Goals Update 2025

Soooo, I've missed three months and it always coincides with the start of the school year, and well the start of the theatre season. But 2025 is ending (which means we about to be closer to 2050 than 2000 [that's a mind fuck]) and that means it's time to review the goals and see how it went.  Spoiler, not the best.

Goal Number One - Read 12 books: Reading was going so well but then nope.  After the fifth book I wasn't able to finish a sixth book and didn't read anything for the second half of the year. The total reading list was:

1. The Last Devil To Die by Richard Osman (349 pages)
2. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (329 pages)
3. Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause by Ty Seidule (304 pages)
4. Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green (208 pages)
5. Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler (424 pages)

Goal Number Two - Focus on fitness by closing all three of my fitness rings 75% of the time: I continued with my workouts and I have a 878 workout streak without missing one in a few years.  However, I did not meet my goal for closing my rings 75% of the time.  Overall, it was a little over 56% which is more often than not, but it could have been better.   

• January          31/31    100%
• February        16/28      57%
• March            16/31      52%
• April              13/30      43%
• May               17/31      55%
• June               17/30      57%
• July                16/31      52%
• August           17/31      55%
• September      20/30     67%
• October          14/31     45%
• November      16/30     53%
• December      13/31     42%
• Total           206/365    56%

Goal Number Three - Complete my monthly fitness challenge:  This was a goal I was able to complete 

1. January - double my exercise goal four times this month.
2. February - close all three rings 13 times 
3. March - walking and running at least 2.67 miles 14 times
4. April - complete 11 work outs
5. May - walking and running at least 3.00 miles 14 times
6. June - complete 14 workouts
7. July - Walking and running at least 3.15 miles 14 times
8. August - Double your exercise goal three times
9. September - Double your move goal four times
10. October - Doubling your exercise goal three times
11. November - Earring at least 33 minutes of exercise 14 times
12. December - Completing 10 workouts during the month

Goal Number Four - Focus on fitness by hitting 10,000 steps a day 75% of the time: So, unfortunately because I forgot to check the numbers until after midnight I don't have the monthly totals but I do have the daily average for the entire year.  For the year my daily average was 8,554.  I know I didn't make my goal for this and I wasn't doing too well before I lost the data, so it couldn't be much worse than it already was.

1. 28/31 days for 90%
2. 6/28 days for 21%
3. 10/31 days for 32%
4. 7/30 days for 23%
5. 9/31 days for 29%
6. 6/30 days for 20%
7. 12/31 days for 38%
8. 17/31 days for 55%
9. Total 95/243 for 39%

Goal Number Five - Improve my social calendar: I added a bunch of stuff, somethings made it somethings didn't.  It's not really one that I could really definitively say if I achieved this or not it's more just how I feel about it.  I feel like maybe it was an improvement from the past but wasn't as good as I would like it.

Goal Number Six - Usable media memories:  In a very last minute achievement I did have some movement here.  I was able to do some video editing and set up a folder so that we can just play them on the tv.   

Goal Number Seven - Have seven new experiences:  I've been thinking about this to try and figure out if I've had any more new experiences yet this year.  I've had many variations of things I've done before but it wasn't necessarily new.  Here is what I've gotten down so far: 

1. Had a fancy meal like you see on like tv or movies where they tell you about each course
2. Took a cruise on the Disney Wish
3. Stayed at three new resorts, including the Polynesia which is one that I've wanted to visit for years.
4. Finally go to eat at the California Grill (twice, actually)
5. Attended a cool wine tasting that turned into a personalized class
6. Did the dessert Disney Fireworks evening event
7. Went to a jazz club (twice, actually)

Secret Horcrux Goal Number Eight: Update this blog Obviously, this didn't turn out so well.

Goals Update - September Edition

It's September, so it's back to the school year and business that ensues. 

