New Years Resolutions 2014


SuaveStar

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1. I bought an elliptical, use it: Pretty self-explanitory. I bought a brand new elliptical on a ridiculous deal on Boxing Day, it currently sits in front of my TV in my living room. I said for years if I had a treadmill or something similar in front of my TV I'd be a fit man, time to put myself to the test on that,

Started well, has fallen off in the last bit, it's still here, sadly currently doubling as a coat rack. Should probably fix that.

2. No soda until April At Least: Last year I successfully swore off non-diet soda, this year I swear off the rest of it. To make this a less daunting goal I plan to go out with a bang this coming weekend (friend of mine is coming up from the States with a case of Cherry Coke, after that, nothing at least until Anime Detour the first weekend of April. Between this and the elliptical, see how I'm feeling, and if I can go forward without it I will.

Success in that I made it to Detour. Failure in that I snapped back largely to my pre-2012 cola intake.

3. Anime Detour and C2E2 happen this year: I have the time booked off work for both of them. For Detour I have my admission and all but $40 paid for hotel. Still need to book my flight and pay my share of the hotel but I got 3 paydays in January and only pay half rent so I'm hoping I can get that sorted quickly. There is no reason I shouldn't be able to do this.

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Yep.

4. Continue to manage money well: I had some positive steps last year but I want to be able to not be completely paycheck to paycheck or desperately awaiting payday like I had in some previous years. I would also like to not squander my tax return like last year (towed car + impulse $300 anime buy kind of ruined that).

5. A Little more serious on the job search front: This is likely something I will be looking to more after April (due to the fact I have already booked off time for the 2 April vacations). Due to a variety of factors my current place of employment has seen business go down considerably since summer of this year. Many were laid off (I made the cut, hell I was named Employee of the Year), the rest are faced with reduced hours (I have been lucky enough to have faced only a 5-10% decrease in hours). As a result, it may be in my best interest to look elsewhere. Hopefully things turn around, but if not I will look into new jobs (be it other call centre work, or perhaps something that would put my Journalism diploma to full use).

Lumping these two together. I quit my job at E-Care in June due to the ceiling firmly being hit there and moved to another call centre, Mogo, at the suggestion of a friend, one of the supervisors there (Colin of The Oratory Forums infamy). It was a paycut, but there was a lot of overtime available and it appeared room for improvement as well. With the exception of a small number of people it was bad there, and the shifts were worse. It wasn't long before I was missing shifts due to sleep deprivation and on prescription drugs which I hated taking. I was also delayed my start by two weeks, which resulted in me using the retirement savings I had built up (which in all reality amounted to the equivalent of a paycheck) to cover that time. I then switched jobs and am now an elctronics/appliance salesman at Leon's. I am trying to get out of this job soon too and have interviewed elsewhere. Mainly because this is a commission job and business has been terrible. As a result of all this (and maybe going a little too gung ho on my vacations) my finances are not what I want them to be.

Despite not making my resolutions I still feel I had a good year, lots of great memories on the vacations, despite not landing where I want to be I'm happy I am progressing in finding my proper career, oh and my now-girlfriend and I have been together "officially" 9 months and I could not be happier (seriously, a girl that is as big of a hockey and anime nerd as I am, sign me up).

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1) Gym or run at least once a week - I have equipment and membership and they need to be used!

2) Half marathon in September - gotta have a goal. I've done them before and this time I want a time below 2 hours

3) Stick to saving plan so that we might be able to buy a house

4) Cook more - don't be a lazy tosser

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-Continue to work on my cooking skills, and maybe find a way to monetize them

-Attempt to pay off at least three cards this year

-Try to work on not living paycheck to paycheck at the new job

-Work on traveling more, I have the time off to enable it

-Look at what it would take to go back to school to get a degree in counseling, I have heard from literally all corners in the last few weeks that I'd be fantastic at it

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1: Finish the jigsaw I was working on. I started a 300 piece puzzle, and I am going to finish it at some point.

2: Save money.

3: Try and not eat as much fast food.

4: Sort of get an order to my life. It's an ongoing thing, but who knows, maybe this year, I can do it.

5: Play and complete all my games. I have a lot of games thanks to PSPlus and PSN sales, but now I really feel like I need to complete the ones I've purchased. It's not a big list, but it's something I've been meaning to do.

