Year End Reflecting Early, 'cos I'm Done With This Shit Year
2014, the Year That Can Die in a Fire.
This follows Fuck 2012 and 2013 Was a Butt. Pretty much everything after 2010 has sucked, actually, and I don't know about anyone else, but I'm pretty sick of it.
Every year I look back at where I was the previous year and try to assess how I've done and what I'd like to do. Usually I do this around New Year's Eve or sometime in January, but I'm so eager for 2014 to be history that I'm doing it a little early this year.
This time last year, I was still enjoying the "afterglow" of finishing NaNoWriMo for the first time, as lythandra and I were cleaning all the junk out of my mom's house in preparation for selling it, reflecting on the loss of Sandy and Mammallamadevil, and looking forward to a year in which I didn't have friends or family die all over the place.
And then my mom and FrostDemn died. :P
In my mom's case, I wasn't entirely surprised; I actually did not expect her to survive 2014, but I had hoped she'd have a little more time in the assisted living place she seemed to like so much. FrostDemn's death was completely out of the blue and just so goddamn unnecessary. It was God kicking a puppy. And after five years of death, death, death, his was the one that finally made me break down and just weep.
The year followed up that auspicious start by being an unrelenting series of outrages, society unraveling, and general crap that has not affected me on as personal level, but still sucks. It's like March of the Assholes out there.
So yeah. 2014 can die in a fire. And 2015? I'm watching you, man. Don't screw it up.
Anyway. On to specifics! How did I fare on my goals last year?
What are my goals for 2015?
Any suggestions? You people probably know me better than I know myself, what do you think my goals for the new year should be?
-The Gneech
This follows Fuck 2012 and 2013 Was a Butt. Pretty much everything after 2010 has sucked, actually, and I don't know about anyone else, but I'm pretty sick of it.
Every year I look back at where I was the previous year and try to assess how I've done and what I'd like to do. Usually I do this around New Year's Eve or sometime in January, but I'm so eager for 2014 to be history that I'm doing it a little early this year.
This time last year, I was still enjoying the "afterglow" of finishing NaNoWriMo for the first time, as lythandra and I were cleaning all the junk out of my mom's house in preparation for selling it, reflecting on the loss of Sandy and Mammallamadevil, and looking forward to a year in which I didn't have friends or family die all over the place.
And then my mom and FrostDemn died. :P
In my mom's case, I wasn't entirely surprised; I actually did not expect her to survive 2014, but I had hoped she'd have a little more time in the assisted living place she seemed to like so much. FrostDemn's death was completely out of the blue and just so goddamn unnecessary. It was God kicking a puppy. And after five years of death, death, death, his was the one that finally made me break down and just weep.
The year followed up that auspicious start by being an unrelenting series of outrages, society unraveling, and general crap that has not affected me on as personal level, but still sucks. It's like March of the Assholes out there.
So yeah. 2014 can die in a fire. And 2015? I'm watching you, man. Don't screw it up.
Anyway. On to specifics! How did I fare on my goals last year?
- Exercise: I've done very well on this one, actually. Joining DailyBurn has made it relatively easy to get in an average of three or more workouts per week, and it's been very effective.
- Publish a Novel: This did not happen. No stories at all, even for an anthology to which I was specifically invited, which really hurts. Publishing a comic did happen, but it's taken a lot more of my mental bandwidth than I expected and this is something I need to examine in the upcoming year.
- Launch the New Comic, Get Out at Least Three Issues: The comic is launched! Two issues are out, the third is under construction. As mentioned above, the comic has taken way more time and energy than I expected it to, and that's even after having run the original SJ for ten years. I'm looking for ways to mitigate this, but it's definitely slow going. Granted, the death of my mom and the long, slow grind of actually selling the house have been a drag on my productivity, but life is life, man. There will always be something happening. Always. And my plans need to account for that.
- Make at Least $5,000 w/ My Writing and Art: I came close, actually. ~$4700, thanks mostly to Patreon and a solid AnthroCon. I need to beef this up the in coming year, tho. Selling some stories and working more cons would have done this.
- Work at Least Five Conventions: This didn't happen. I worked FurTheMore (but didn't make much), AC, and Intervention (at which I didn't make a red cent). I was sick and couldn't go to MFF, and didn't have the time to do any others. Not a good year on that front.
- Bring Our Income/Expense Ratio Back Into Black, Begin Contributing to Savings Again: Nope. :(
- Floss My Damn Teeth: Did that completely. Unqualified success. I only missed three nights all year: one when I was in the hospital, one at the in-laws' house where I couldn't find any floss, and one when I was so tired I was lucky to hit the bed when I collapsed, much less do any personal hygiene. Every other night, flossed like a boss.
What are my goals for 2015?
- Sell the House and Move Already: Two years we've been floating in limbo. Our second attempt to put it on the market started in July, man. Compared to my mom's house, which sold in two weeks? This is crazy. We need to be done with this.
- Bring in $13k Income: Technically, that's what we'd need to live in the current house and still do things like "eat". And while the idea is that we're going to move somewhere cheaper anyway, it seems like a good target number. If we move somewhere we can afford without my income, then anything I make is a bonus. Besides the writing and art, I'm also going to work on filling out The Etsy Shop, which needs more stock as well as advertising and promotion.
- Four Issues of Rough Housing: I've got to either get faster at this comic, or discontinue it to make room for other projects. And I really don't want to discontinue it.
- Get Dungeons & Denizens Rolling: I did promise my Patreon supporters that I'd be doing this, after all, and they came through, so now so must I. As of this writing, I've finished two pages... time to pick up the slack, Gneech.
- Continue to Lose Weight: I've lost about 20 lbs since starting Weight Watchers and DailyBurn, and while I'm currently kind of stuck in the 295-300 spot, I'm working on some strategies to punch through that plateau and start making progress again. I would like to get below 290 for Further Confusion, with a stretch goal of 260 for AnthroCon.
- Keep Flossing Them Teeth: I'm not actually worried about this habit, I think I've finally got it on lock. But there's no reason not to go for an easy win here.
Any suggestions? You people probably know me better than I know myself, what do you think my goals for the new year should be?
-The Gneech