Resolutions for 2011
“But mommy, everyone else is doing it!”
I’m usually not a fan of New Years resolutions, as they all tend to be the same for everyone, are predictable, and the majority of them fail miserably. Just a quick perusing of news sites, blogs, and friends’ pages, I see a plethora of resolutions about quitting smoking, going to the gym, and other cliches.
My opinion is that one should not have to wait until January 1st of any given year to force themselves to improve their lifestyle, because forcing a big change simply guarantees failure. On the other hand, a new year is a convenient, stable, and measurable starting point to make some small changes that don’t require a drastic lifestyle change.
Without further ado, here is my list of stuff I want to accomplish this year:
- Read more – I got a Kindle, so I might as well use it. I figure I’ll at least catch up on some of the classics I either missed while growing up, or simply ignored. Just a few minutes ago, I went on amazon and grabbed a bunch of these books; things like “The Art of War”, “The Invisible Man”, “A Tale of Two Cities”, “Crime and Punishment”, and a bunch of other classics by authors such as Dickens, Verne, Twain, Carroll, Swift, and Wells. I figure I should be able to do a book a week or so.
- Take more pictures – I started to use my camera more during the summer, and I’d like to continue that trend. Even though there might not be that many interesting places to shoot in the area, I’d at least like to make a conscious effort to get some interesting photos, whether they be common things from interesting angles, new places, or people. Maybe I’ll do some more NYC trips this year and take some more model shots, or perhaps ride my bike into the city and take pictures of things usually made impossible by traffic or parking situations.
- Teach my parents how to use a computer – This one will probably be the toughest of them all, but I’m going to give it my best. It will be an exercise in patience, repetition, and more patience. My dad knows a little bit, but mom is completely new to the concept. Hopefully, they will at least see it as an easier method to communicate and get information, rather than something that makes it difficult. I figure that once they grasp the basics of how everything works together, and the standards that most applications follow, it will all become easier. Currently on the list: How to browse in Firefox…the differences between the different mouse pointers, and how they change the behavior of the click. Something we take for granted, but to someone that has never used it before…a bit of a challenge to keep everything together.
- Expand my musical horizons – No matter how much new music I grab or new playlists I make in grooveshark or pandora, it seems that I always tend to go with the tried and true musical selections. Looking at my music library on my computer, the play counts are skewed… 80% of the music has never even been played, whereas the other 20% have constant playtime. I need to relieve myself of the predisposition that most new music is crap, and just go with it. Get some earphones at work, and just do it.
- Stop spending money on useless shit (ie: build up a more substantial savings) – A pretty easy and blunt one…stop buying shit I don’t necessarily need. Sure, I like gadgets as much as the next guy, but I think I have enough crap to entertain me for quite a while. Just because I have random cash here or there does not mean that I automatically have to spend it. Also included here: don’t go out to lunch so often…it’s amazing how much gets spent on that.
So there it is…a fairly simple list. Nothing life changing, but a few little things that I want to do this year. I figure that these should be easily accomplished without driving me crazy, or requiring too much commitment to be viable.
