new year

[nonotyet]

In which, as seems to happen every year, we talk about New Year's plans and resolutions and etcetera.

Here is my list of resolutions:

1. Stop reading Thought Catalog.

[Chet]

i'm stuck out in a village full of old people so i will probably either stay in or go to the pub with my dad and his girlfriend.

staying in seems like the most appealing option right now.

[elpollodiablo]

In which, as seems to happen every year, we talk about New Year's plans and resolutions and etcetera.

Here is my list of resolutions:

1. Stop reading Thought Catalog.

Thesis of current post: People like girls

[YojimboMonkey]

I am going to a party, same party I go to every year, same people, etc. Boring, but the beer will be good. And there's always the remote possibility that someone will get very drunk and take off their clothes, which is fun. Might be me this year, who knows.  Anyway, I saw a recipe for bacon bourbon jam the other day & thought that would be good for the party, gonna cook that and get a couple baguettes, etc.

but you want new years resolutions, not party plans right? fuck, I dunno, brew more beer I guess?

[nonotyet]

but you want new years resolutions, not party plans right?

Both, or either!

[Bernard]

Plans made in 2011 for 2012

1. 25 real push-ups by the time I turn 40 (in March) -- have not checked yet to see if this is feasible.
2. Finish thesis -- this has to happen one way or another.
3. Shoot with every camera in the house.
4. Read something not school-related.
5. Learn to sew darts.
6. Knit a Silver Song: http://sixandahalfstitches.typepad.com/65st_patterns/
7. Move out of my mother-in-law's house.
8.
9.
10.

Leaving a few blank in case I want to poach ideas from you guys.

[Ashley]

my plan was to be in toronto so i could go to a rad toronto party, but i'm poor so i'm probably just going to eat take out and drink beer and watch star trek.

this is what i do most new years eves.

i think my new years resolution will to be to budget grocery money better.  i think i can spend a lot less on food and still eat well.  i also want to audit a poetry class / get more involved in universities outside my own.  and knit things.

mostly the grocery money thing though.

[elpollodiablo]

We aren't really doing anything. Might go out for a nice dinner, then over to a friend's place in town. They have a five yr old son and so it won't be too crazy. Drinking a lot of craft beer and cocktails, I should imagine.

I'm going to go down a shirt size this year.

[jebreject]

I think I want to stay in. After last year's NYE, I don't need to go out for like ten years probably.

Resolutions:

Re-join gym, get back into (better) shape
Meditate every day
Practice mindfulness
Cut down on internet usage
Finish the comic I started making like two years ago
Write more
Read more
Eat better
Stay posi

[hannah]

OK, 2012:

- Make a lot of little shorts, like the ones I did in Russia.
- Swim.
- Translate Russian articles regularly.
- Save money.
- Get more involved with union stuff.
- Watch movies.
- Be less anxious.

Oh and here are my resolutions from last year, and then my commentary on 'em from May, and then my commentary on them from now:

Consumption:
- Ideally, have it average out to about one movie/day. More likely, aim for 300 movies. Finally watch some of those canonical films I've been avoiding all these years.
- For every academic tome consumed, read a novel. For every academic article, read a poem.
- Watch a lot of basketball.

- I've only seen about 70 features so far this year, plus a ton of shorts. Not exactly on track for 300. I'll live.
- Read a bunch of novels, though. Not many poems.
- Watch some basketball.

- I saw about 175 features this year, give or take.
- Read a shit-ton of novels, very few poems.
- Watched only a bit of basketball. I did read Halberstam's The Breaks of the Game, though. Surely that should count for something.

Creation:
- Finish the animated short I'm working on.
- Do something involving this and this.
- Screen print some t-shirts.

- Aiming to finish the animation this summer.
- Wrote a paper about it! And working on a second.
- No t-shirts just yet.

- Finished animation, still no t-shirts.

Self:
- Be good about studying Russian (do daily grammar drills, listen to Russian radio, get drunk and practice speaking, continue/get more serious about translation projects).
- Play basketball. Take up swimming?
- Remain a vegetarian.
- If I don't get into a Russian summer program, get some sort of nannying gig.
- Save money.
edit: and bike more.

- Going to Russia in one month!
- Biking, but no basketball or swimming just yet.
- Remaining a vegetarian until I go to Russia. Then it's bear meat all day, all the time.
- Saving money!

