2013 Resolutions

So, with reading The Willpower Instinct and the start of the new year and all - I got to thinking about resolutions.  And, you know, making some.

I have one distinct one that has come to mind.  Drumroll, please....

Be a better blogger.

I know what you're thinking, dear readers.  You've heard it before.  You've heard it again and again.  Instead of talking about blogging, why not actually go and do it?

I know.  Perhaps I've just hit a road bump this past year.  Perhaps I have hit the 'five year itch'.  But I am not giving up.  This blog has quite a few things going for it.

1)  It has existed for five years, which is legendary in the blogosphere.  Five years in the blogosphere is better than five years of marriage in hollywood.  I'm not going to give up at the 10 yard line.  And I never thought I'd use such an analogy.

2)  It is part of BlogHer, which is an excellent, well-respected all female blogging network.  I feel like I got into a prestigious sorority.  The only requirement is that I put out new, relevant content on a regular basis.  I will forge on.

3)  I have some awesome readers.  I HOPE I still have them.  Dear readers - are you there?  It's me, Jaime.

Ok, enough of this.  I had to publicly express this goal.  I figured it would help with accountability and that there'd be a better chance of me not failing at it.

Dear fellow bloggers - how do you forge on?  What do you do when you struggle with finding the time and energy to blog?  What do you do when you struggle for meaningful content?  Please share.

Goals For 2012

So last year was a year of a lot of changes for me.  I went in with some goals, as I outlined in some previous posts.

Anyhow. They saying putting one's goals down in writing and/or telling people about one's goals makes her more likely to achieve them because it makes them seem more definite.  That, and there's the fear of public failure.  Other people knowing and, mayhaps, 'watching' one will better keep that person in check.  Kind of like having a weight-loss buddy.  Or something like that.

Anyhow.

My goal for 2012....

I have a short story that needs to be written.  I've dragged my feet on doing so for a very long time.  By the end of 2012, I should have a hard draft done.

There you go.

Keep me in check.

Hopefully this goes better than my promises to blog more.

2011 Reading Goal

So, one of my goals for 2012 was to read 12 books.  I didn't have any specifics on what kind of books they were, how many pages they needed to be, etc.  Yes, I realize these are big factors, seeing that, at times, one book can be over twice the length of another.  However, I didn't want to get pedantic.

Anyhow.  Drumroll please....

I fell short.  Whop whop.  Eleven books.  Just one shy.  I didn't make it.  I feel like a failure.  I kid.  Oh well.

Here's a list of the books I was able to finish:

1)  Save the Assistants by Lilit Marcus
2)  The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson (Editor's sidenote:  This book took me FOREVER - I would like to blame partially for my not being able to meet my reading goal.)
3)  Bossy Pants by Tina Fey
4)  What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen
5)  My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler
6)  Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
7)  Summer in the City by Candace Bushnell
8)  Sweet Valley Confidential by Francine Pascal
9)  Love At First Bark by Julie Klam
10)  If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't) by Betty White
11)  It Was Over When by Robert K. Elder

I THOUGHT about staying home all day Saturday reading to make the goal, seeing that I am already into Mindy Kaling's 'Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)', and it seemed like a quick read.  However, instead, I just decided to up the ante for this year - I will do 13 books to make up for the missed one this year.  I am thinking I will have more time to accomplish this.

Did anyone else make any reading goals?  Were you able to keep them?  Do you feel my goal was a little weak?  Did you lose respect for me for not making it?  Don't answer that.  

New Year's Resolutions?

Who has broken his or hers so far?

Mine was to be a better blogger.  The jury is still out on me.  :-/

Makin' Some Resolutions

So now, normally, I find the concept of New Year's Resolutions to be crap.  Not to be all philosophical (cause I find that to be crap, too), but I do believe we can all improve ourselves at any given time.

Anyhow.  That being said, I have reached a point in my life where I am in need of a change.

Here are some of my past (mostly failed) resolutions:
--Be more organized (HA!)
--Become neater/tidier (HA again, however,  I can honestly say I've improved over the past couple years - which should scare my coworkers)
--Something general along the lines of be less of a procrastinator (kind of goes with the previous two)

Anyhow.  I have come to terms with myself.  I will never be a neat freak.   I will never be a perfectionist.  I am accepting this and moving on.

Some recent successful resolutions (not necessarily of the NYE variety) were to learn more about cooking and increase my upper body strength (don't mess with me).  Anyhow.  Simple, small, non-personality adjustment resolutions are the easiest.  I haven't made any serious resolutions in a while.  However, I think this year, I am due for a couple.   I think I've avoided taking any big actions in a while out of fear of failure.  So I have avoided failing.  But I have not really succeeded at anything major (except, of course, my now having the ability to do 30 push-ups).  So, aside from blogging more, there will be some new serious resolutions.  Update to come.

