What did I do with my life?

2012 has been and gone, but I haven't got round to checking up on where I ended up with all my resolutions from the start of that year.  Here goes:

Constantly measure and improve
Sort of.  But not properly.  I'd check back in on my resolutions from time to time, but not in a very orderly way.  On  the other hand, I've got addicted to collecting data about my running - I think that shows I need better ways to track what I'm doing in other parts of my life (there's no GPS sensor for comedy).  Not sure what those are.

Comedy
To be honest, not as regular as I'd have liked.  I suppose by the end of 2011 I was a little burned out, but it's taken me a while to get back on in Singapore, and I'm not on stage as often as I'm accustomed to.  That said, 2012 was the first year ever that I made it to the finals, and it was that bit more special because it was in front of the biggest audience of my life.

Keep writing
Well, a blog every day, just about (there's one confused, jetlagged/timelapsed gap when we were in  Canada) but to make up for it I posted a few times on my other blog (principally to try to quarantine some of the oh-my-god-I'm-so-sweaty posts from this blog to avoid alienating my readers). I made it all the way through Blogalongabond, although I dread the day that Bond 24 is announced and we go through it again.

Finish things
Mixed success for this one: in January I already had the Kindle version of Diet Croydon completed and put out into the world, and the rabbit noir video had a (imperfect) dub.  But I didn't really get anywhere with The Great Old Game in 2012; I need to put more focus into finishing it, and then polishing it.  Right now it feels like I did too much the other way round, if I did anything at all.

Keep fit
Success! I put in a decent time in the Osaka marathon, and ended the year with lots more running shoes than I started it.  I had some sort of epiphany in 2012 and realised that I do much better if I don't carry my ipod with me when I'm running.  Although I also do better if I don't get lost and walk for miles around Singapore, sweaty and confused.

Keep in contact
Massive failure here, I think.  I think I was much worse at writing postcards by the end of the year than the start.  Certainly something to improve for 2013.

Learn to dance
Well, I bought Dance Central for the Xbox.  That's got to count for something, right?  No.  Oh well.

Learn to speak a foreign language
Que?

Meditate and count my blessings
When I did meditate, I was a lot calmer and more focussed.  Perhaps because I drink too much caffeine or I'm distracted, I didn't meditate enough.  As my wise friend Toby said, you should meditate for half an hour every day, unless you don't have the time, in which case you should meditate for an hour every day.  Must try to keep a bit calmer in 2013.

I think that's 2 goals completed, and two half complete, so call that a 1 in 3 success rate.  Ever so slightly better than 2011 though.

Resolutions for 2013

It's early evening on the 1st of January, the golden light of sunset is dappling the walls of our apartment, and I'm recovering from our very long walk around MacRitchie Reservoir. It's the time of the year when I set out my resolutions. 2013 is going to be the year of the Snake, and funnily enough, six of these resolutions sssstart with a ssssSssss. Sssspooky, eh?

Crying all the way home

At about twenty miles into the marathon, I felt my eyes begin to well up with tears. This wasn't wholly unexpected: in my first marathon, I was beset by violent mood swings at about that point too. (Perhaps that was partly rage and frustration at having to run past a bunch of ugly concrete and shipping containers, when the first half of the race was in a beautiful fjord.)

2012 progress report - May

So as we rapidly rush to the end of the fifth month of the year, it's time to survey my resolutions once again, just like I did every month. Except for April. And March. Ah well. 3 out of 5 isn't bad, right?

2012 progress report - February

So here it is Christmas February the 29th, and what have you done?  Another month over, and tum te tum te tum...

It's strange being in Singapore; somebody struck up a conversation with me today while I was urinating, and I'm not used to being approached mid-stream, as it were.  What do you say?  "Hmm, enjoying your micturation?  Fairly satisfied with your kidneys' abilities to filter out toxins from your body?" I ended up pointing out my worry that we were already two months through the year, which led to him suggesting that resolutions are pointless, and that when it comes to NYE 2012, I should expect to recall this conversation.  Which is nice...

