quasify

This photo pretty much sums up today, the last week for me.

So many things I’ve been meaning to finish that I can’t pull it together to get done.

I’m sorry if I haven’t returned your call or email. It’s not you – I haven’t called anyone back.

Vague objectives for 2012:

• Act purposefully.
• Take initiative for positive change.
• Follow through, finish what you start.
• Faster, move lightly.
• Find professional satisfaction, whatever the means.
• Simplify.

Specific resolutions for 2012:

• Be a better uncle. Be mentally present.
• Six times 26.2.
• One road race every month.
• PR in a half & full.
• Ragnar.
• More reading, less TV.
• Meet or exceed financial goals (finish EF, fund Roth & 25% progress towards house down payment).
• Learn to play guitar, at least one song well.
• Get a frigging tattoo already before someone else steps up to tell you it’s a bad idea.
• Put pieces in place for 2013.

This year has not turned out how I expected to so far. Not even a little bit. I’m not prepared to call the whole year a loss quite yet though – it still holds the promise of massive unrealized potential. Towards that end, resolutions for 2011, as recalled by LZ on the way home from Vermont last weekend:

• Cook 12 guest-worthy dinners
• Hungarian classes
• Run a 1/2 marathon in sub-two hours
• Make (more) short films (24?)
• Rock hard 6-pack abs (I don’t remember adding this one to the list)
• Cleaning weekly
• Salsa lessons
• Global knife
• …Japan…

So there’s that, our dreams for 2011, only somewhat censored for fear of emotional over-extension. Hopefully I’ll have more success with all of these (and the unspoken ones in my head) than I did with last year’s. Best of luck with your own resolutions & lives in general, everyone.

With just under 50 weeks left in the year, I finally get around to resolutions.

1) Run 1000 miles in 2010. That’s 20 miles a week from here on out.
2) Run at least one marathon, and one half.
3) Learn to use external lighting. Buy a secondary light source.
4) Acquire a wide angle lens.
5) Turn my 365 into a 730.
6) Eat better. Embrace my inner Michael Pollan.
7) Run the Ragnar.
8) Make Foss Fest 2010 a financial success.
9) Make Jingle Blast III bigger, better somehow.
10) Finish off everything from last year that got left undone. Specifically discrete objectives 5 through 8. And re-embrace all the vague unmeasurable notions.

I’ve been idly working on a to do list for the greater bay area. Just stuff a person should do while they have the opportunity. Persons briefed on this idea have helpfully suggested a cheap trip to Hawaii from this coast and while I’m sympathetic to the concept this defeats the live local part of my short term goals. So far I’ve got only five items. Any suggestions?

• Visit the Farallones
• Climb Mt. Tamalpais
• Check out Santa Cruz
• Go see Yosemite (*)
• Night photography from Marin

Note that finding the wild parrots is not on the list, but the providence of this semi-random phenomenon is still very much appreciated and was the highlight of today.

After the smashing success of the lowball effort in March, I’m upping the ante in April.
Continue reading April Resolutions

It was pointed out to me recently that I hadn’t made explicit my March resolutions. After the abject failure that was February, I lowered my expectations this month to a single resolution: daily photography. You can see the results thusfar here.

Annual resolutions don’t do it for me, I can’t follow through. For 2007 I decided to do all my resolutions on a month-by-month basis. Here’s my top four for the short cold month of February.

1) To bed by 10pm twice a week.

2) 10 new job applications.

3) 4 grants.

4) 1 paying design gig.