- Went to Russia. Translated stuff since I got back.
- Biking a little. Swimming to start in January.
- Resumed vegetarianism upon arriving in Russia.
- Kinda saved money.

[milly balgeary]

Oh man I was just talking about resolutions with a friend. She said that they were setting yourself up to fail. I disagree! Sort of.

1. Do the tough mudder in (I think) May in MN with my fireman buddy and his friends -- http://toughmudder.com/ --- I am in fairly good shape, at least as far as my cardio goes, but I don't think I'm ready for this yet. I run 6 miles per day, which took me a while to build up to, and I've run 9 miles before, and I've done the p90X. I was gonna start doing the P90X-2 and in preparation ordered medicine balls, a stability ball, a foam roller, etc, for myself for XMAS. But I'm sick so I won't start till this coming Monday. I think in 5 months I'll be more than ready to do the tough mudder. I HOPE.
2. I want to finish my animated TV show pilot by March (my bday).
3. I'd like to stop watching TV and downloading TV and movies and whittling away time on the Internet, and just go to movies every once in a while. I'm not into facebook or anything like that, anyway, which is where seemingly most people whittle away their time - but somehow I manage to blow oodles of time just staring at the Internet. I don't know if I'm waiting for it to reveal a secret or what.
4. I want to incorporate better things into my diet. Well, I've started doing this already, but I want to keep on track better. That means more broccoli. Drat.

[Greg Nog]

I was gonna start doing the P90X-2

I'd be really curious to hear how this is.  I liked the first version, but I have downstairs neighbors and am worried about there being more plyometrics-type stuff in version 2.

Also this is my favorite broccoli recipe, though I usually leave out the pine nuts and basil.

[dumbfish]

The Krispy Kreme Callenge is probably the only organized race I'll ever run.

[milly balgeary]

I was gonna start doing the P90X-2

I'd be really curious to hear how this is.  I liked the first version, but I have downstairs neighbors and am worried about there being more plyometrics-type stuff in version 2.

Also this is my favorite broccoli recipe, though I usually leave out the pine nuts and basil.

My buddy Joe is doing it. He started Monday. The Ply, he said, is the Rough Stuff. I think there's at least one really nasty Ply workout. He lives in an apartment and he said it shakes the room. Other than that, lots of balance stuff... pushups on medicine balls. Tony Horton is apparently far less annoying on this one, but some lady in one of the days is really annoying.

I'm hitting that broccoli straight. One big sprout per day, raw. I'm treating it like medicine.

[Bernard]

No need to bang on about how resolutions are dumb or don't work or whatever, just list them.

1. Work transverse abdominals. Need to do this to prevent back pain from lifting baby.
2. Read 50 pages or 20 min/night, whichever comes first. Barely read at all last year.
3. Less procrastinating, more methodical work. Have to stop pulling all-nighters when not strictly necessary.
4. Play more music for the baby. She loves it, and I've let the lack of proper stereo equipment/access to my music (all CDs & lps in storage) upend my former habits of choosing the right music for waking, having breakfast, cooking, reading, drawing, etc. throughout the day.
5. Knit, sew, or work on whatever current hobby is 2x/week. This is also about being methodical rather than always working in bursts, also it's about not having a pile of stuff that needs to be hemmed.
6. Shoot film daily. Have to keep developing my eye.
7. Write daily. Have to keep developing my ear.
8. Some form of exercise daily, even if it's just walking down the block to the supermarket. Have to keep developing my lungs.
9. Cook weekly once school starts (I cook regularly when school's out, need to keep up with it when the workload gets heavier). Have to keep developing my tongue.
10. Do all exercises in 'Learning to Draw on the Right Side of the Brain." Have to keep developing my spirit.

Well, I didn't exactly do any of these. But I did knit, sew, and shoot film a fair bit, and I did get more serious about exercise, such that I lost about 10 pounds and gained what passes for "quite a bit of muscle" on my soft, motherly body. I find I often feel up my muscles, these days. It's just so fascinating to have any at all -- I've never had them before. I used to have to just pour myself down the stairs like a mug of jelly.

[elpollodiablo]

No need to bang on about how resolutions are dumb or don't work or whatever, just list them.

