I still write an introductory sentence for my New Years post even though the introductory sentence is arguably unnecessary.
2019 Retrospective
As I noted last year, I finally prioritized and got all my excess hobbies under control. In terms of gaming, this year, I’m only down to 3: DnD, Magic the Gathering, and the big diverse category called “video games”. In terms of money and time spent, it’s not clear which I’ve spent the most on. (Well, okay, Magic clearly takes it for most money, but only because I play Legacy.)
This was also the year I discovered Habitica. (Credit goes to my friend Mikki.) As it turns out, I have the right personality type for gamifying my tasks. After I started using Habitica, I got not only my resolutions and my long-term goals back on track, but I also got my chores going on a regular schedule again. I highly recommend Habitica. It might not work for you, but if it does work for you, you’ll be glad you tried it.
So let’s talk about last year’s resolutions, of which I had 3 resolutions and 3 negative goals.
Resolution #1: Reading List – I was supposed to read 4 books last year, one in each quarter. I didn’t end up reading one book per quarter, but I did 4 books, so I’ll count it as mostly successful. The particular books I read were
- Children of the Nameless by Brandon Sanderson. This is Sanderson’s Magic the Gathering story. It doesn’t require any MTG knowledge to appreciate, and I wholeheartedly recommend it even if you aren’t an MTG fan.
- War of the Spark by Greg Weisman. Another Magic the Gathering novel. But this one is bad. The only reason you would read it is if you were a fan of the MTG story and you were interested in the current storyline. It’s got some pretty cool in-jokes and references for enfranchised players, but even still, the book is just bad. (Apparently, the sequel is even worse.)
- Leviathan Wakes (Expanse Book 1) by James S.A. Corey. If you liked the show, read the book. If you don’t like the show, well, maybe give the book a try anyway. If you haven’t seen the show, go watch the show and read the book. The show and the book both follow the same story outline, but the details are different, as they should be, as they play the strengths of their medium. And unlike Game of Thrones, the authors are on-track for finishing the last book of the series and they’re involved in the production of the show.
- The Well of Ascension (Mistborn book 2) by Brandon Sanderson. If you haven’t read Mistborn, I wholeheartedly recommend Mistborn. if you have read Mistborn and for some reason only read book 1, I wholeheartedly recommend book 2. Book 1 was basically a heist movie, while book 2 is political intrigue, but the world-building, character development, and hard magic systems we all know and love are still there. (No link is provided, because the book description for book 2 spoils book 1.)
Resolution #2: Piano Videos – I was supposed to post one video in the first half of the year and the second video in the second half of the year. Well, I posted the first video on October and the second video also in October, so I’ll count it as mostly successful. For your viewing pleasure, here’s a piano cover of Snowblind (Black Sabbath) and theme and variations on Faster Than Light (Stellaris Soundtrack).
Resolution #3: Clean Weekly – This was hit and miss. Some months, I cleaned the house so vigorously that not only was my house the cleanest it’s ever been, but I had time to do small home improvement projects (like installing my Ring doorbell). Other months, I couldn’t find the energy and fell behind on my cleaning.
The good news is, in mid-December, I finally found my rhythm, realized that Thursday is the best cleaning day for me (work from home day), programmed it into Habitica, and I’ve gotten back into the cleaning habit. We’ll see how well that continues to work.
So we’ll optimistically call this “half successful” (knowing full well that “half successful” is still “failed”). But 2.5 out of 3 is an improvement over the last few years.
Now for the negative goals. Which like I said last year, they aren’t good goals, because they aren’t measurable, but they’re still good as aspirational goals.
Negative Goal #1: No more posting on Reddit – Well, I certainly posted less on Reddit, if for no other reason than because every time I wanted to post on Reddit, I asked myself if it was worth posting on Reddit, and most of the time, I said no.