Goal Number One - Read 12 books: I'm back at work, but I haven't been able to read on my lunch so far because they've given us no time in our classrooms, and I don't want to stay late or drive in on the weekend, so I've been using my lunch hour to get things in my room set up.  Once things calm down I'll be back to reading during my lunch break, but for now nothing is moving.  So far, this is my list:

1. The Last Devil To Die by Richard Osman (349 pages)
2. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (329 pages)
3. Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause by Ty Seidule (304 pages)
4. Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green (208 pages)
5. Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler (424 pages)

Goal Number Two - Focus on fitness by closing all three of my fitness rings 75% of the time: I'm still working at getting this back up to where it should be.  This month didn't go too bad, and there were about three or four days where I missed it by such a small amount. I'm going to focus on this far more in September to ensure I'm hitting this and getting that average up.  I'm 16% below my goal, so hopefully I can get it higher.  I know the math on it makes it impossible for me to hit this goal this year, but I can get close to it if I really try.  

• January   31/31    100%
• February 16/28      57%
• March     16/31      52%
• April       13/30      43%
• May        17/31      55%
• June        17/30      57%
• July         16/31      52%
• August    17/31      55%
• Total     143/243    59%

Goal Number Three - Complete my monthly fitness challenge:  I hit my August goal for this, so we're keeping a good record and I'd really like to get all 12 months since every year I always miss a month somewhere and I never get the whole year.. 

1. January - double my exercise goal four times this month.
2. February - close all three rings 13 times 
3. March - walking and running at least 2.67 miles 14 times
4. April - complete 11 work outs
5. May - walking and running at least 3.00 miles 14 times
6. June - complete 14 workouts
7. July - Walking and running at least 3.15 miles 14 times
8. August - Double your exercise goal three times

Goal Number Four - Focus on fitness by hitting 10,000 steps a day 75% of the time: August had a huge jump in the number of days I hit the 10,000 mark.  In fact, this was the best month since January.  I was focusing a lot more on making sure I hit this. Last month I said that I wanted to get 10,000 a day, which I didn't get, however my average for the month was 9,980 so I almost hit that.  Since I didn't hit 10,000 every day I'm going to make my September goal to get 10,000 every day, and then October I'll try to move toward 20,000.  I will say my average for the year also has increased, last month I was at 8,638 and now it's 8,856 steps per day average.

1. 28/31 days for 90%
2. 6/28 days for 21%
3. 10/31 days for 32%
4. 7/30 days for 23%
5. 9/31 days for 29%
6. 6/30 days for 20%
7. 12/31 days for 38%
8. 17/31 days for 55%
9. Total 95/243 for 39%

Goal Number Five - Improve my social calendar: I've gone an added a bunch of stuff to the calendar, though one that I put on seems like maybe not, but basically there is stuff going on every weekend with the exception of two in the next two months.

Goal Number Six - Usable media memories:  I've had to update my media library for this, but I haven't put that stuff together into anything usable. I'm thinking I'm going to set up a library so I can stream some of these home movies on my tv.  

Goal Number Seven - Have seven new experiences:  I've been thinking about this to try and figure out if I've had any more new experiences yet this year.  I've had many variations of things I've done before but it wasn't necessarily new.  Here is what I've gotten down so far: 

1. Had a fancy meal like you see on like tv or movies where they tell you about each course
2. Took a cruise on the Disney Wish
3. Stayed at three new resorts, including the Polynesia which is one that I've wanted to visit for years.
4. Attended a cool wine tasting that turned into a personalized class

Secret Horcrux Goal Number Eight: Update this blog So, I posted a few things over the past month, and this is another update, so I'm working to see this one.

So, that's August.

Why Are We Here?

As you, dear imaginary reader who is likely my wife, may have noticed, I don't really post all that often.  I almost said "blog" just then, but I didn't because as has been well established that I don't like that word. There are a variety of factors that have kind of caused this, a lot of it is that I'm genuinely busy however I don't know that this is really the thing because at the end of every day there is a little time of just sitting around, usually watching something (often times something that we've seen before - for example currently we are rewatching The West Wing and the president is just about to disclose his MS and it's 18th and Potomac).  So there is time to do this, even if I'm somewhat distracted through whatever we are watching.  There are also times when I'm not sure why I keep this, what's the point of posting, what's the point of putting my thoughts out there? I guess that's always been a question, and it's a question for all types of social media. Perhaps while that's always been true, as I've gotten to be an old person maybe I'm questioning it more?  There was never a point, it's just what we do.

