I never set myself New Years resolutions. As a person who can be defined at times as a pile of regret (could have-would have-should have), I know in that way lies madness. Whether it is in my mind or not, the holidays put me in a sort of ‘holding pattern’. I’m in slow motion for two to three weeks. Maybe it’s the vicious cold/sore throat combo slash inversion asthma that hits the Wasatch front every year from Christmas through the first seven days or so of January. Whatever all of this is, it zaps my will to do anything but watch television, read and play video games during the time that everyone else is partying and making resolutions. I’m a self-starter. You don’t have to give me a list of things to do and then micromanage me to see that I do them. I’ll do them. But when it comes to things like practicing to improve or gain a skill? I can procrastinate with the best of them. I really don’t know how to reconcile this contradiction in myself, so I thought WHY NOT write out a list.
I saw ideas floating around via the intertubes on getting 52 things done in 52 weeks. Since we already down one week, I can throw out the ‘invent my own punctuation mark’. Here is my list on the fifty one things I plan on accomplishing in 2014.
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Read 25 books in 51 weeks
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Interview an author
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Take part in a book blog tour
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Read only books that I have been given as gifts/to review, or have borrowed from the library
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Query my own novel & release it
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Watch 51 films in 51 weeks
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10 of the 51 have to be from the AFI’s 100 years/100 movies
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Another 10 of the 51 need to be releases from 2014
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And yet, another 5 need to be from the Sundance Film Fest 2014
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Visit family in Denver, CO
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Travel to a place that I have never been to
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Attend at least three comic, video game or fan conventions
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Teach Elektra how to swim
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Teach Elektra how to ride a bike (no training wheels)
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Be thoughtful about media/screen time with Elektra (one hour of play per day-outside)
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Make sure Elektra has time and space for creativity (be mindful to ask her about this)
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Go to the gym at least three times a week
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Lose ten pounds
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Run a 5K
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Go to the dentist, twice
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Dentist
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Get a complete physical
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Cook a new vegetarian recipe once a month
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Do a seven day cleanse
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Try one food that I’ve never tasted once a month
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Drink no alcohol for a month
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Volunteer somewhere once a month
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Learn to play chess
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Organize my place/storage one room per month (I.E. declutter)
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Donate the things I do not need during from the ‘organization’ to those who do (IE. charities, neighbors, friends)
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Clean out my Gmail inbox
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Respond to every (actual) email message that I get. Spam and work emails do not count
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Do what I can to less the suffering of others
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Finish and release my new solo rap/hip hop LP
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Complete and post one PODcast episode per week
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Take my S.O. on one ‘proper’ date per month
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Finish the ALL of PS3 games that I got in 2013, one per month
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Replace those socks with the holes in them
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Be less hesitant to reach out and connect with people or also known as start one convo per month with someone you have never spoken with
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Sketch a picture, once per week
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Write at least one column per week for Bigshinyrobot.com
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Put aside five dollars per every challenge completed
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Learn to tie a tie (Especially a Windsor Knot)
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Less screen time for me (turn laptop/phone/media off for an hour a day)
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Keep in touch with friends and family, reach out to a different person once per week minimum
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Get at least eight hours of sleep a night for one week straight
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Back up my Mac and my other electronic devices
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Catalog all the music I have ever done
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Listen to a new song/ep/LP per week that I have never heard and write one sentence on the feeling it gave me, any g
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Learn at least three new skills pertaining to my day job
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Be less sarcastic with people
I can’t be alone in alone this, right? What 51 things are you going to do this year? Ok, ok…lets start with one.
-Dagobot
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