groundhogresolutions

Time to review my progress from this past month. This is the 11th annual attempt at creating life-long habits for myself. I’ve discovered that because of the after the end-of-year holidays I am not mentally or physically capable of sticking with resolutions for the upcoming new year. I need a break so I take the whole month of January off to reflect and plan.

Physical
Dance lessons. We’re leaning towards country dancing. I’ll see what I can do to change that.
Kickboxing/sparring: Can you believe my gym has only one class a week? Yep, I call BS too. Guess we’ll have to do this at home.
Disc Golf. Waiting on warmer weather
Yoga/Meditation: Still not a habit but I am enjoying this more. There is a yoga studio nearby and classes at the gym.
All of this with a goal to drop 25 pounds. My motto will be “Eat clean, train mean, get lean”. Three pounds so far. That recent road trip didn’t help.

Technical
Learn Python: Not the data scientist yet but there is some lessons learned.

///Print (“Hello World!”)

Artistical
Sketching, drawing, doodling: learned some tips and tricks on using the Pencil. Shading, pressure, etc. 
Learn Spanish: “Mi nombre es Chris Denbow”
Learn Chinese: “Ni hao, wo de minzi jio Chris Denbow”
Learn to play the ukulele: I picked up the instrument once this month, tuned it and then moved on to something else.

DAM- Digital Asset Management: Progress! The new year allowed me to start fresh, purge and then organize the keepers into months. Granted, only two months but there were a lot of photos so far.
Write short stories. “He had seen a lot of incredible sights when working with his camera over the years. But nothing like this and certainly nothing he wanted to see ever again.”
Write micro fiction: Micro fiction or flash fiction? I’m on the fence as to what to call it. Haven’t done it though.
Work on that novel: Or not. Still overwhelmed.
52 week challenge: Number 9 out of 52 has been completed

Financial:

Order a credit report and start settling some debts for less.This has been done and am currently disputing some items that should not be on there. Got a few knocked off. Yay.
Build credit with a secured credit card: Done!

See you back here on 4/4 for the next review of how I do!

Its that time of year again. The 11th annual attempt at creating life-long habits for myself. I’ve discovered that because of the after the end-of-year holidays I am not mentally or physically capable of sticking with resolutions for the upcoming new year. I need a break so I take the whole month of January off to reflect and plan.

So the kickoff is today on 2/2! My resolutions, goals and life-changing habits are listed below. These are not to be confused with items on my “F*%k It List”.  I will check in every month and then review my progress. Next check-in is on March 3 (3/3). After that will be 4/4, 5/5 and so on. Here we go!

Physical

The immediate goal is to drop 25 pounds quick. Besides the typical
motto of  “Eat clean, train mean, get lean”, I’m throwing in some activities that should help.

• Kickboxing/sparring with Tracy

• Dance lessons. Something fun like Swing? Sexy, like Bachata? We’ll figure it out.
• Disc Golf. Time to get back into it. Less expensive than golf and I don’t have to wear baggy, plaid pants. 
• Yoga/Meditation. I had some moderate usage last year but not enough to form a habit. I did appreciate the quiet time to breathe, relax and focus on nothing.

Technical

• Learn Python. Only one tech goal this year because I get scattered and end up not learning anything. No more. Time to learn and apply data science and machine learning applications.

Artistical

• Sketch/Draw/Doodle. I bought an iPad and pencil last year and I want to be more creative.
• Learn Spanish with Tracy.
• Learn Chinese. For myself. 
• Learn to play the ukulele. I grabbed one late last year but with the holidays in the way it took a back seat. 
• DAM- Digital Asset Management, or, where the hell are my photos from that shoot last month?
• Write short stories. I have a ton of ideas for these.
• Write micro fiction. One hundred word stories.
• Work on that novel. Its been ten plus years and I still can’t get all of this out of my head. 
• 52 week photo challenge. 52 weeks in a year = 52 photos

Financial

• Order a credit report and start settling some debts for less. 2017 was not a good year and it hurt me financially so I am slowly recovering. This year will be dedicated to resolving this and restoring my good name. 
• Build credit with a secured credit card.
• Automate savings and track investments. Yes, there is an app for that and it is called Acorns. 
• Cryptocurrency. This year I will dip a toe into these unknown waters. Bitcoin? Ethereum? Research is crucial here.

Knowing myself all too well, I may end up adding or subtracting this or that. Either way, I’ll check back in here on 3/3 for the first review of how I do!

Time to evaluate my progress for my Groundhog Resolutions, the 10th
annual attempt at creating life-long habits for myself. I’ve discovered
that right after the end of the year holidays I am not mentally or
physically capable of sticking with resolutions for the upcoming new
year. I need a break so I take the whole month of January off to reflect
and plan and start on 2/2 instead of 1/1.

I’ve got one more month (12/12) to wrap all this up until Groundhogs Day 2019.

Fun-

Get another tattoo: Coming soon

More camping: Waiting on warmer weather

More skinny dipping: Think I’ll have to skip that this year

Learn Spanish more fluently: Downloaded the Duolingo app for practice but haven’t used it. Will work with the MissAdventurer

Join a book club: No decent bookclubs around town.

50 Books a year challenge: According to Amazon and the library, I’ve read 46 so far. I’ll share my reading list next month.

Snail mail friend: Fail mail

Volunteer: Who’s got the time?

Fitness-

Kickboxing: The gym offers one class…during the day. One day a week. Fail.

Self-defense: Can’t defend myself. Fail

Yoga: Almost daily. Is it supposed to hurt when I stretch?

More 5 & 10k obstacle course racing: I finished the Warrior Dash again. Next year I want to do a minimum of 3

Consistent training: Working out with Tracy is mutually beneficial. Accountability may be the one thing I needed to maintain this.

Consistent nutritional training: Really been enjoying more meals at home. Eating out is becoming frustrating and disappointing. This is making my decision to eat in easier

Hashing: I’m done for this season. My foot injury sidelined me.

Hiking: I want to explore more but again, foot. Time to hit some light, low elevation trails.

Geocaching: I want to find at least ten more caches before year end. Will I renew my premium membership? Lets find out.

Meditation: Ommm… this has been beneficial but not consistent.

Creative-

Complete my book: I have been enjoying the process so far. It won’t get done this year. There is too much I want to include and that involves more research. Besides…still working on an ending.

Photo essay on a topic I am passionate about: Cold, crisp nights will help me round out my Tulsa After Dark series for the year.

Video log every month: This is so easy and yet it hasn’t been done.

Leave inspirational notes everywhere:

Year in photos album: Cannot wait to see what 2018 memories I’ll have at the EOY.

Shoot more film: Film is a precious commodity. A costly commodity. Sure, the Fuji camera is fun but at almost $1.50 a sheet? I am convinced that I will buy a Canon 35mm soon though. It’ll be cheaper

DAM: I have all the DSLR photos organized into yearly folders. Finally. Now to sort the wheat from the chaff. Oh, and since I shut down Google photos, I need to organize and integrate all these mobile pics from the years too. I just doubled my work!