Headed for Three Dozen
I wish I could read the New Year's resolution post I'd've written a year ago today, if I'd actually written one last year, bc it would be hilarious. I never imagined how my life would change. I fulfilled a lifelong dream of climbing a technical peak in the Himalayas -- and discovered that it's not all it's cracked up to be. My girlfriend dumped me and the couple I was dating got divorced. I couldn't've imagined how many fights I had with Jon. I never would've guessed that Jane & Julian would be divorced before Jon was. And yet, without all the emotional turmoil of the past year - the fights, losing my job, spending months coughing - I wouldn't have known so clearly that I'm headed down the right path, that everything is working out the way it should.
I was expecting a niece -- but I had no idea she'd move to Switzerland, of all places. 2012 was one of my best travel years ever and while Julian mocks me for lumping a cable car ride in the Alps with a 5 week trek/climb in the Himalayas, they were both wonderful experiences. I didn't make it to West Virginia and I didn't get to climb Mt. Washington this winter, but I finally went to Rumney for sport climbing, tried whitewater kayaking, and won my first aquathlon. I started lead climbing with someone less experienced, a huge step, and I took my first leader fall. I visited several more Civil War battlefields and Jon and I have been reading military history together.
Despite spending days on end in transit, resting in tents, and training for a marathon, 2012 was the first year since I started tracking in 2007 that I read fewer than 50 books. Good: 36% of the books were non-fiction (highest percentage yet), only 17% were romance/porn, only 11% re-reads. 36% were electronic, which is as much because of how much time I spent carrying my belongings from place to place as my new devices. The bad news is, the only books I really liked were Tierney & Baumeister's Willpower and Dan John's Never Let Go. Well, I discovered Holly Black's con artists series and Mary Robinette Kowal's Austen pastiche and liked those too. Worse, of the 8 audiobooks I read last year, I actively disliked 3, found 1 less than helpful, and really only enjoyed 2; this is particularly bad bc audiobooks take the most effort to read for me.
1. go to more Broadway shows. I may or may not have gone to more Broadway shows in 2011 or 2012, but I'm kinda done with Broadway. I can't be bothered to spend money & time to go see the latest celebrity revival. It's been a while since I've seen a new show I liked. Based on my friend the composer's comments, I'll go see Matilda the Musical and Jon keeps talking about seeing Book of Mormon, but I get nearly as much utility out of seeing actors I like in single-person shows or going to Marie's Crisis or seeing stuff with my fave kiddo at Papermill Playhouse.
2. get more play. AHAHAHAHAyes, cf. best life ever. Having in town lovers who know my body better than I do is awesome.
3. open every box in my apt and get rid of more stuff such that if I had to move, I could. Not really - and getting 3 boxes from work didn't help - but I was able to throw a party in my living room again, which is something.
4. buy a new computer. Done. And maybe someday I'll let my in-house tech support set up the backup system.
5. do one networking or brain-feeding thing every week. I'm not sure this is as helpful as I thought when I wrote this. And I'm glad the nervous breakdown I had at work has been swept away by the tide.
6. get a guy off with a blow job. I think I've gotten to the point where I understand this is really, really hard, even for gay guys, so I'm okay with being a pillow princess.
As an aside, reading a book (arguably) about buddhism fulfilled a 2010 resolution, so there's that.
For 2013, my two biggest overreaching goals are (1) to spend more time thinking about whether I should do something, instead of how, and (2) to get better at recognizing when I'm spending too much energy worrying about something and decide not to worry. Compared to that, organizing my apt and finding a job in a jobless recovery should be cake.
I was expecting a niece -- but I had no idea she'd move to Switzerland, of all places. 2012 was one of my best travel years ever and while Julian mocks me for lumping a cable car ride in the Alps with a 5 week trek/climb in the Himalayas, they were both wonderful experiences. I didn't make it to West Virginia and I didn't get to climb Mt. Washington this winter, but I finally went to Rumney for sport climbing, tried whitewater kayaking, and won my first aquathlon. I started lead climbing with someone less experienced, a huge step, and I took my first leader fall. I visited several more Civil War battlefields and Jon and I have been reading military history together.
Despite spending days on end in transit, resting in tents, and training for a marathon, 2012 was the first year since I started tracking in 2007 that I read fewer than 50 books. Good: 36% of the books were non-fiction (highest percentage yet), only 17% were romance/porn, only 11% re-reads. 36% were electronic, which is as much because of how much time I spent carrying my belongings from place to place as my new devices. The bad news is, the only books I really liked were Tierney & Baumeister's Willpower and Dan John's Never Let Go. Well, I discovered Holly Black's con artists series and Mary Robinette Kowal's Austen pastiche and liked those too. Worse, of the 8 audiobooks I read last year, I actively disliked 3, found 1 less than helpful, and really only enjoyed 2; this is particularly bad bc audiobooks take the most effort to read for me.
1. go to more Broadway shows. I may or may not have gone to more Broadway shows in 2011 or 2012, but I'm kinda done with Broadway. I can't be bothered to spend money & time to go see the latest celebrity revival. It's been a while since I've seen a new show I liked. Based on my friend the composer's comments, I'll go see Matilda the Musical and Jon keeps talking about seeing Book of Mormon, but I get nearly as much utility out of seeing actors I like in single-person shows or going to Marie's Crisis or seeing stuff with my fave kiddo at Papermill Playhouse.
2. get more play. AHAHAHAHAyes, cf. best life ever. Having in town lovers who know my body better than I do is awesome.
3. open every box in my apt and get rid of more stuff such that if I had to move, I could. Not really - and getting 3 boxes from work didn't help - but I was able to throw a party in my living room again, which is something.
4. buy a new computer. Done. And maybe someday I'll let my in-house tech support set up the backup system.
5. do one networking or brain-feeding thing every week. I'm not sure this is as helpful as I thought when I wrote this. And I'm glad the nervous breakdown I had at work has been swept away by the tide.
6. get a guy off with a blow job. I think I've gotten to the point where I understand this is really, really hard, even for gay guys, so I'm okay with being a pillow princess.
As an aside, reading a book (arguably) about buddhism fulfilled a 2010 resolution, so there's that.
For 2013, my two biggest overreaching goals are (1) to spend more time thinking about whether I should do something, instead of how, and (2) to get better at recognizing when I'm spending too much energy worrying about something and decide not to worry. Compared to that, organizing my apt and finding a job in a jobless recovery should be cake.