Also, I think I've had this idea that I used to post a lot and then I stopped doing that and then it really dropped off, but really from the last post when I was looking at the old blog stuff I always did this sort of thing where I'd post then I wouldn't post. So really, this is just how it's been.  Nothing really noteworthy here, just having some thoughts and posting them for no reason, as one does with social media.

Return of the Bathroom Cooker!

Today I spend a bunch of time trying to get as many things as I could off of my to do list today.  I was able to get three items off my list, which was nice, though I started working on a fourth item but turns out I couldn't get it finished online.  However, in my quest I was trying to find information because apparently to get logged in at some point I had been given a list of security codes, and I could not find them anywhere.  So, I decided perhaps they were not on my laptop but were instead on my main computer (spoiler alter, they weren't), however in my search I found some other documents. Incidentally, and unrelated, I feel like the search function was really kind of shit because I was getting weird results.  

One of the documents I found was a PDF that I had downloaded at one point of my old LiveJournal, which apparently is still thing! Maybe I should move back over to LiveJournal instead of staying here on Blogger, haha! I didn't have many posts and most of them were pretty small, but I skimmed through a few of them and the one that I happened to skim was from about 20 years ago when I was working back in HR, and had just started my first real office job.  One of the things that I was posting about that I had forgotten was that the bathroom close to my desk had this tendency to smell like food.  I imagine that perhaps it was due to a vent near a microwave or perhaps something from the cafeteria.  However, the one thing that it often smelled like was Rice a Roni, though in this particular post the smell had shifted from the usual Rice a Roni and instead was that of garlic bread.  

It's weird how you can have this thing that you talked about about a lot and was a regular part of your day, and then you completely forget all about it. However, as soon as I read it the memory was right back there and was no longer forgotten.  Memory is a weird thing.

Incidentally, below is the original posts:

Post I:

WTF Mate?
Should I be concerned that the bathroom in my office smells like Rice A Roni?? 

Current Mood:  confused

Post II:

WTF Still mate!
Ok, So hey look it's been nearly 2 months! HOT DOG! So the Rice-A-Roni bathroom has expanded, today's magical bathroom smell is Garlic Bread! A much harder food to cook in a bathroom! But regardless of the difficulty level it still smells of garlic bread! I give this person 3 cooking points for making garlic bread in a bathroom, however I remove 50 health points for making garlic bread in the bathroom. So Two months, where have I been? Well as both of you who read this know School and Painting, that's right two readers I was busy with school, and painting (as well you [both] know!) So I have a week till school is out *does a happy dance, or hamtaro dance from two posts previous* And today is also a happy day because the person I can't stand is out of the office. On the down side, Mr. Meat and Cheese is still here, and making me go through the hell of his computer files to find the file I need... Someone shoot me! But Today is my last normal class for the semester!!! Next week I have 2 exams and 1 field trip! WOO! Then I get 7 weeks off of school (but I still have an online class!) And even better in 30 days I get my first real vacation since the wedding, which was a year ago! SO HAPPY AGAIN! Ok, well it's almost meeting time with Mr. Meat and Cheese, so I should be off! Perhaps I'll post again before 2 months, perhaps not... ONLY TIME WILL TELL!

Goals Update: August Edition

Time flies when you're not posting!

Goal Number One - Read 12 books: I've lost some steam on reading I had a great January and finished two books, then got three more, but haven't really read since summer started.  Thought, I feel like maybe I missed a book in there somewhere, there's a bit of a gap in the dates that suggests I must have read something else, but I can't think of what it must be.  This is why I need to update more often.  So far, this is my list:

1. The Last Devil To Die by Richard Osman (349 pages)
2. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (329 pages)
3. Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause by Ty Seidule (304 pages)
4. Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green (208 pages)
5. Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler (424 pages)

I've been reading The Handmaids Tale, but I don't love it.  It's not long but I've had trouble getting on with it, but I'm about half way through it.