2009 in a Nutshell

As the old year comes to a close, some stats of 2009....

Number of job changes: 0
Number of moves: 1
Number of blog posts: 323
Number of trips out of town: 2
Number of romantic relationships: 0
Number of times my personal romantical life appeared in Emily's blog: 3
Number of incidents that could be classified as 'car trouble': 2
Number of friends (per the facebook.com): 723
Number of blog followers: 12
Number of broken New Year's Resolutions: 3
Number of blogs I'm following: 10

...and a partridge in a pear tree?

New Year's Resolutions (or, at Least, those Acceptable to Post in a Public Forum)

--Cook and bake more often (deja vu)
--Increase upper body strength (deja vu AGAIN)

(Editor's sidenote: Is 'deja vu again' not the ULTIMATE redundancy?)

--Publish a good amount of interesting, relevant blog posts that people are excited to read
--Stumble upon wealth

Any suggestions to add?
Updates to come....

It's About That Time....

...for the end of year 'how did I do on my New Year's Resolutions' evaluation.

I did not make many resolutions, nor did I make intense ones. One of my resolutions was to try three new recipes a month. Another was to increase my upper body strength by doing pushups and hand weights several times a week. Another was to start running to increase my physical endurance.

Now, I have not had a chance to really sit down and evaluate my progress on these goals, but just giving it a brief once-over, I think, realistically speaking, an accurate grade for my progress on these resolutions would be....an F.

:'(

Oops.

Why are New Year's resolutions so hard? Mine were realistic. Simple. Measurable. Doable. Why did I fail?

Did anyone succeed at his or her New Year's resolutions this year? Does anyone out there still make them? Am I the only one? Did anyone accomplish anything big? Anyone planning on setting some big resolutions?

The Stalking Resumes....

Apparently, the Chicago Dianetics Center knows about my book goal for the new year and would like to get one of their titles on my 'to read' list:

Subject Line: Here is a book that does what you don't expect a book to do

It tells you HOW. It tells you the basis of things, and the most basic of
things is life itself. This then is a book about life.

THE PROBLEMS OF WORK

By L. Ron Hubbard

Just get it, read it, try it, and you'll never be the same again.

Call 847-824-62** for your copy today.

DO IT TODAY

How I Spent My Day....

So one of my new years resolutions (which I did not disclose on this blog) was getting more organized. This is one of those very non-specific non-measurable resolutions in the sense that even if I got just a teeny-tiny bit more organized, it would technically be a success because I would be "more" organized than before.

Regardless, I am aiming big with this resolution. I decided to de-tchotchkify my room - or at least cut them down significantly. It's an adult bedroom; it should look like one (stuffed animals withstanding). I also got rid of a lot of old clothes that I have an unfortunately habit of wearing if they are around. All in all, I am happy with the result. Now that I have decluttered my room, it is time to move on to cleaning out other aspects of my life, which will be a much bigger task.

The Secret - Revisited

Ok, so two good friends brought up the subject of the book "The Secret" this past week.  I OBVIOUSLY can't resist revisiting it.

Ok, so I have some definite problems with the book/way of thinking, which I have outlined before in multiple posts, I know.  However, to summarize briefly - I have three main problems with the book.  1)  The notion that an individual has that level of control over one's own life.  2)  The absurd, arbitrary, ridiculous suggestions it makes as realistic steps toward achieving one's goals (i.e.  writing fake checks to oneself at a time one wants to better her own financial situation).  3)  The notion that the above suggestions actually work.  

I won't get into it any further.  I already have more than enough.  

Also, a several good friends have mentioned to me they've heard critiques similar to mine from various other sources - such as radio commentators, Amazon reviews, etc.  So my campaign is working.   I guess a combination of a couple things happened:  1)  People who think 'The Secret' is a load of crap got the courage to speak up and come forward.  2)  People who originally bought into 'The Secret' have reconsidered and reanalyzed the situation.  3)  People tried 'The Secret' and it didn't work (look at the general state of the country SINCE 'The Secret' has been on the bestseller list.  I rest my case.)

However - there is something I agree with about The Secret.  I agree with the idea of envisioning the life you want.  I agree with the notion that actually believing something can happen for you is an important step toward the goal.  So maybe I will take that away from this book for 2009; everything happens for a reason, and I didn't waste a couple hours of my life reading this book for nothing.  :)

Speaking of Resolutions...

I once heard about a book about a woman who decided, for one year, to go out with everyone who asked her out, no matter what the circumstances.  I believe she felt she was unlucky in love and possibly too picky and wanted to meet the man of her dreams.  I'm assuming she had some help from somewhere because I believe she went out with somewhere around over 100 people in the period of a year.  The book is called "The Year of Yes".

