s not. Going to repeat this goal and see if I can’t at least get a slightly less pathetic tally.


PROFESSIONAL


Freelance jobs
10 of 10
100%
One of the highlights of my ’09 was achieving this goal. I was sure I wasn’t going to make it and poof, four jobs land on my lap in December. Thank you to the people who trusted in me to do work for them to give my best and achieve this goal. The bar shall be set the same but let’s hope I can get an even higher number. Unfortunately there’s not much I can do to super push for this goal to be achieved since I depend on demand to offer my supply.

Work proposals
N/A
I sincerely lost count of how many suggestions, large and small, I made at work. Quite a few were taken into consideration and it’s just my job to go even further with this and show I’m not just a good copywriter. Let’s hope this isn’t all just bull.

Work on portfolio
I was never hell-bent on achieving this goal and it shows. I feel no remorse for not having added one ad to the portfolio and I sincerely hope to never have to return to an agency. Freelance work is a hell of a lot more satisfying on way too many levels to begin to audit.


ACTIVITIES:


Surf Sessions
49 / 50
98%
I’m very proud of this outcome because at the end, I could have gotten the fifty surfs in, but I saved myself for the weekend instead of surfing crap for the mere sake of achieving a goal. Actually, I even surfed one day without swim fins because I left them at home, so how’s that for retarded but committed surfing?


Swim / bodysurf / water activities
4 / 10
40%
Going to pick this goal up for next year as well and looking forward to not being such a joke. Have to see how many water activities I can come up with to achieve the goal.


Local tourism
N/A
Didn’t do much or any of this and that blows because I should make a better effort to enjoy what my immediate surroundings have to offer and not depend on a plane to have an adventure.

Concerts
4 / 5
80%
0 for 5 until October and boom, 4 concerts popped in. Seeing Pearl Jam live two nights in a row and once in front row was almost too much to bear. I couldn’t stop smiling and just remembering that is motive enough to feel better and better about my ’09. Add to this seeing ACDC live and I really can’t complain of the year. Quality shall always trump quantity.


Trips
1.5 / 2
75%
Went to Philly for the first time and to be honest, I’d give the city one more shot but I don’t think I’m ever going to be enamored by the City of Brotherly love. Maybe I expected too much and expectations weren’t met, maybe it was the rain but honestly, Philly wasn’t as wonderful as I envisioned. The experiences and the company made the trip. The .5 is from a one day stint in NYC. To be succinct, I’m never doing that ever again and I have to take my future wife to New York for a few days so she can experience the city instead of the lame time we had.

Writing with Pen & Paper
Did a pretty good amount of this and I can’t say I’m not going to take this up more often. It is very satisfying not depending on electricity to get work done. You just need something to write and your brain.


Movies
25 / 40
62.5%

The end of the year fizzled for me seeing as I didn’t go to the movies that much in December, which is odd on way too many levels. Actually I haven’t seen a movie yet this year and to be honest, that’s also pretty weird. Below is a rundown of what I did see though.

Fantastic Mr. Fox / A

SAW VI / B

This is It / A -

Inglorious Basterds / A+

Ponyo / A -

The Goods / B+

Moon / grade A -

District 9 / Grade A -

Brüno / Grade B

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince / Grade A -

Transformers 2 – Rise of the Fallen / Grade C-

Public Enemies / Grade D +

The Hangover / A

The Proposal / A -

Land of the Lost / B -*

Up / A+

Paul Blart / C

Angels and Demons / C+

The Wrestler / A+

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button / A+

Coraline / A++

Slumdog Millionaire / A -

Watchmen/ B

X-Men Origins: Wolverine / B -

Star Trek / A



Watch DVD’s I’ve bought

There wasn’t a set number of movies I had to see, I just wanted to put my money to good use and not just be a completely compulsive buyer. I think I did ok, but hoping to do even better in the New Year. I might even put a fixed amount of DVDs or specific titles I want to see.

The Office Seasons 4 & 5

Read or Die / A-

MirrorMask / B+

Labyrinth / A

Tori Amos A Midwinter Graces Bonus DVD / B

Radiohead Hail to the Thief Bonus DVD / A-

Radiohead Amnesiac Bonus DVD / A

Radiohead Kid A Bonus DVD / B-

Radiohead OK Computer Bonus DVD / A-

Radiohead The Bends Bonus DVD / A

Long Step Mantis / C+

Tomb Raiders / F

Broken Saints / A++

Lost Seasons 1-4 (Already on Season 5) / A++

Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life / A+

Twin Peaks series (both seasons + pilot) / B- to A-

Pi / A

Escape from New York / B+

Inland Empire / B

Growing Up / A ++

Soda Stereo Unplugged / A+

Abnormally attracted to sin bonus DVD / B

Videogames finished
11 / 20
55%

Pretty much the same as with the DVDs except I have to play through. I left 3 games without finishing last year so that’ll possibly help me boost my finish percentage.