Goal Number Two - Focus on fitness by closing all three of my fitness rings 75% of the time: This has not been great, I was off to a pretty good start in January, and hit 100%, but February onward fell do around a little bit over 50%.

• January   31/31    100%
• February 16/28      57%
• March     16/31      52%
• April       13/30      43%
• May        17/31      55%
• June        17/30      57%
• July         16/31      52%
• Total     126/212    59%

Goal Number Three - Complete my monthly fitness challenge:  I've done better on this one, and I've completed every one of my monthly fitness challenges. 

1. January - double my exercise goal four times this month.
2. February - close all three rings 13 times 
3. March - walking and running at least 2.67 miles 14 times
4. April - complete 11 work outs
5. May - walking and running at least 3.00 miles 14 times
6. June - complete 14 workouts
7. July - Walking and running at least 3.15 miles 14 times

Goal Number Four - Focus on fitness by hitting 10,000 steps a day 75% of the time: I have not done well here and only hit this for around 36% of the time.  However, in the terms of the average it's not nearly as bad, and I'm at 8,638 steps per day average, which is much better when looking at the point of the goal.  My focus for August will be to get to the 10,000 steps per day, and for September my goal will be to move that up to 20,000 steps for the month.

1. 28/31 days for 90%
2. 6/28 days for 21%
3. 10/31 days for 32%
4. 7/30 days for 23%
5. 9/31 days for 29%
6. 6/30 days for 20%
7. 12/31 days for 38%
8. Total 78/212 for 36%

Goal Number Five - Improve my social calendar: Things have been busy but it hasn't really been planned very well.  However, I sat down with the calendar and started planning some things for the coming months.  A game night, a bbq, a movie night, and so on.  That seems an improvement to me.

Goal Number Six - Usable media memories:  I have had a few haven't had an opportunity o think of doing anything about this yet, but I have a few ideas that I might work on.  And we also just had a fantastic vacation that would be a perfect focus to create a photo book or something.  I also want to compile some old home movies and set them up to be more easily viewable. 

Goal Number Seven - Have seven new experiences:  I feel like surely I've got some things down for this, but it doesn't feel like I have.  Here is what I can think of:

1. Had a fancy meal like you see on like tv or movies where they tell you about each course
2. Took a cruise on the Disney Wish
3. Attended a cool wine tasting that turned into a personalized class

Secret Horcrux Goal Number Eight: Update this blog So far, clearly I've been doing badly because I haven't updated in months.  

So, there you have it, the update for the first seven months of the year.

Goals Update: January Edition

The end of January has finally come, it seems like it went very fast in some sense, but then the past few days have felt like an eternity. However, after one month, it's time to check in to see how the goals are going.

Goal Number One - Read 12 books: This has been the best month for reading I've had in a while! I was able to finish two books this month, thought part of that was because today I had a day off and members of the household are sick so I was able to just sit and read most of the day.  Both of the books that I read this month I enjoyed, though I think I enjoyed the first book better than the second one.

1. The Last Devil To Die by Richard Osman (349 pages)
2. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (329 pages)

I'd love to be able to get two books in next month too, given that I'm starting fresh next month with a new book right at the beginning of the month.  We'll see how it goes. I'll actually have to figure out what it is that I'm going to be reading next, I don't really have anything planned.

Goal Number Two - Focus on fitness by closing all three of my fitness rings 75% of the time: I was really focused on this for January and I was able to close all three of my rings every single day this month.  100%.

Goal Number Three - Complete my monthly fitness challenge:  I feel like this month was really easy with the goal, and I was able to get hat wrapped up back on the 8th.  But, that's one month set.

1. January - double my exercise goal four times this month.

Goal Number Four - Focus on fitness by hitting 10,000 steps a day 75% of the time: I was focused on this one as well so I was able to hit this pretty well.  for the month my average is well over 10,000 steps, and I was able to hit it all but three times this month and I have an average close to 11,000 for the month, so that's not so bad.

1. 28/31 days for 90%

Goal Number Five - Improve my social calendar: January was a very busy month, with the return of theater rehearsals, and then with our exchange student going home there were farewell events and activities we needed to take care of.  I've been feeling isolated and not all that socially inclined as a result.  We'll see how February goes, but we only got one social event in this month aside from the standing family dinners.