2012 progress report

Sat in the lounge at Hong Kong airport, waiting for a plane to take me away to London, it's time to reflect on the month so far. I'm only 24 days into the year so it feels a little premature to think about resolutions, but it's good to take the opportunity when it's available.

Resolutions for 2012

So another year goes by, and it's time to review how I did against the resolutions I made, back here.

Another year past

And so we shuffle towards the end of 2011, a little closer to it in Hong Kong than I'd been in Indonesia, and a lot earlier than London and other points west...

What The Osaka Marathon Taught Me

Running the Osaka Marathon, and then recovering for the last few days, has given me plenty of time to reflect. Here's what I think I've learned:

Lower resolutions

Carry on writing - still here, still going.
Get married - cake is nailed down. Well, not literally. That would make an ungodly mess.
Read all the books, watch all the DVDs - sort of bumbling through. Finally watched The Secrets In Their Eyes last week (bought it for my better half for Christmas, so that took over six months to get to
Keep tidy - we moved the furniture around the living room, which makes the place look more tidy. However, now the television is ten feet away from the sofa, I'm going blind squinting at it
Stay below 12 stone, run some races - still below 12 stone, still not racing. I could start posting about the joy of going to the gym and sweating a lot, but I don't think that would make for fascinating reading
Redraft The Great Old Game - opened it, made some changes, partly convinced myself it wasn't terrible. Went to see an exhibition on the King of Kowloon that maybe counts as research
Spanish - nada. Maybe if I knew where the library was I could translate phrases like donda est biblioteca.
Dancing I thought I had learned to dance. Then everyone laughed at me, I got in a huff. Oh well.
Keep in touch - May letter written in May
Photo every day - moving swiftly on...
Finish things properly - It's been over a month without me doing anything to edit together the Rabbit film, or write any more script. So that's a bit crap. On the positive side, I finally have an alarm clock after three years of living in Hong Kong, I've built a whole new advice machine (although that isn't quite finished yet because I forgot to complete the share buying module), I'm keeping up with Blogalongabond and I won a prize for a fancy dress competition, using only 9 dollars worth of bandages.

So... progress has stalled a bit. Some of the things that were doing well are doing worse.

I'm adding another resolution to the list. I'm not going to play any games on the Xbox this month. After wasting two entire days riding imaginary motorcycles around simulated tracks, when I could have been reading, writing or practicing arithmetic, pointlessly collecting imaginary trophies when I could have been peering at the one I love or teasing the cat with a piece of string, when I was engaged in monotonous repetitive activity when I could have ... when I could have been filling in my tax return - well, enough is enough. No more gumpfing around with the computer for a month.

I also thought about stopping eating crisps and drinking Expensive Coffee, but one shouldn't get carried away, eh?

2011 Resolutions, status report

It's the start of the month again, so once more it's time to check up on what I said I'd do, and what I have done.

Progress on Resolutions, second report

Last time I checked my list of resolutions was at the end of January, and I've been remiss in not attending to that list more closely. So as I missed both the February and March deadlines, I'll just do a quick check through where we are, a tiny bit over a third of the way through the year:

Progress on resolutions

January went past far too quickly for comfort; although I'm happy that I'm flying to Malaysia on Wednesday, I'm aghast at how fast we've blown through one twelfth of the year. And secretly worried that I don't know how to spell 'twelfth'.

Resolutions for 2011

As before, with the end of the year, I pause and reflect on what I've achieved over the last 12 months, and in particular, what I said I'd try to do, twelve months ago.

All is quiet on New Year's Day

On January 1st 2009, I spent all day in bed with a hangover, while the placid blue sky looked down on the industrious citizens of Hong Kong. This year I was better behaved: only some brandy and champagne and in bed by 1am, rather than standing in the taxi line at 7am wondering why I'd stayed out all night.

