Whelp, it's 2024.
I've got a lot of posts in progress but I'm struggling to get them out. Part of the reason is a lot of them are on the larger side. Another reason is I have been a bit underwater with work stress the last ... two years.
But when I was 14, a chef named Jake regularly yelled at me for making excuses for not getting things done, so let us try and not slip back into that old habit. Instead, I am going to look forward and try and solve the issue. Make more short posts!
So instead of my yearly (yes I know I missed last years) #yearinreview post having my goals at the bottom, I am putting them in a separate post! Nice and short and sweet.
In my manifesto, I say the following are my core beliefs:
- Sharing information is the most important action in human society.
- I love automating things and building software tools to make maintaining the internet easier.
- Nature is beautiful and must be preserved.
- Humans are inherently good and hilarious, and communicating with them well is important.
In my personal wiki, I shorthand this to mean my hobbies and interests fall into the following categories:
- Communication
- Infrastructure
- Nature
- Education
- Transportation
- Food
- Art, Design & Media
As such, I came up with some goals and then made sure they fit into one of those categories.
- Keep a public culture consumption diary
This is inspired by Linda Holmes's resolution on Pop Culture Happy Hour. My current thought is to go back to publishing my weekly #happy posts. I had a brief stint in the fall where I was doing that regularly but fell off. I'm going to give it another shot this year, with the hope of publishing Sunday mornings. This meets the #art and #communication categories.
- Blog once a month
Similarly, I am not writing enough. I have done some journaling this year, which has helped keep the juices flowing, but it is nowhere near where I want it to be. I want to put out something, that isn't a #happy post, once a month. Twelve posts! That's it. This meets the #communication category.
- Finish locative garden
This is my long coming third book. People have paid for it. I need to do two things: start writing updates and get back in the swing of writing it. I actually got about 75% of the way done, but when I went back and read it, deleted most of it. So here's to getting back on the horse and getting the books printed and shipped! This meets the #art and #communication categories.
- Make music once a week
I've gotten really into synthesizers these past two years. I'm not regularly practicing though, and I would like to do that. I find it soothing. This meets the #art category.
- Go fishing once a month
I love to Fly Fish. I don't do it enough and I live in an area where it's incredibly easy. Tons of amazing rivers within an hour drive. So here is to fishing more, even if there is snow on the ground. As an added bonus, my brother, dad and I are going fishing together in June, so I'm already 1/12 of the way there. This meets the #nature category.
- 30 minutes of exercise three times a week
Look, I've got some physical health issues. I need to get up and move more. This meets the #infrastructure and #nature categories.
- Remove all credit card debt
I've been bad about taking on a variety of debt since 2014. It's been a decade of having various types of debt which I do not like, and stresses me out. The most toxic of which is of course credit card debt. So this year I want to get out of debt and keep out. We'll see if I can make it happen, but here's hoping. This meets the #infrastructure category.
- Find a monthly in person social thing
Woofta, gotta save the most distressing goals till the end huh? I've really enjoyed remote work, but my social life has mostly disintegrated. I have friends here in Beacon who I love hanging out with, but very few share my interests. This is particularly true in the tech space. So I need to find a social thing. A fishing group, a gaming group or a tech meetup are my current ideas. Depending on what direction I go, it will fill different categories, but let's put this in #infrastructure because that's what building systems for better health are, infrastructure.
And that's it. Those are my goals. Maybe this year I'll get back to my quarterly checkins. Who knows. But if you see or talk to me, and you remember this post, please talk to me about these goals. If you hold me accountable, I'll help hold you accountable for something.
Happy new year!
/Nat