Goal Number Six - Usable media memories:  I haven't had an opportunity o think of doing anything about this yet, but I have a few ideas that I might work on.  I've been working on cleaning in my spare time this month, but once things are cleaned up maybe I can start working on something.

Goal Number Seven - Have seven new experiences:  I can't think of anything new in January that I experienced in an intentional way.  We're all experience new things, and given the state of things new not so wonderful experiences.  Or perhaps they are old experiences we are just being forced to relive.   

Secret Horcrux Goal Number Eight: Update this blog Although I haven't done a blog a day like I used to, I ddi update this a few times, and I did do a goals update.

So, there you have it, the update for January!

I'm Doing My Best

I'm currently in a long-term disagreement, or perhaps debate, over the idea of people doing their best.  Generally, I'm not a fan of the phrase or the idea of "I'm doing my best" because it seems to me that far too often the fact of the matter is that they are not actually doing their best at all.  In fact, sometimes they aren't even doing anything at all. The issue I have is that when people say this, it's usually said as an excuse.  You can't be mad at me, I was doing my best.  You can't complain that I did a shit job, I was doing my best.  

Sometimes when this discussion comes up it has to do with some of the students that I have worked with in the past.  We discuss how they aren't doing well in school, and I say that they have so many missing assignments, how they don't study, they don't read, they don't do the work in class.  But then, who I'm having the debate with says, well maybe they're doing their best.  I flatly refuse that they are doing their best, because I point out that they aren't even trying at all, so it can't possibly be their best when it isn't even an attempt being made. We then devolve into discussing how they may have been raised, how they may come from a family who doesn't support education, and the laundry list of other struggles that these students may be facing. Thus coming from those kinds of backgrounds, then maybe they are doing the best that they can.  Again, I disagree.

That isn't the only area, there have been other examples that we have discussed about people who have don't a shitty job, and a similar format comes.  A list of their challenges, the things that made it hard for them. They grew up with these problems or they had issues with their parents, or who knows what all.  So because of that they are not just doing the best that they can.  But I don't think that you are doing your best, when there are better things you could have done and that you didn't do them.

I think that it reminds me of the debate I used to get into with the idea of predestination versus free will.  I think by saying that all these things in your past means anything you're doing is the best that you can implies that you don't have any agency in your life.  What other choice do you have, you are destined to act in a certain way, and what you're doing is the best that you could ever do given the circumstances. 

I think too often this is used as an excuse.  I'm sorry, but what do you expect, I have all these problems.  What else do you expect me to do? I was doing my best.  I think in the end it's a justification for not trying harder.  Why should I try harder, it's my best.  I'm just a victim of my circumstances, you can't be mad at me or hold me accountable for anything, it's not my fault!  I don't accept that.  We do have agency in our lives, and we make choices, and sometimes those choices are not our best.  If we accept this idea that circumstances will predetermine our best, then there is never a need to try harder, or even the possibility of trying harder because whatever shit you do is already your best.

Try harder, be better.

Where Did The Time Go?

Something is wrong with time.  I think perhaps that there are fewer minutes per hour, or maybe fewer seconds per minute.  Or perhaps time is on 1.25x? I'm not sure what's going on but it's become quite clear that there are not as many minutes or seconds in the day as there used to be.  I don't know when this change in time happened, but it happened sometime in the past 15 years.  Because back in like 2010 I could get a lot more done in a day than I can now.  At the time I was finishing college, was doing student teaching, was running the drama boosters, associate directing, painting the new house, moving in, and still having enough time to do things with people.

Now it's become an incremental success sort of a situation.  Get a little bit done today, and a little bit tomorrow, and maybe by the end of the month I'll have successfully completed one or two things.  I feel like I used to get more done in a day or two than I can get done now in an entire month.  Someone needs to revert the time back to how it used to be.