Negative Goal #2: No eating after 11pm – I was pretty good about this. Most of the time, when I ate something after 11pm, it was one of two cases: (1) I was out of the house for an evening event (eg Legacy night) that didn’t include food and didn’t get back home until after 11pm (2) for whatever reason, I was overcome with a bout of ravenous hunger after midnight and had to eat. Either way, I became more aware of when I was eating, which was the point of this negative goal. (Additional backstory: I discovered my sleep schedule is strongly tied to my eating schedule, so I decided to not eat as much after 11pm to try to keep tabs on my sleep schedule. It seems to have helped.)
Negative Goal #3: No playing new games until I finish the old ones – I made a specific exception for Outer Worlds (and I played it and loved it). I also ended up playing a few other games that violate this negative goal, but the only ones I remember are Bloodstained and Dead By Daylight. In the former case, it was a gift (that I put on my own birthday wishlist, and I played it and I loved it), and in the latter case, it was a friend who got me into it (and also I found it for super cheap on an Xmas sale on Green Man Gaming), but it still violates my rule.
Given the backlog of games I own but haven’t played, and given that people sometimes gift me games (sometimes because I ask for it, sometimes because I don’t), clearly the rule should be not to buy new games.
2020 Resolutions
Resolution #1: Reading List – Let’s start with keeping the momentum going. Last year, I read 4 books. This year, I will read 4 more books. Hopefully actually one per quarter this time.
Resolution #2: Piano Videos – Again, let’s keep the momentum going. Last year, I made 2 piano videos. This year, let’s make 2 more piano videos. Hopefully, the first one will be by the end of June instead of having both of them drop in October.
Resolution #3: Discover New Music – One can only post so may Black Sabbath covers, Metallica covers, and video game covers before one has already covered all the best songs. Clearly I need to discover new bands. 12 new albums from 12 new artists, one for each month. Ideally in my preferred genre or an adjacent genre. And maybe a few in genres I don’t usually listen to. I might be pleasantly surprised.
Resolution #4: Learn a new dish every month – The Good Eats revival also revitalized my love of cooking. Let’s keep that momentum going as well. Cooking’s not as big a time commitment as reading and making piano videos. I should be able to learn a new dish every month.
Habitica Goals
- Don’t post on Reddit – Keeping this nominally as an aspirational goal and to put some friction between me and Reddit, because having this goal and violating it 30 times a month is still better than not having this goal at all. (The only thing better would be to not have a Reddit account at all, but that’s not a step I’m ready to take…)
- Don’t eat after 11pm – As mentioned above, eating less late at night seems to help my sleep schedule.
- Don’t stay up too late – This goal is for the actual sleep schedule. “Too late” means after 2am when I have work the next day or 3am when I don’t. I’ve been known to click this button multiple times when I miss my “bedtime” by multiple hours. This is usually strongly correlated with playing a very good video game late at night.
- Don’t buy new games – I realized the real problem isn’t playing new games, but buying them. If someone gifts me a game, I should play it. If I have a game in my backlog that I’ve already purchased, I should play it. It’s buying new games that sit in my backlog (or cause other games to continuing sitting in my backlog) that’s the problem. I’ll make exceptions for the big new releases in 2020, namely Cyberpunk 2077, Baldur’s Gate 3, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2, and Wasteland 3. And I guess I’ll also make an exception for Fire Emblem: Three Houses, if I ever get around to buying a Switch. And also any direct sequels to any games that I finish next year (so I can jump right into Witcher 2 when I finish Witcher 1).
- Cheat Day – My diet works because most days I carefully count calories, and then roughly once a week, I can eat whatever I want. This goal is to keep me honest about it only being once a week (or N times a month).
- Workout Day – Finally, a positive Habitica goal. This is to make sure I go to the gym 2-3 times a week. Includes fencing and gym trainer sessions.
Welp, that’s a pretty good rundown of my 2019 and my plans for 2020. It’s ambitious, but ambitious means I had a good year and I want to keep the momentum going. Hope your 2020 is good and ambitious too!