2014 New Year Resolutions

The theme for the 2014 New Year Resolutions is "Social And Media".

Without further ado, voila:

"Social And Media"

1. Be social! Go out once a week. It can be anything as long as it gets me social - movie night, drinks, date, shopping & pedi.

2. Make media! Create a work of art every other week. I have the studio. I have the ideas. The only thing holding me back are the excuses. Do not let them.

3. Social media. Raising the self-imposed Internet ban! Get plugged back in with Facebook, LinkedIn, and Flickr. Start blogging again. It's part of my life and integrated more than I would admittedly care. So no more hiding! Embrace it!!!

4. Social exercise. Run 300 miles. Playing soccer isn't enough. But even still, I've been finding a lot of reasons to skip games recently. Gotta be more social and get out there and exercise. Plus my legs are getting weak and I just know I'm losing muscle mass. I haven't run since the mini and it's nearly time to start training for it again. These legs once won sexiest in Central High School. I can't let them go to shit.

5. Read media. Finish reading a book every other month. I love to read but I don't anymore. Why?

6. Thrifty weekly spending. Spend less than "the magic number" per week on average weekly expenses. I've done my budget projection for 2014 and I come out barely ahead if I can keep it under "the magic number". In fact, the less I spend each week the better. I need to cut down expenses in 2014 and "weekly expenses" is a fluid number where I can easily see immediate results. I know this is somewhat detrimental to both #1 and #2 but I can squeeze it in. Besides, displaying restraint with my money is a key step in gaining control of my money.

7. Do not touch the froggy. Nobody knows what this means. But I do. This is both my most silly and yet my most serious resolution. I am not going to take this seriously if I do not get serious about it. It is serious now because it is a resolution. Boom. :|

So here is where I stand:

1. Be social! I've been in a funk and staying in for the last two weeks has been scads of fun... and by "scads of" I actually mean "no amount of". So this weekend I'm going to get out and do something. Maybe only shopping this weekend if I still feel shitty. I dunno. I have my eye on this little storage bench for the foyer at Target. But I should get out and spend time with more people since I was so lame on New Year's Eve. We'll see.

2. Make media! I'm working on 3 commissioned pieces right now and also have a lineup of unfinished pieces ready for some love. I am most excited about my Samurai Jack piece but I've hit some kind of serious roadblock. I was so tuned into that one and then my brain just shouted out "QUIT" and it was done. Weird.

3. Social media. I logged back onto Facebook. What do I do about old Friends that I don't really care to stay in contact with? Do I Unfriend them? Or does that cause more attention that it's worth? I got on and saw a bunch of the same bullshit that I always see. So maybe it doesn't matter because I won't really use it that much. We'll see. I'm gunshy on LinkedIn after a lackluster Facebook re-introduction. I've logged in but done nothing else.

4. Social exercise. Soccer tonight?! And running 300 miles?! Why did I make this stupid resolution?!

5. Read media. I have several books lined up - two from Douglas Coupland, my favorite contemporary author. But the one I am itching to read (again) is The Hobbit. I read it twice in my teen years (the only book to ever earn that honor) and would like to give it another go. The moment I came down with this gawd-awful influenza was as I was walking into Tinseltown to watch The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. I know a lot of what I watched onscreen was *not* to be found in the pages of the book. That's cool and all, as long as Jackson pulls together another great climax.

6. Thrifty weekly spending. I was spending an average of over $600/week there at the end of 2013. I was out of control. I ended the year averaging just $502/week. That includes things that it shouldn't've too, like the one vacation I took in February and a few other expenses. So I've charted out 2014 and I can be in an okay spot if I keep it under "the magic number"/week. The more saved the better, of course! I really have to stick to this resolution or I am fucked.

I am the king of breaking most resolutions but sticking to that one that doesn't make the year a total bust. How cool would it be if I stuck to all of these? "Fucking cool!" is the correct answer.