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1. Up my reading goal to one "fun" book a month, in addition to my school reading.

2. Train for the half marathon, no time goal, just to finish it. Also, try to finish a 5k in 20 minutes or less.

3. Save money

4. Eat better, not to lose weight (if anything I should put on a few pounds), but just less soda and fried food and more salads.

5. Spend less free time in front of a computer screen and more time doing something productive, whether it be writing, filmmaking, etc. Rather than spending an hour a day on the internet, try to reduce this to maybe just a few hours a week at most.

6. Learn the guitar.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Now that my exams are over, it finally feels like 2014 has begun! So here are mine:

Increase running programme: For my 5k training, I got up to 3 half hour runs a week. Firstly, I need to get back to that level, but after that, I want to get up to hour-long runs 3 times a week. Maybe with an eye to increasing that and aiming for a 10k event, but regular hour long runs is an achievable goal.

Cut down on the casual drinking: Starting next week, I'm going to aim not to bring cans of beer back to Biddlestone Towers unless a) I'm celebrating something, b) I have guests coming round, or c) I'm recording a podcast.

More podcasting(!): I now have two ongoing monthly podcasts as well as my Comic Reel-lief duties. I have at least two further Comic Reel-lief lists episodes (with different people in mind *tease*) in mind and I think there are only 3 Dread Reel-lief's left in the pipeline. But I want to try and get back to reviewing every CBM as they come out in the cinema rather than leave them to the end of year/new year preview episode (which I'm currently producing - should be ready next week). Even if it means paying to go and see Michael Bey's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Comic Reel-lief remains my favourite creative output and it seems weird that I wouldn't indulge myself doing that more often!

Scrimp, save and smarten up: My finances are currently plateauing and I need them to turn an upward curve. Reduced drinking and walking to work wherever possible will help in the short term, but now that I'm about 1/3 way through my quest to become a qualified lawyer, I need to put in the graft to justify asking for more of a salary increase. I don't try to play the poverty card too much (online at least) but my rent is a good third of my take home pay and I'm currently paying off my Masters degree, which eats into what I can afford. Aside from an extended house-sitting trip to Fort Wilson over Easter, I have no holidays planned - C2E2 is definitely a no-go this year, sorry - and would prefer to get as much out of this year in Newcastle as I can (on the cheap!). Plus, it's my best friend from uni's wedding/stag do in 2015 and I'll need something in the coffers for that.

Join a writer's group: I want to start developing my writing. For some reason, I find it difficult to write articles for websites for both time and effort reasons. I was very much encouraged by the response to my speech at Pandy's wedding, which I pitched quite a few notches below a roast but enough to get in a few playful digs and generally charm a room. Now, I don't exactly expect to go from that to some kind of after-dinner circuit, but I'd like to be pointed in the right direction, either in writing humour, fiction or anecdotally about my Museum Tour. Speaking of which...

Get my Museum project off the ground: An immediate priority is to get caught up in wiritng up my physical journal, as some museums have been waiting since early July 2013 to be inducted. Thanks to my note-taking/photos/memory/quiet 2013 in terms of memorable incidents, I don't think too much of my Tour has been deleted through drink-affected brain cell loss, but I'm setting myself the target of writing up some 11-12 museums by the end of February. After that, I need to get the entries digitised, and added to my cruelly neglected blog. I want to get that turned into a website of sorts, whilst still seeking out new museums - I'm due to hit Museum 200 sometime this year. It's a tall order, especially if I'm restricting my budget, but I need to show proper commitment to it if it's going to work.

I reckon that's enough to be going on with!

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  • 2 months later...

1: Finish the jigsaw I was working on. I started a 300 piece puzzle, and I am going to finish it at some point. Put it away, I will finish this. Somehow.

2: Save money. Ongoing, but now with some plans in place.

3: Try and not eat as much fast food. Working well, so far.

4: Sort of get an order to my life. It's an ongoing thing, but who knows, maybe this year, I can do it. Again, slow but steady progress.

5: Play and complete all my games. I have a lot of games thanks to PSPlus and PSN sales, but now I really feel like I need to complete the ones I've purchased. It's not a big list, but it's something I've been meaning to do. Spyro 1 and Crash Bandicoots on PS1 completed!

It's time for a quarterly check up.

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