Month: December 2010

I have my resolutions ready.

Last year, I put together separate personal, homeowner and professional goals. That was too much, so I’m trimming those lists by one — with a professional list and this.

I may have overshot my goals for 2010 in those categories, so I hope to succeed on more actionable goals in 2011.

1. JANUARY: Record my experiences — That means journaling privately at least once a month and returning to chasing this List of mine.
2. FEBRUARY: Firmly plant my home — That means finally transferring my driver’s license, car insurance and any lingering documentation to my Fishtown home. It also means getting to know other people in my neighborhood.
3. MARCH: New meals Monthly — Every month, I want to make a new meal and update my family cookbook.
4. APRIL: Basement clean out — I have some dated technology, personal belongings and other clutter in my basement that I want to either throw out, make use of or donate. I want a direction for organizing and making the most use out of this part of my house.
5. MAY: Organized Health — The Broad Street Run just might be my annual push to get fit, after doing in 2009 and 2010. This year, though, I have to beat my 94-minute top time (which isn’t particularly good anyway). But I also want to join an organized sports league of some kind to force some continued health.
6. JUNE: Upstairs direction — To finish the first round of updates to my home’s second floor, I need to paint a hallway, figure out what to do with my bathroom, organize a linen closet, finish a book shelf and maybe slap up some crown molding. All of that gets done.
7. JULY: International trip — I didn’t make it out of the country in 2010. That changes in 2011.
8. AUGUST: Road trip — I want to continue my goal of taking at least one road trip every summer with a buddy.
9. SEPTEMBER: Philly transportation basics — I haven’t yet ridden the Broad Street and Market-Frankford lines in their entirety, nor have I ridden the Girard and West Philly trolleys, nor have I ridden my bicycle across the Ben Franklin Bridge. I want to finish these all.
10. OCTOBER: Stand-up Comedy — Yes, it’s something of a cliche and, yes, it was on my list last year, but this is something I want to say I’ve done.
11. NOVEMBER: Take part in National Novel Writing Month — This is something I’ve talked about for a couple years now, so I want to put action to the talk and write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days, with the help of some advice from a contact who just accomplished that feat.
12. DECEMBER: Finish lingering scrapbooks — Lame to be sure, but on the advice of some elders, I started to put together a few collections of photos, receipts and the like for a couple trips of mine. I want these done and assembled by the year’s end. It’s perfect for when it gets cold.

I get the sense that a lot of these goals are about completed tasks that otherwise remain unfinished. Next year, I hope  I can move to focusing more on the List and taking on new goals, like returning to the guitar or French, or reading a new book each month or something of that nature.