Happy 2015: Thoughts about the new year
Jan. 1st, 2015 01:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiI'm still a little sick with a cold I caught in 2014, but I'm willing to put that on last year, not this one.
2014 was, like damned near every year, a mix of good and bad (for both me and the world). I'd say it was better for me overall than the world, but I'm hoping that 2015 will represent net gains on all fronts.
I'm not bothering to recap 2014 on either level (I will, in all likelihood, toss out a few "best media I consumed" posts over the next few days). Looking backward is something I'll save for Julian West.
As to looking forward, I avoid resolutions, for all the reasons that most folks do. But I do have aspirations. They're not the same as goals or resolutions. There's no penalty for failure, no self-delusional high at the beginning of the year followed by a self-flagellating low on failure. Just paths I want to take over the next 365 or so days, and probably continuing onward. Setting them in writing isn't a commitment, to me or anyone else. Rather, it provides me with a reference point throughout the year that I can look back on.
1. Take better care of myself physically. I've mentioned before that I've really fallen off the wagon, health-wise. I've gained back all but the final ten pounds I lost back when I was first diagnosed with diabetes. I'm good on many health fronts, but I'd like to take some of that weight back off and treat myself better. Beyond walking (which is probably why I'm still in such good shape in terms of cholesterol and other things), I do want to add more weights and even maybe the occasional jog back into my routine (although I'd rather lose some weight first before going that path -- I'm biologically disposed towards eventually needing knee replacement surgery, and don't want that sooner than necessary). Eating-wise, I want to get back to where dessert and junk food in general are special treats, not regular parts of my diet. That means keeping more healthy snacks around, since going hungry never works well for me. These are easy-to-articulate goals, but also hard to pull off.
2. Take better care of myself emotionally/mentally. I don't handle stress well (which leads to stress eating -- these goals are often interconnected). Reminding myself to walk away -- and to walk stuff off -- is vital to my emotional health. I need to also get better about being disappointed in people. Life is what it is, and I know I'll continue to discover that some folks aren't as awesome as I'd convinced myself they are. Sometimes those discoveries will be minor and normal (we all live in glass houses, and it's easy to put people on pedestals), and sometimes they'll be huge. Even when it's the latter, I need to be okay with walking away and moving on; keeping people who are -- whether intentionally or not -- poisonous in one's life isn't a good thing. Of course, there are times when that's unavoidable (in one's personal life, my tolerance won't match that of mutual friends and vice-versa, and in the professional world, it's just something one has to deal with), but that's the reason these are aspirations, not resolutions.
(Do not take any of the above as implying I'll be less ranty about the world online. There's a big difference between "oh, this person is a jerk/hypocrite/Death Eater" and "cops just shot another black kid." And don't get me started on seeing a place like The New Statesman encouraging folks not to disseminate Leelah Alcorn's suicide note -- which she explicitly WANTED shared with the world -- because of a set of guidelines by an organization that's got all sorts of issues.)
3. Write more and write better. Look, I like writing Amazon deal posts. But I like writing actual, you know, stuff. In 2014, I cut my PW work from two sections to one, and it's been a huge help in clearly my headspace (and also for #4 below). That's not a knock on the YA section -- my editors there are just as wonderful to work with as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rosefox is -- just a need to focus more. I like getting paid for writing (who doesn't?), and PW continues to scratch that itch, but I do want more. And I've got a few big things I'm tossing around (including a novel idea that actually popped into my head while working on this post, believe it or not). Beyond paid work, I also want to try to be better about posting real, actual content here. I'll avoid the usual "LJ is dying, oh noes" crap, not least because LJ's just a medium for blogging (Medium is also a medium for blogging, come to think of it). If LJ dies tomorrow and DW sinks the next day, I'd just set up shop somewhere else, but the goal is to write things that have more than just links in them (this post, I suppose, qualifies). \
As of today, I still expect that my main online place will be here and on my @tsalmoth twitter account (where I tend to post on pop culture and political stuff). I also post at @yendi for the dayjob stuff, which generally involves academic technology, general higher ed and library stuff, and similar topics. I'm less posty there other than when I'm at conferences. I'm on FB, but it's easily my least interesting online presence (not counting online places that are essentially placeholders)
3.5 LJ-specific, I want to comment more on other people's posts. The number of times I've found I've opened tabs to comment, forgotten about the tabs, and now it's three days later and the comment's pointless is not a small number.
4. Enjoy my media consumption. I've been doing this pretty well, actually, but I want it to continue. I consume a lot of media -- roughly ~120 or so books (not counting graphic novels), lots of TV, plenty of podcasts, lots of comics, a bunch of movies. And that's not counting my online reading, which includes lots of poetry and short fiction, as well as articles and blogs. I do want to be better about logging reading -- I tried to do this last year and fell behind super quickly -- which ties in to #3, but I also just want to keep enjoying good stuff. I've never been one of the people who believes that consumption is evil, or that consumption of certain media is bad. Watching a great TV show doesn't mean I don't get to read a great book. Reading a "guilty pleasure" novel isn't a waste of my time either. Ditto playing a game. But I do want the media I consume to fuel some of that writing.