Resolutions for 2009 (part 1)

A few simple things to knock off first:
Run 2 marathons - Tokyo in March, and something at the end of the year (either Seoul or Taipei)
Sell 48 more copies of Diet Croydon - a somewhat arbitrary number, but that is 4 per month for each month of the year
Take an interesting photograph every week - because every day is probably too much, and any less frequent is too little

Here's 2008's resolutions. I tried not to look at the list too often throughout the year, but it's instructive to pause now and consider what I hit and what I missed.
Ran a marathon; haven't been able to do 100 press ups or sit ups yet but we have until the 31st; haven't been getting anywhere close to 8 hours sleep every night; still playing Solitaire in those bored moments, caught out without a book to read; still cheery; haven't planned a novel; only wrote 1 letter this year, not 12; haven't learned to waltz yet; have been taking public transport to work because I'm in the wrong country to cycle; haven't managed a month off booze or fizzy pop; likewise coffee; a girlfriend? (that's a more difficult one to define*); something cultural every month - does going to stand-up count?; got my back massaged most months that I've been in HK; and nowhere near shodan. So out of 15 that's 3 and a 12th (unless I can crank out 100 press ups when I get back to HK tomorrow). What does that teach us?
Well, possibly it's not a good idea to have too many goals. Or maybe I should have paced them a bit better - one thing to achieve every month for the year. But at the same time you need something to motivate you, and a list of variable size for the year should be enough to set some goals. Maybe this year I'll print it out and stick it to the bedroom door so I take more notice of it...
Anyhow, I'll consider this carefully and figure out what else I should be doing this year, and by the time I'm back in HK I should have a complete list of Things To Do for 2009... Suggestions gratefully received, although I may be the only person reading this...

Resolutions for 2008

First, a pause to take stock of the 2007 resolutions. Maybe 4.5 out of 10; managed without either coffee or booze for a whole month (although made up for the former by drinking too much Coke in January - so much for eschewing caffeine, eh?); finished my MA (although I don't think I heaped myself with the glory of a distinction for that rant about the iniquities of charitable fundraising); got my 1st kyu; ran the Midnight Sun Marathon for a third time (although I missed out on a PB by about 3 minutes (or six weeks of heavy drinking, depending on how you want to cut it); didn't get a girlfriend (unless you count a random couple of nights in Morzine - ah, the joy of holiday romance); pretty much stayed happy throughout the year (if you excuse the end of term dip in mid December, and a few disgruntled moments here and there. So maybe 5, depending on how you slice it. Anyhow, a baker's dozen + 1 for the year to come:

1. Run a marathon
2. Be capable of 100 press ups and 100 sit ups per day by the end of the year
3. Get at least 8 hours sleep most nights of the week
4. Don't play Solitaire on the iPod (in other words, do valid things with your spare time)
5. Maintain a cheerful demeanour
6. Plan novel
7. Write a letter every month (because email is a terrible way to keep in touch with people you care about)
8. Learn to waltz
9. Ride to the office at least 3 times every week
10. Have a month off booze, crisps and fizzy drinks. (Something tells me that fighting the Frazzles fixation is going to be difficult, but probably worth attempting)
11. A month off coffee.
12. GET A GIRLFRIEND
13. Go to at least one concert/play/ballet every month
14. Get your back massaged every month
15. Get shodan

So some of these can be seen as a carry-over from last year (5, 10, 12, 15) but possibly quite importantly, they're not all do-it-in-January-or-feel-like-a-failure-for-the-rest-of-2008 type things. I'm not entirely sure that they're all doable (or at least some of them aren't quite contradictory) but it will be interesting to see how many I can fit into the next 12 months.

While we're at it, here's the list of goals I had while I was wandering Japan this November - again, things to do in 2008:

• Tromso marathon
• Croydon -> Brighton by night
• A week in the Alps
• Land's End to John o' Groats
• Shodan
• A trip to the Lakes
• Visit Vancouver
• Revisit Nanzan University

and as nice to haves...

• novel
• study
• new house
• work in the US
• a second marathon
• Dusk till Dawn at Thetford

Resolutions for 2007

1. No coffee for a month
2. No booze for a month
3. Take a photo every day
4. Finish your MA with a distinction
5. Get your 1st kyu in shorinji kempo
6. Beat your previous time in Tromso in June - let's see if we can make 3.00...
7. GET A GIRLFRIEND
8. Stay happy
9. Get rid of things you don't need
10. Learn one new rule from the Oxford Dictionary of Modern English Usage every week