Zakk and Wikki / A+

Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes – Game Cube / A +

Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty – PS2 / A +

Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater – PS2 / A++

Kingdom Hearts / C+

Final Fantasy 1 / D

Jak and Daxter The Precursor Legacy / B+

Jak 2 / B-

Jak 3 / A+

Final Fantasy IV / A

Final Fantasy VI / A+

Currently on – Ratchet and Clank/MadWorld and Wii Sports Resort

Books read
90%

Loved reading all I’ve bought and definitely enjoyed mixing it up with kid novels, graphic novels, science fiction, horror, fantasy and even sex books. So if variety is the spice of life, call me a jalapeño.

1. 2nd book of The Bartimeus Trilogy – The Golem’s Eye / B+

2. 3rd book of the Bartimeus Trilogy – Ptolemy’s Gate / A+

3. The Wind in the Willows / A-

4. Fahrenheit 451 / A-

5. Angels and Demons / B+

6. Nightwatch / A-

7. Joker’s Asylum / A+

8. Hardy Boys / C -

9. Thus Spake Zarathustra / A+ yeah I’m weird like that. Going from a graphic novel, to Hardy Boys, to Nietzche. This book is brilliant by the way.

10. Ignore Everybody – and 39 other tips to creativity / A

11. Animal Farm A+

12. Joker / A+

13. Quintuples / A-

14. Outlaw Nation / A -

15. HP Lovecraft – Blood Curling Tales of horror and the Macabre / A

16. Coraline / A

17. Noir / B +

18. Where the Wild things Are / B+

Playing guitar

Lucky for me I have a nephew that loves for me to play guitar. Every time he comes over I get to jam and it’s good to keep the skills up to date.


ACQUISITIVE:


Get new computer

Didn’t buy one but fixed the old one. Now for 2011, I’m going to probably need a new comp though.


Net connection

Hallelujah I finally came out of the dark ages. Long live DSL.

Digital recorder

Don’t even know what the hell I’m going to do with this one, but hopefully I’ll figure something out.

Digital Camera

Bless my wonderful mother for being gracious enough to get me a cam for Christmas.


MONETARY


Save Money

Didn’t bat 0 but could have been much better me thinks.

Payments
Similar to above. Not deficient but not proficient either. Would love to always have a payment ahead in my bills just to give me a cushion and boost my credit score and whatnot.

Mom’s cakes
Is this a moot point, it feels like it is.

Donations
$300+ not bad for being broke.


KNOWLEDGE:

Learn / record songs
Didn’t do ANY of this. Shame on me.


Learn Random Info
Every single day I try to look up for random stuff, be it news, science or whatever. I simply think there is just no excuse to not try and learn every day.

Read the news
Been doing that and can’t say how interesting it is to be able to comment on what people are talking about.


Retake French
Didn’t do this and seems like a 2011 goal to me.


Dance classes
Need to look for this info before January is over.

WRITING:


WAS posts
189 / 200 (as of august 30th)
94.5%

Not bad at all but lack of comments really makes it difficult to keep writing. Sure this blog never gets comments, but I’m clear on that. On the other blog, I can’t say I don’t miss them.


Posts in other blogs
36 +10 / 100
46%
Various factors worked into me not being that active with the other blogs. This year will be different.

Finish book
I have taken my time, but I seriously need to finish this thing to begin the mammoth task of transcribing it.


Write short stories
1 / 10
10%

Finishing that one story was by far one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever done. Rest assured, more of this is on the way.

Essay project
0 / 20
0%
Just didn’t feel the urge to do this. Maybe 2010 will be different?


Draft story arcs
0 / 3
0%*
I’ve written down tons of ideas for the books, but haven’t penned down a true story arc.

Movie Script
Non existent, comatose, pick your phrase or word. I didn’t even look at this doc the whole of 2009.

Progress reports
6/ 12
50%

12 reports is just WAY TOO MUCH. For the new year, I’m cutting down to 4 for every quarter. The new goals will be up soon though.

Standup piece
Another project I didn’t even look at for most if not all of 2009. Might try and bite the bullet and work on this though.


Be more positive
The year began with a slight hiccup but will do my best to do better than my hormones and be happy.


Forgive people
This was a liberating experience not because I felt free of a burden but because I had one less crappy topic to talk about, and it felt good.


Negative energy
Always doing my best to channel the anger. Will continue doing so.


Loving my fiancée
Only thing I can’t seem to stop getting better at. What can I say? I love the girl.


RECAP:

To sum up 2009, it was the first year I really put effort into making resolutions and trying to stick to them. I learned what was possible and what I REALLY need to focus on and I found out just how hard it is to get back on track once you stray. So here’s to 2010 and a better overall performance from yours truly. If I had to grade myself, I’d say C+ and I really want to graduate with honors in the school of life, so wish me luck and all the best.