so while 2015 was not a BAD year, it was definitely a bipolar year, to say the least. the end sucked. but i got a chunk of my resolutions for the year done. let’s see what we can do next year.
same old same old: take more pictures.
train for the half marathon liz and i signed up for in may!
maybe a deck this year?
spend more time at whitewater. it worked well last year; i should be able to keep the trend!
another garden – fine tune my plant-starting skills. they need help.
i have no trip plans besides my derry fam reunion in july. i wouldn’t mind an excuse to go somewhere, though
let’s try kablpoye again. i felt like it was a good exercise in making sure i wrote every day, and i know my four readers enjoyed it. every day blogging, here i come.
i think i should just focus on being happy! whatever makes me happy, i’ll try to do.
it’s that time of year! time to review my resolutions from last year and see how i did.
1. repeat of my oldie but goodie: take more pics! i will continue from last year! 2. DECK. let’s do this. 3. do something about my basement? maybe? start on it? i’m more focused on a deck at this point. 4. do something about my GARDEN. gah. not sure how that’s going to work out. :/ 5. VACATION. ok, this is not a resolution because the reservations are already made, but it might change up before we go, so i’ll stick it on there. 6. do i want to do something about my photography? advertise? make money from it? hmmmm 7. HALF MARATHON??? possibly??? 8. gotta do something with running/eating. i glimpsed sub-200 last year and then frittered it away with christmas. i’m going to start going to yoga classes, and that along with maybe half marathon, and hopefully healthier eating, might get me under that again. 9. HIKING. make a plan with liz about hiking the lake superior trail in the next few years. this requires a lot of gear, but i’m hoping between craigslist and other secondhand stuff, we’ll be able to outfit ourselves on the cheap. 10. last year i made plans to spend time in whitewater park. never happened. this year i’m hoping to actually make good on that. also, if i want to hike the LST, gotta start training!
ok i failed pretty hard on this one. i DID actually do some pro photowork, but just heading out and taking more pics was not something i did well this year. granted, i did take pics, just not as much as i’d like.
no deck 🙁
well, sort of? i got a toilet and a vanity for the bathroom.
GARDEN. CHECK. holy cats, a giant check.
VACATION. CHECK!!!! even though we were sick, it was fun!
well, i did make some money from my photography! it sort of fell into my lap, but it was fun!
half a check? i ran 8.5 miles in one go last summer. liz and i signed up for a half marathon in may. here we go!
so that didn’t go well at all. but with the half marathon on the horizon, i know that losing weight will help with time and actually finishing, so i have to work on my eating habits.
i thought about this. i don’t know when it will happen, if it will happen, but i’ve been sort of looking for gear and keeping it in the back of my mind.
i went to whitewater quite a bit! charlie and i went hiking a couple times, and i went for a run once out there. bought a state park sticker and actually used it!
overall, not too shabby! time to start thinking about next year’s resolutions.
from http://inkhouse.com/is-blogging-passe-we-say-no-way/
my blog-posting year was an almost success. i took a break over some vacation time, and i missed a couple days. overall, however, i made it a priority to post at least SOMETHING every day last year.
i’ve heard from a couple people that they really enjoyed kablpoye, but a couple people does not a trend make. if you’re reading this, i’d love to know if you liked kablpoye or if you’re like, “meh.”
basically, should i continue writing every day? will you read it? what do you want to see?
RESOLUTIONS.
since i did so well on last year’s, one can only hope i follow up accordingly.
1. repeat of my oldie but goodie: take more pics! i will continue from last year!
2. DECK. let’s do this.
3. do something about my basement? maybe? start on it? i’m more focused on a deck at this point.
4. do something about my GARDEN. gah. not sure how that’s going to work out. :/
5. VACATION. ok, this is not a resolution because the reservations are already made, but it might change up before we go, so i’ll stick it on there.
6. do i want to do something about my photography? advertise? make money from it? hmmmm
7. HALF MARATHON??? possibly???
8. gotta do something with running/eating. i glimpsed sub-200 last year and then frittered it away with christmas. i’m going to start going to yoga classes, and that along with maybe half marathon, and hopefully healthier eating, might get me under that again.
9. HIKING. make a plan with liz about hiking the lake superior trail in the next few years. this requires a lot of gear, but i’m hoping between craigslist and other secondhand stuff, we’ll be able to outfit ourselves on the cheap.
10. last year i made plans to spend time in whitewater park. never happened. this year i’m hoping to actually make good on that. also, if i want to hike the LST, gotta start training!
one of my “guidelines” for 2014 was to be more musical. well, the other day i went to schmitt music and bought some clarinet reeds. after some poking around in some boxes, i found my clarinet music, and so begins more musicalness in my life. for reasons UNBEKNOWNST TO ME* i have lost my etudes for clarinet, but i still have a lot of sheet music, so i think i’ll be good as far as music goes.
*that was total sarcasm and a lie. i’m sure i got rid of them because they were the bane of my existence during my first semester of college. bruce thornton, you were the worst clarinet teacher i’ve ever had.
