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.
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).
