Before we move forward, let’s see how I did with 2010 goals, shall we?
Goals for 2010: 6 out of 10
1. SUCCESS: Lacto-vegetarian Tuesdays. I totally rocked that. Sure, there were some accidental lapses and a few intentional ones, curiously some of those cases involved bacon. But more or less, I did REALLY good. And I even threw in no alcohol to that mix. So yay me!
2. FAIL: One hour of piano/guitar/singing, twice a month. Another victim of my television habit.
3. SUCCESS: Keep up with Italian. Still going strong despite feeling like the village idiot in class. The joy of learning the third language on your second one.
4. FAIL: Work out at least once a week. HAHAAHAHHAHAHAH …nope.
5. FAIL: Read at least one book a month. 8 out of 12 and two of those are graphic novels. So yeah, I cheated a little bit. I didn’t do so well this year because I rocked #6. And I got stuck trying to get through “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “The Zombie Survival Guide” when I should’ve given up and moved on. The sad reading list looks like this:
- Serenity: Better Days #1 (Comic book)
- Serenity: Those Left Behind (Comic book)
- Angel Time – Anne Rice – the first book I ever hate
- New Classic Family Dinners – Mark Peel – Read it but haven’t cooked all of it.
- Dead Until Dark – Charlaine Harris
- Room – Emma Donoghue [ETA: Totally forgot to mention]
- Delivering Happiness – Tony Hsieh
- Naked Heat – “Richard Castle”
6. SUCCESS: Finish reading the magazines as they arrive. And that’s why it eats into #5 goal a little bit. I usually read my book before I go to bed so I’d bring in the magazines some nights instead. Someone was laughing at me that I couldn’t finish reading a magazine in a few hours. Unlike other people, I *do* really read my magazines, getting my money’s worth. Entertainment Weekly gets read the day it arrives, except the big issues. Food & Wine gets in the next few days as well and will get another going-through when I sift through them later to pull out recipes. WIRED and Self also get read cover to cover but over a longer period of time, in that order.
7. FAIL: Do my household paperwork on early day from the office. Not so much. I found myself using that time for something else like catching up to the DVR. Again, another victim to a television habit.
8. PARTIAL SUCCESS: Eat breakfast everyday. Not very consistent here, but I did make an effort to do so.
9. PARTIAL SUCCESS: Take a crack at National Novel Writing Month. Another weak yes. I did it but didn’t accomplish it.
10. SUCCESS: Keep up with what’s working. Starbucks and lunch out once a week for most of the year.
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Goals for 2011
Less ambition! More routine setting!
Well, a lot of the failures last year has to do with bad television habit. It’s like a vicious cycle. If I don’t watch the show(s) that night, then I’d have to sacrifice another night to catch up and therefore losing time. ETC. Hopefully, I have come up with a good solution.
Here goes!
1. 12 books a year. One of these years I’m going to be able to manage this! Already have some books lined up to get read:
- Full Dark, No Stars: Stephen King
- Side Jobs: Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden short stories
- Emperor of Maladies: Siddhartha Mukherjee
These will be alternating some what with a bunch of cookbooks I haven’t read yet, and the three newest edition.
- Momofuku: David Chang — this has more stories than recipe!
- Ad Hoc At Home: Thomas Keller
- Fiesta at Rick’s: Rick Bayless
2. Play piano/guitar/sing on Sundays after dinner for an hour. More manageable and a set schedule on the least busy night of the week.
3. Eat a salad a week…Vegan Tuesdays don’t count! Trying to add more vegetables into the diet here. And yes, I switched from calling it meatless or vegetarian Tuesdays because I also don’t eat eggs. That just throw people the hell off for some reason.
4. Catch up on DVR on Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekends (Friday is flexible). This doesn’t mean no television on any other night. We will still watch a show with dinner, but I will not linger on the couch and watch everything else on the DVR every night of the week. Tuesdays, since I already can’t have meat or alcohol, I’ve gotta have me one of my vices!
5. Cook one new recipe a month…and blog it! This could be a total disaster, but it’ll keep me on schedule at least. Especially with all the cookbooks I have/want to read.
6. Wednesday Date Night. We MUST establish a day or it never happens! LOL
7. If the hair needs a wash, work out! With much hair, I am not going back to washing it daily. No way in hell! So, if it’s the pony tail day, it’s a work out day. And by work out, I mean doing something active. Like going for a walk or go to yoga class, or doing some mini workouts with the weights I have sitting on the bathroom floor before hitting the shower.
8. Write every week day on the way to work. It’s proven over November during NaNoWriMo that I *can* write on the bus on the way to work without getting motion sick! The route is pretty straight on and the traffic is never too staccato. And I don’t really miss the morning nap that much. That’s an hour of productive time I can have. And I should use it!
9. A secret goal. If you want to know, you’ll have to ask me personally. 😉
10. Keep up with past success. Weekly Starbucks and lunch out; Vegan & Dry Tuesdays; Italian lessons; Reading magazines as they arrive; and participating in NaNoWriMo.
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So those are mine. What is/are your goals?
OK my goals, a bit more “me” oriented, but that’s because I am not married:
1) Lose 20 lbs. Really. I might be doing lap band to get rid of my fat ass once and for all.
2) Double the value of my stock market portfolio (I did that this year, hopefully will again.
3) Get in on the IPO of Groupon if that happens (That’ll make #2 a sure thing!)
4) Keep my house in better order. Make it look more like a home, and less like Baghdad inside.
5) Get that BMW X5 Diesel I’m drooling over (dependent on #2 🙂
6) More chicks (Well Duh, can’t stay single forever!!)
7) I’m gonna wash that grey right outta my hair
Not too shabby, Oakley! You’ll have to tell me about your secret goal when I’m accomplishing one of mine – riding the bus consistently 🙂
Oh, my…you have enough ambition & energy for a [scary] forest full of oak-monsters.
My quite modest goal is to complete the Foreign Service Institute’s “Thai Basic” course. I’m talking about the online course available at fsi-language-courses.org
Whew! Much easier said than done, I’m sure.
Happy New Year to you & your family. We really enjoy reading your blog & we like your photos, too. Wishing you all the best for 2011!
Vic: You can doo eet! And why wash the gray out, man? It adds character. I’m keeping mine and looking forward to one day having hair like X-Men’s Rogue. 😉
Amanda: I emailed you about #9.
Ken: Thanks for stopping by as always. Good luck with your Thai class! I’m slow going with Italian, but then again, I’m not in that big a rush. 🙂
I’ve been trying to get back into the groove of cooking. I’ll be keeping an eye for goal #5 for inspiration.
Catalina: Good luck! I keep surprising myself how much fun I have in the kitchen. I’ve gotta do it more often! 🙂