Every year, these blog post intros get shorter and shorter.
Big Picture Overview
2024 was supposed to be the Year of Relaxation. That didn’t happen. Instead, I did a lot of travelling, somehow ended up becoming Treasurer and Acting President of Verne & Wells, and got a new job at Amazon. Not very relaxing at all.
Not only that but starting a new Dungeons & Dragons campaign (actually 13th Age), and my desire to build interesting scenarios means I’m putting more into the D&D campaign than I probably should.
All of this combined meant that, in the second half of the year, I really fell behind on my hobbies and my 2024 resolutions.
In any case, 2025 will need to be my Year of Consistency. Consistent sleep schedule, consistent workout schedule, consistently playing with my cats, consistent routine all around. And maybe consistently make my New Years Resolutions again.
2024 Old Year Resolutions
Resolution #1: Read 6 Books (Stretch: 9) – I read 4 books this year: Death’s End (Three-Body Problem book 3), Children of Dune (Dune book 3), Shadows of Self (Mistborn series 2 book 2), and Abbadon’s Gate (Expanse book 3).
Resolution #2: Cook 12 Interesting Dishes (Stretch: 18) – I cooked exactly 12 “interesting” dishes this year, but almost all of that was in the first half of the year. Only 5 of them were new dishes though.
Resolution #3: Upload 3 Piano Videos (Stretch: 4) – A big fat zero. I had started working on The Power from Baldur’s Gate 3 and never finished transcribing it. I also promised a friend I would cover Be My Honey from FF14. I still want to do those next year, and I have a lot more ideas.
Resolution #4: No new games until I burn down my backlog – Failed by the letter of the resolution, succeeded by the spirit. I started Infinity Nikki and Life is Strange: Double Exposure, neither of which were on my list last year. However, Infinity Nikki was on my list the year before, and I took it off because I thought it was gonna be vaporware. LiS: Double Exposure was announced and then release in like less than 2 months, and it would have been on my list had I known it existed.
That said, I barely touched the rest of my backlog though. I finished BG3, Disgaea 7, and the FF16 DLC, which means I’m just barely keeping up with new releases. I gotta be more selective about my backlog next year.
Resolution #5: Spa Day – Yeah, this didn’t happen. Maybe in 2026.
2025 New Year Resolutions
Resolution #1: Read 4 Books (Stretch: 6) – I need to scale back the hard goals this year while I work on the Year of Consistency. As much as I want to read 6 books in 2025 (and I read 6 books in 2023, so I know I can do it), it’s better to scale back down before scaling back up. Maybe once I’m consistent, I can go back to reading 6 books a year.
Resolution #2: Cook 6 Interesting Dishes (Stretch: 9) – And at least 3 new dishes. Similarly, I need to scale down my cooking goals before scaling them back up. Interestingly enough, I was able to cook 12 things in 2024, but mainly because I went pretty hard on cooking in the first half of the year.
Resolution #3: Upload 2 Piano Videos (Stretch: 3) – I wanna upload the 2 that I’ve already planned, and maybe a 3rd if I have time.
Resolution #4: No new games until I burn down my backlog – And next year, my backlog is even more selective.
2024 Releases:
- Infinity Nikki
- Life is Strange: Double Exposure
- Metaphor: Refantazio
2025 Releases:
- Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero
- Avowed
- Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2
Backlog:
- Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines (the original)
I’ve got a “maybe” list in the wings for if I manage to finish all these games (and I probably won’t). Also, FF14 raiding and my one-per-year playthrough of a Paradox game. Maybe add a buffer for a multiplayer game that I primarily play with friends.
That just about covers it. Now to play scheduling tetris while I accomplish the goals and hobbies that I want to do, while establishing a consistent routine, and remembering to buffer in some time to relax while I’m at it. We’ll see how it goes!