1. i have three musical instruments in this house – a keyboard, a guitar, and a clarinet. let’s try to be a little more musical! i have to go find a reed.
2. make my blog and website prettier.
3. watch the olympics – i just plugged in my tv to my internet-only cable, and voila! free basic cable!
4. reduce electric usage.
…let’s do this. i’m not calling my resolutions resolutions; they are going to be guidelines. it sounds less intimidating that way.
1. the oldie but goodie: take more pictures!!!
2. write in my blog EVERY DAY. this is the 10-year anniversary of me starting to blog, and as such i am going to attempt to be a daily blogger.
3. put in a garden in my back yard. put gutters on the house. those are my two house goals.
4. attempt another chip-timed 10k – one that’s not so crappy.
5. go somewhere. travel to somewhere. hop in my car and drive to somewhere. get out of my bubble. explore more. (maybe take on a second job so i can afford the gas…)
6. finish my devils syrup book. i can do it!
7. promote my photog stuff more. i’ll need to prep the basement as a sort of studio, but i’d like to do more official photography fir people.
because my house life is a shambles right now, with boxes lining the walls and conquering the porch every day as i try to kick off my shoes, kablpomo seems a little hopeless to me. nanowrimo seems light years away, although i will attempt to do some writing on my devil’s syrup book this month, and i haven’t cracked a book in at least week.
at this point, because everything’s all over the place, it’s easier to come home from work, throw my stuff in the corner (because, really, does it make a difference since everything’s a mess anyway?), pet a cat, and plop on the couch to spend an hour deciding what to watch on netflix.
then spend an hour surfing reddit.
then spend an hour creeping people on facebook and twitter.
then spend an hour finding the best price on an obscure movie i watched 28 years ago.
then time to go to bed, and if i bring my phone, spend another hour on reddit.
what did i accomplish? well, i got my money’s worth of bandwidth from charter.
when did my brain make a switch from thinking reading and writing was fabulous to boring? why will i put down a book to pick up my phone to look at inane stuff that, ultimately, i don’t really care about? image by Audrey Westcott – http://www.studlife.com/author/audreywestcott/
way back in the year 2000, the american psychological association was already studying the effects of internet addiction. this was back when modems, chat rooms, and waiting until after you got home from work to check your personal emails were still a thing. if they were studying it THEN, when every person didn’t have a personal internet machine in his or her pocket, i can only image the effects now.
looking at some more recent coverage, there are some places that actually have internet withdrawal programs.
Bradford Regional Medical Center, has become the first in the U.S. to treat severe Internet addiction through a 10-day inpatient program. Patients admitted to the voluntary behavorial health treatment center must first undergo a “digital detox” that prohibits Internet use for at least 72 hours, followed by therapy sessions and educational seminars to “help them get their Internet compulsion under control.” “Like any other addiction, we look at whether it has jeopardized their career, whether they lie about their usage, or whether it inteferes with relationships,” Young explained. Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) was first coined as a joke by Dr. Ivan Goldberg in 1995.
well har har, dr. ivan. who’s laughing now? not me, that’s for sure. the internet hasn’t jeopardized my career (quite the opposite!), i don’t lie about my usage, and the only relationship MY usage has interfered with is my self relationship (nate’s usage is another story 😉 ).
like all addictive substances, go through withdrawal and then stay away from it. willpower! willpower! but how on earth does a person stay away from the internet this day in age, especially when my job relies on it? it certainly doesn’t help that i’ve probably got a brain that tends toward addiction.
until that day comes, i’ll use that useless, addiction-crazy willpower of mine and attempt to corral my personal usage – attempt being the keyword. i’m not giving up the internet, but i can try to put it in its place. i win, internet. i win.
aaaand it’s the beginning of the new year, where i make my “resolutions” that are more like, hey just do more of what you’re doing. right on. well, it’s nice to have them down, right?
1. take more pics. i say this every year. every year i can take more pics. i don’t think anyone can take too many pics.
2. run a real 10k. as in a chipped race. i’ve run 10k (and it wasn’t fun). but let’s get up to legitimate 10k. then we’ll talk half marathons. first i have to get running again. it’s been a month! icky!
3. make a housing plan. i’m already tired of renting. so are the cats
4. pay off some debt so the housing plan can get together! one plus of renting: cheap.
5. write in my blog every other day at least! that’s asking a lot of myself, i know. i can do every day in november, but to commit year-round is heavy. but i can only try.
ETA: 6. REDDIT LESS. good god, reddit less. ack.
this year, i’m going to cook more stuff that requires some thought, and i’m going to take pictures of it (note my punny LJ title). hopefully by the time christmas rolls around next year, i’ll be able to put together a cookbook of sorts to give to family members. not that all of them would USE it, but it’s the thought that will count, right liz?
the big thing is remembering to take pictures of the stuff i cook. i made a fabulous looking pork roast tonight that would’ve looked divine in a picture and was tasty to boot, and the camera was nowhere near and nate was hungry.
that’s a resolution that i would enjoy and probably follow through with. we’ll see what happens. maybe the HOUSEBLOG turned POLITIBLOG will turn into FOODBLOG.