That said, I also intend to not feel bad about media I don't consume. I'm not talking about stuff I'm behind on, or need to get to (my mom's weekly calls telling me how good The Good Wife is do not go unheeded; I've got plenty of things to eventually get to). But if something's bad, I don't need to keep engaging. For a TV show, I'll give it a few episodes in general (pilots can be terrible), but for every Marry Me -- whose pilot was maybe a tenth as good as the rest of the episodes -- there seem to be plenty of The Librarians (which is just dreadful, and making me question whether Rodgers/Devlin were one-hit-wonders). Likewise, for books, unless I'm being paid, I don't feel a need to finish it. Ditto bad comics about characters I love (see just about all of the DCU these days), etc.
5. Improve our financial situation. This is less a goal than a hope; I've got a job and a great freelance gig. We're working to continue to make things better, both by improving spending habits and reducing debt. It's a marathon, not a footrace, and you can't always predict what'll happen (some seriously awful shit went down on this front last year on a few fronts). But I post this as a reminder to myself to at least keep an eye out for opportunities.
6. Enjoy my family and my time with them. Seems obvious, but taking good stuff for granted is a bad idea. I have an amazing spouse and partner inshadesong. I've got a daughter in college who is rapidly finishing the process of becoming her own person. I love seeing what they both accomplish. If this is the shortest item, it's because it's the one that requires the least change.
7. Socialize more. Yes, I remain an introvert. But in the right setting, I can enjoy groups. I've actually been to and had fun at parties in the last few months, believe it or not. I'm still not a fan of leaving the house, but I'm not always opposed, either.
8. Continue to make puns. They're the highest form of literature, according to a great director who was also a total creep.
This is not an all-encompassing list, but it's what my cold-medicine-fogged brain has in it right now. Happy New Year.
2014 was, like damned near every year, a mix of good and bad (for both me and the world). I'd say it was better for me overall than the world, but I'm hoping that 2015 will represent net gains on all fronts.
I'm not bothering to recap 2014 on either level (I will, in all likelihood, toss out a few "best media I consumed" posts over the next few days). Looking backward is something I'll save for Julian West.
As to looking forward, I avoid resolutions, for all the reasons that most folks do. But I do have aspirations. They're not the same as goals or resolutions. There's no penalty for failure, no self-delusional high at the beginning of the year followed by a self-flagellating low on failure. Just paths I want to take over the next 365 or so days, and probably continuing onward. Setting them in writing isn't a commitment, to me or anyone else. Rather, it provides me with a reference point throughout the year that I can look back on.
1. Take better care of myself physically. I've mentioned before that I've really fallen off the wagon, health-wise. I've gained back all but the final ten pounds I lost back when I was first diagnosed with diabetes. I'm good on many health fronts, but I'd like to take some of that weight back off and treat myself better. Beyond walking (which is probably why I'm still in such good shape in terms of cholesterol and other things), I do want to add more weights and even maybe the occasional jog back into my routine (although I'd rather lose some weight first before going that path -- I'm biologically disposed towards eventually needing knee replacement surgery, and don't want that sooner than necessary). Eating-wise, I want to get back to where dessert and junk food in general are special treats, not regular parts of my diet. That means keeping more healthy snacks around, since going hungry never works well for me. These are easy-to-articulate goals, but also hard to pull off.
2. Take better care of myself emotionally/mentally. I don't handle stress well (which leads to stress eating -- these goals are often interconnected). Reminding myself to walk away -- and to walk stuff off -- is vital to my emotional health. I need to also get better about being disappointed in people. Life is what it is, and I know I'll continue to discover that some folks aren't as awesome as I'd convinced myself they are. Sometimes those discoveries will be minor and normal (we all live in glass houses, and it's easy to put people on pedestals), and sometimes they'll be huge. Even when it's the latter, I need to be okay with walking away and moving on; keeping people who are -- whether intentionally or not -- poisonous in one's life isn't a good thing. Of course, there are times when that's unavoidable (in one's personal life, my tolerance won't match that of mutual friends and vice-versa, and in the professional world, it's just something one has to deal with), but that's the reason these are aspirations, not resolutions.
(Do not take any of the above as implying I'll be less ranty about the world online. There's a big difference between "oh, this person is a jerk/hypocrite/Death Eater" and "cops just shot another black kid." And don't get me started on seeing a place like The New Statesman encouraging folks not to disseminate Leelah Alcorn's suicide note -- which she explicitly WANTED shared with the world -- because of a set of guidelines by an organization that's got all sorts of issues.)
