Updating My Five Goals

New Year's Resolutions, by nature, are usually about self-improvement. People want to lose weight, or read more. I'm okay with that, except on those issues I'm pretty happy right where I am.

I have in the past, however, kept five goals going at any one point in time. Last year I abandoned those goals. My goals were difficult to complete, things that required changes of habit that should be ongoing--essentially resolutions. And like New Year's Resolutions, my goals were doomed to failure.

So this year, my only resolution is to change how I set my goals. I will only set small measurable goals. There will always be five goals because I am sure there will always  be five good things I could be doing.

So here are the goals I have in mind thus far:

1. Recycle old electronics. I have a box of archaic cell phones, digital cameras, and random cords to nothing that I have been moving from apartment to apartment for about five years. I've just added a twenty-some-year-old TV which cannot produce sound to the junk pile. (Ask me about my elaborate sound-rigging that kept that TV in action anyway. Like any cheap-skate, I'm insanely proud of my ludicrous work-around.) Anywho, with a TV now on my living room floor, I need to finally haul the e-junk off. (I'm also going to need some help. The TV is quite large.)

2. Read classic books I have never read. This goal has the nature of being ongoing and unmeasurable, so I am tasking myself with assigning one classic at the beginning of each month. I expect myself to read 2-3 books a month, so one classic won't kill me. I can still devote the larger percentage of my reading efforts to science fiction.

3. Volunteer for something. I haven't decided what yet, but I need to find a way to do external good. About a year ago, I looked into Big Brothers, Big Sisters and similar programs to see if I could get involved in tutoring or anything, but with a long-distance relationship that requires regular out-of-town travel, I couldn't commit to something that needed all my weekends. I could volunteer grant-write for one of these programs, but I genuinely miss tutoring because I like having exposure to people that I never imagined existed. I should probably ask around at schools and the libraries.

4. Bake something new. I keep telling myself I will branch out into pastries or some such, but I haven't done a darned thing. Like reading, I might set this as monthly or biweekly (fortnightly) goal and assign myself with a new dish to bake each period.

5. Take my cat to the vet. My cat lives a very secluded life. I don't let her outside (letting her outside in this Downtown environment would be a bad idea, but I didn't let her outside when we lived in smaller towns in residential neighborhoods--mostly because she is incompetant at being catlike). I've always figured I didn't really need to force her to go through the torment of visiting a vet because she has exposure to nothing, but I also freak out and get paranoid when I think she's sick. I'd feel much better if we had a kitty doctor I felt comfortable with that I could go to when she feels down and out. If I need to get my generally quarantined cat vaccinated to foster such a relationship, so be it.

I have some other goals in mind that can replace 1, 3, and 5 when I get those done, but it's not worth planning ahead too far. No need to overwhelm myself--I do tend to exihibit a certain degree of laziness that I need to account for.

2013 Resolutions

I started 2013 with style.

Some people blow kazoos to bring in the new year. I was blowing my nose.

The new year is brought in with fancy drinks and champagne. I had camomile tea with honey and lemon.

It's supposed to be spent with loved ones and friends. My favorite person was curled up under a pile of blankets hacking his lungs out, but he was here.

I'm tired. I have things I need to get done at work, but I don't feel at all ready to return.

The idea of setting any New Year's Resolutions seems stupid. I just want to be able to breathe through my nose.