2008 Redux

The goal for this year was, of course, to go back over the previous years and work on all the resolutions I never managed to complete.  Here is the annotated list:

1. Go back to Australia… even if I have to sell my blood to do it
   I did it!  From July 17 to August 6 I went back to Oz to visit some old friends!  I had many good times, but I missed my friend Elle, my friend Adriano, and had to miss a philosophy of biology conference in order to do it.  Still: Done and well worth it.
2. Read my weight in books
   Do articles count?  Because otherwise I failed at this one miserably.  I’ll modify it and try again in 2009.
3. Go to at least one concert, one roadtrip, one vacation, one date, move twice, and talk to at least three strangers
   I went to the Magnetic Fields on October 12 with my friends Adelay, Heather, and Russ!
   I drove to Seattle, back to New Mexico, to North Carolina, to DC a few times, and just finished a tour of Pennsylvania!
   I vacationed in Mexico for six weeks and Australia for three!  (Guess which one was much, much cheaper?  Even discounting airfare, too.)
   I went on 1.5 dates with girls I never saw again!  Then, I possibly kissed 3 girls in unrelated events (not in a row, obviously).
   I moved to Seattle in February, back to New Mexico in March, and to North Carolina in August!
   I talk to strangers regularly!  Only I call them my friends.  Also, I don’t really understand why this was ever a resolution.  Maybe I meant something hidden by it back in the day, I don’t remember.
4. Finish the Great American Novel
   Still working on it.  But now I have both ideas and inspiration.  No time, though.
5. Save someone’s life
   I prevented someone from being born, punched a fat person (but didn’t press too many charges), and did an “It’s a Wonderful Life“-style thing for someone.  I also gave great advice and was a pretty good friend to some people.  All told: I’m okay with not doing this one.
6. Buy furniture, even if it’s just a bean bag
   I sleep in a $1000 bed every night.  It is so comfortable!
7. Memorize five more poems, pi, or learn the nations of the world
   I’ll do this later?
8. Paint/fix my car
   I worked on fixing my car and added some minute bits of paint to it.  Sum total: I’ll probably never make it pristine until I try to sell it later.
9. Make a new true friend, but be a good friend to all the old
   Sort of success.  I told someone they were my friend for the year and they called me a serial killer.  Which is one of the nicer things people have said to me, considering.  And I still love all my friends from the past, even if it is very hard to talk to them with any regularity!
10. Probably something having to do with women… or cantaloupe
    Frankly, that sounds kind of gross now that I think back on it.  But everyone loves Pixel for some reason and Pixel feels an odd sense of confidence now, so he wins.  Yey!
11. Produce a comic… or at least paint something
    I did!  I made a bunch!  As soon as I have time and patience and contentment with a job well done, I will make them all fabulous and put them up online.
12. Buff out
    Nope, but then again, I JUST got my bike and gym membership, so… since they were a big part of my original plan, I predict success pretty soon.
13. Get a job
    I tutored in Maths for a while back in March, and it was fun!  But then resolution 14 got in the way and I had to quit.
14. Be a grad student
    This was scary for a little while……  But I DID IT!
15. Sell my car / buy a new one
    I like my car!  I’m hoping it lasts another 120,000 miles!
16. Help my cousin emigrate
    I tried, believe me.  But bureaucracy needs time, you know?  Still: it would have been so complicated for a few months were she here.
17. Write 100 works of necroautobiographical microfiction
    I wrote 4.  But I got a cool program that might help me.
18. _______________ Audience may fill in the blank here.
    You never did!

So I accomplished 12 out of 18.  Of the rest, I still want to do 4.  So I accomplished two thirds of my goals and only still care about two thirds of the rest!

I’d call this year a success.  At least on paper.  How did you do?

The goal for this year was, of course, to go back over the previous years and work on all the resolutions I never managed to complete.  Here is the annotated list: Go back to Australia… even if I have to sell my blood to do it I did it!  From July 17 to August 6…