[elpollodiablo]

-5mi on bike at least 3 times/week
-Cook more. Like, all the time. We got a Crockpot and a baking stone for Xmas, and I plan to use em.
-Read, read, read. Won't have a choice about this. I'd also like to learn to read faster, but that's not super likely. It takes me at least an hour to knock out 50 pages, pretty much regardless of the material.
-Learn more about coffee & beer.
-Get better at making both coffee & beer.
-German, 20 mins/day.

Arguably I totally accomplished 1, 3, 4 & 5. Didn't lose any weight, but I guess I'm marginally healthier. Didn't study, like, any German.

[mixed cats]

CONSUMPTION!
-read 25 books and watch 25 new movies.
-make all the food.

MAKING THINGS!
-keep giving away stash items that I will never use.
-use what I have before buying something new when possible (this is never possible re: black sewing thread)
-Finish one thing every week even if it is terribly small; work on larger projects regularly
-DRAW.

SELF!
-make a more concerted effort to do that city/museum thing (it's actually been happening regularly since October, but the train fare hikes suck)
-have been going to culturalappropriationwhitepeopleyoga 2-5x/week since August. Keep doing that. It makes me feel awesome.
-Possibly shimmy-shimmy-cocoa puffs into size 10 jeans (am 12/14 now, low goals here folks)

I read 22 new books plus seven rereads. I only saw 18 new to me movies, mostly because I devoted my Netflixing to the X Files and Doc Martin.
I made a shitload of stuff. Dyed something like 200 scarves. Filled up two sketchbooks. Sewed a bunnnnnch of stuff. I'm not sure if I hit the exact 50 crafts goal the way I was counting, but, hey, 200 scarves. (I have made four things since the beginning of October.) gave away some stuff too. But I bought a lot of dyes. And scarves.
Didn't do the museums thing. Constant yoga. I got into medium tops and I have a pair of 10 jeans, but they were never super comfortable. Now it doesn't matter because I don't fit comfortably in a goddamn thing and am sad I gave away some of my bigger clothes, ughhhhh

I guess the 2012 goals are, uh
Don't kill anyone over pre-baby bullshit
Do not drop baby
Quit job, do art

[Bernard]

Ha, I remember nearly jumping over a register to strangle somebody who told me it was a hot day and I should stay hydrated so I don't go into early delivery.

[mixed cats]

My MIL wanted to go start registries at Target and Babies R Us the weekend before Christmas

[Chet]

I have set the pretty lofty and ambitious resolution of not drinking at all next year, it's not like I have a drinking problem at all; I probably average 1-2 times a month, but pretty much everytime I drink I blackout. One time this year I managed to make like 6 mile walk home and not remember any of it. That scares the shit out of me.

Also going to start jogging again,
and writing
and no more than one take away a month.

Oh and I have my travel plans.

also actually finish my first year of school with at least a 2:1

[Bernard]

Good goals! What is a 2:1?

[Trousers and Pat]

I'll be cleaning my apartment because I move on the 1st :/

[clare]

resolutions: drink more scotch; do the exercises my physio prescribed yesterday; get some actual exercise; be less of a cow to my children and husband. That'll do for now.

not going well on the scotch front, but the exercise ones are going better. I do my physio exercises almost daily, and I've been getting other aerobic exercise at least 2-3 days a week. In addition, I joined weight watchers and I've lost almost 10kilos (well, I did lose 10k, but then put on another .5 again over Easter when I wasn't exercising). I've also failed on my third point, sadly, but it's good to remember about it.

I got better at drinking the scotch, but I could drink more. I've lost 19kilos now, which is about right. Now that I've lost it I can really think about some form of organised exercise. i still do the ones for my neck and hips pretty regularly. Still failing at the last one.

So, for this year - exercise. A friend gave me a 30 day free gym pass which has to be activated by 31st of Jan, and will let me see how E copes with the childcare at the gym. If he goes OK I plan to go to 2-3 classes a week. I also got my bike good to go again, and I need to get the trailer fixed so that I can ride with E, and we can all go on our bikes together. Seriously considering some counselling/parenting courses to get me back on track with my boys this year. It's going badly, and I'd like it to be better.

[edison]

I'll be cleaning my apartment because I move on the 1st :/

So where are you moving?