I caught wind of this book/concept and I have made multiple jokes about it (mainly plays on words with the title).  I have had friends who have declared a 'year of the yes' or a 'year of the no'.  

Around three years ago (eek!) - I semi-declared a 'year of yes'  and decided to be more open-minded about who I would date - it lasted a couple months (there are a lot of creeps out there - this concept simply doesn't work in the city of Chicago, let me tell you).

I personally find that if I go out with someone I am not sure I am necessarily interested in to begin with, I continue to feel the same way about him after a couple dates and then end up in the situation of  having to have an awkward conversation about only wanting to be friends.   Although it's good to have an open-mind, I think there's also a 'you shouldn't lead a person on' component to the situation, and honestly, I have never had a 180 change of opinion on someone.

Anyhow, what does everyone think of said "Year of Yes" concept?

Makin' Some Resolutions

I remember back in high school, I had a teacher who insisted all good goals were specific, achievable and measurable.  He also felt it was ok to tell a group of high school students that his ideal spring break consisted of him locking himself away alone in his basement with his favorite illegal substances.  But anyhow.  I think he was on to something with the first point.

For example, last new year, I made the resolution to start working out with hand weights.  There were some points when I did, indeed, work out with these hand weights, but it was very sporadic.  There were sometimes I did a good couple times a week.  Also though, there were some points I probably went a whole month without doing exercises once.   I wouldn't consider this a great success.

However, technically my goal was do start doing exercises with hand weights.  Technically, I did.  Since the prior year, I had done these exercises a grand total of 0 times, it was an improvement.  

My book goal (reading 16) fits the above discussed criteria pretty well.   It is challenging and it is easy for me to see if I am on track.  Since I decided I am celebrating New Year's full out, I have decided to make at least five resolutions/goals.  (Maybe the resolution to make the resolutions can count as one, because the goal fits the criteria.)

Anyhow, I'm rambling.  This year, I made my goal to be doing weight workouts twice a week and ten push-ups twice a week - it's not a huge move but it's something I'm not currently doing,  and I'll know if I'm on track for or not.  Now for at least three (well, I guess maybe two) more resolutions....

Goals

Ok, I know I have raised several questions in the past about making new year's resolutions - however, one resolution I usually make it to read a certain number of books in the coming year (and I encourage others to make this goal as well - the number of books depends on the individual).  I do believe last January, a study came out that said one in four Americans did not read a single book the previous year.  

This past year, my goal was twelve books - I happened to luckily exceed it by one book.  Obviously, I should aim a little higher this coming year, but I don't want to overdo it.  However, I do want to challenge myself.   Hmm.    

(This reminds me that I am supposed to review my books from this past year - still working on that one.  Maybe a better resolution for me would be keeping my blog promises.)

What would be a good new goal?  Fifteen seems too small (I almost did that this year); eighteen a little too large.  Seventeen is too odd of a number - I don't like it.  Maybe I'll go for magic sweet 16.  

However, I am NOT at a shortage of reading material - I got seven new books and a Borders giftcard for Christmas.  That, and I have a large quantity on hand from the beloved Sun-Times booksale.   I have a ton of books that I am excited about reading, which is always good.   In fact, I started reading one of my new books (see above).  

My only problem is I'm almost a third of the way through it and I fear I may finish it before 2009, which cannot happen.   This book needs to be counted against 2009, NOT 2008.  I CANNOT have a budget surplus - that will only penalize me for the coming year.  

Resolution?

So I got my Glamour magazine in the mail last week - it's the January issue (and it's disgustingly small - a sad shoutout to the state of the print media industry lately, but anyhow).   Naturally, it's talking about New Year's Resolutions and all the staples of New Year's Resolutions  (lose 10 pounds, quit smoking, get a new job, etc.).  

Now, I've never been one make New Year's resolutions in my adult life.   I find a bit of humor in it all:  1)  If it's a goal of yours, such as the above mentioned, why particularly decide to take action specifically at the beginning of the  year and 2)  The success rate of most New Year's resolutions...yeah.

However, I currently find myself in a bit of a rut.  My readers might note this by the number of posts filed under 'doldrums'.   Although there might not be anything particularly wrong at this moment, but there isn't necessarily anything spectacularly right (although I can say I am luckier than most to have my health, a decent job, family and some great friends).  

A humorous situation led me to think about my high school reunion (which will be coming up in a couple years).  As of right now, I wouldn't have any reason I'd be embarrassed to go see all my former classmates, however, I guess I'm not where I thought I'd be when I was a teenager and dreamed of adulthood.  I'm not the person I envisioned myself as going to said reunion.  Maybe this is a simple part of all dream/reality discrepancies, however, at one point in my life I felt I was someone who was destined for greatness and I'm pretty sure I haven't quite reached that.

Maybe I need a resolution.