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.