A Whole Ass Baby

So, one of the developments that came about during the period I wasn't blogging last year was that we had a baby thrust into our lives.  A whole ass baby.  Freshly baked, straight from the oven.  A few weeks before I had said that I missed Sal being a baby and thought maybe it would have been nice to have had a second kids.  But Sal is old, and that wasn't really on the agenda at this point.  I mean, I'm almost as old at George is supposed to be in Father of the Bride 2, and while my oldest daughter is looking at getting married, and I regularly meet with a wedding planner (though her name is not Franck and it's because we're friend), that isn't the movie that I expected my life to take after.

However, the baby is a lovely, sweet little thing.  She's pretty well behaved, and she's starting to hit all her important milestones, which can be cute.  Earlier this week I got her to laugh for the first time, and the last two days she's started to do it a little more.  Today it seemed like she was testing it out and was just lifelessly laughing.  She smiles a lot, and loves to eat, poop, and sleep, which is typical of a baby.  For the most part she's been a pretty low demand baby who's just happy to eat.

The situation, however, has not been ideal.  When I said, "thrust" what I mean was that she is a foster placement that we were not expecting to do.  She had some worrying health concerns at birth and we didn't really even know much about the situation until she made her way to us.  We also don't know what the long term effects are going to be, and we also don't know how long term this situation is going to be.  The uncertainty is really one of the worst parts of the situation because we don't know if this will be three months, six months, a year, or even longer. We also don't really get to know what's going on unless it's said in open court during the different hearings, trials, etc.  It's just tedious being in the dark.

But, for now, we have a whole ass baby to take care of.  

Goals for 2025

Ok, let's be serious here and stop messing around.  I've been bad about goals. I se them but then I don't track them, and then I fail them all.  I'd say perhaps I need a goal of tracking my goal, but if I don't track them then it won't matter if I set one.  But, 2025 is going to be different. I'm going to set goals and I'm going to track them and succeed at them!  But then again, that's easy to say on January 1. Either way, here we go for 2025!

Goal Number One - Read 12 books: At the end of last year I started to get a lot more movement when it came to reading. I always have some sort of reading goal on my annual goals list, so we'll be keeping this one this year.  I only made it through five books last year, but I want to get at least one per month so I'm setting it at 12 again.  Two year I also wanted to do a classic lit challenge, and did one out of the 12 that I planned. Maybe I'll layer some in if I can keep up with reading.

Goal Number Two - Focus on fitness by closing all three of my fitness rings 75% of the time: I also always have a fitness goal or two, and this was a decent goal last year, I just didn't really focus on it.  I also often meet this goal through using my treadmill and it died last year, but now I have a new one so perhaps I can be more successful in this goal. I think hitting 75% is achievable and I'd love to for sure improve over the less than 50% that I did last year.

Goal Number Three - Complete my monthly fitness challenge:  I have a monthly fitness challenge that I get from my watch, and I usually do pretty well at it, but it seems like the last few years there's always a month or tow that I miss and just can't get a perfect year.  This year my goal is to hit all 12 for the year. For example, for January my goal is to double my exercise daily goal four times in January.  I'm off to a good start because today I was able to get in a nice walk and my exercise in addition to the exercise minutes my watch clocked while I was taking down the Christmas decorations.  Three to go!

Goal Number Four - Focus on fitness by hitting 10,000 steps a day 75% of the time: I don't move as much as I used to, and I use to have a fitness tracker that set a daily goal of 10,000 steps, but lately I've been doing only about half that, so I want to see if I can increase to get closer to that 10,000 a day average.

Goal Number Five - Improve my social calendar: Since COVID we rarely host and do things, and have never really gotten back in the habit of things like dinner parties, game nights, or just general events.  I'd like to be more active in creating events and activities.

Goal Number Six - Usable media memories:  So, I have a lot of video and pictures, and they just sit on my computer, not really seen by anyone, even me most of the time. I'd like to convert these into something more usable.  Cut home movies down and put them on the plex, create things with the photos we have like photo books.  Things like that.  This, I know is not a great goal as it's not specific or measurable, but maybe creating three things that are usable.

Goal Number Seven - Have seven new experiences:  I always do this one, and I always enjoy it. 

Secret Horcrux Goal Number Eight: Actually update and track these, unlike the past three years.

So, there you have it, the goals for 2025.