3. Write more and write better. Look, I like writing Amazon deal posts. But I like writing actual, you know, stuff. In 2014, I cut my PW work from two sections to one, and it's been a huge help in clearly my headspace (and also for #4 below). That's not a knock on the YA section -- my editors there are just as wonderful to work with as
rosefox is -- just a need to focus more. I like getting paid for writing (who doesn't?), and PW continues to scratch that itch, but I do want more. And I've got a few big things I'm tossing around (including a novel idea that actually popped into my head while working on this post, believe it or not). Beyond paid work, I also want to try to be better about posting real, actual content here. I'll avoid the usual "LJ is dying, oh noes" crap, not least because LJ's just a medium for blogging (Medium is also a medium for blogging, come to think of it). If LJ dies tomorrow and DW sinks the next day, I'd just set up shop somewhere else, but the goal is to write things that have more than just links in them (this post, I suppose, qualifies). \As of today, I still expect that my main online place will be here and on my @tsalmoth twitter account (where I tend to post on pop culture and political stuff). I also post at @yendi for the dayjob stuff, which generally involves academic technology, general higher ed and library stuff, and similar topics. I'm less posty there other than when I'm at conferences. I'm on FB, but it's easily my least interesting online presence (not counting online places that are essentially placeholders)
3.5 LJ-specific, I want to comment more on other people's posts. The number of times I've found I've opened tabs to comment, forgotten about the tabs, and now it's three days later and the comment's pointless is not a small number.
4. Enjoy my media consumption. I've been doing this pretty well, actually, but I want it to continue. I consume a lot of media -- roughly ~120 or so books (not counting graphic novels), lots of TV, plenty of podcasts, lots of comics, a bunch of movies. And that's not counting my online reading, which includes lots of poetry and short fiction, as well as articles and blogs. I do want to be better about logging reading -- I tried to do this last year and fell behind super quickly -- which ties in to #3, but I also just want to keep enjoying good stuff. I've never been one of the people who believes that consumption is evil, or that consumption of certain media is bad. Watching a great TV show doesn't mean I don't get to read a great book. Reading a "guilty pleasure" novel isn't a waste of my time either. Ditto playing a game. But I do want the media I consume to fuel some of that writing.
That said, I also intend to not feel bad about media I don't consume. I'm not talking about stuff I'm behind on, or need to get to (my mom's weekly calls telling me how good The Good Wife is do not go unheeded; I've got plenty of things to eventually get to). But if something's bad, I don't need to keep engaging. For a TV show, I'll give it a few episodes in general (pilots can be terrible), but for every Marry Me -- whose pilot was maybe a tenth as good as the rest of the episodes -- there seem to be plenty of The Librarians (which is just dreadful, and making me question whether Rodgers/Devlin were one-hit-wonders). Likewise, for books, unless I'm being paid, I don't feel a need to finish it. Ditto bad comics about characters I love (see just about all of the DCU these days), etc.
5. Improve our financial situation. This is less a goal than a hope; I've got a job and a great freelance gig. We're working to continue to make things better, both by improving spending habits and reducing debt. It's a marathon, not a footrace, and you can't always predict what'll happen (some seriously awful shit went down on this front last year on a few fronts). But I post this as a reminder to myself to at least keep an eye out for opportunities.
6. Enjoy my family and my time with them. Seems obvious, but taking good stuff for granted is a bad idea. I have an amazing spouse and partner in
shadesong. I've got a daughter in college who is rapidly finishing the process of becoming her own person. I love seeing what they both accomplish. If this is the shortest item, it's because it's the one that requires the least change.7. Socialize more. Yes, I remain an introvert. But in the right setting, I can enjoy groups. I've actually been to and had fun at parties in the last few months, believe it or not. I'm still not a fan of leaving the house, but I'm not always opposed, either.
8. Continue to make puns. They're the highest form of literature, according to a great director who was also a total creep.
This is not an all-encompassing list, but it's what my cold-medicine-fogged brain has in it right now. Happy New Year.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-01 07:51 pm (UTC)I like your aspirations, and I think I'll try to adopt some of them. Specifically the writing and commenting here on LJ. I still read my flist every day, but writing just sometimes feels beyond me, possibly because I do it for my day job.
I also need to get back on the fitness horse. I gained back about half of what I lost two years ago, and would really like to just be overall healthier.
I'll have to think of what else I want to work on this year, and that's probably a post that should go on my own LJ. A reason to write!
(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-01 09:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-02 03:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-01 08:15 pm (UTC)I need to also get better about being disappointed in people. Life is what it is, and I know I'll continue to discover that some folks aren't as awesome as I'd convinced myself they are.
::::nods::::
I could have written this. My own twist / addition to it is that I need to stop **depending** on others so that my disappointment doesn't have a chance to cut deep and fester.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-01 09:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-01 09:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-01 08:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-01 09:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-01 10:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-02 01:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-02 02:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-02 02:30 pm (UTC)I was at a conference the other month, and looking at the local food choices. I saw that there was a Qdoba. I figured that would be a healthy choice to suggest when talking about lunch, and then made the mistake of looking at their online menu (complete with nutrition), and seeing just how much any choice involving burritos or rice was. *shudder*
(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-02 02:59 pm (UTC)Ugh, Qdoba. I miss eating at Chipotle, but it's almost all rice or tortilla, and what do you do then? Actually, it feels like most places are high-starch.
My biggest challenge will definitely be work lunches. My coworkers and I go out to lunch once or twice a week, and this is a huge bonding moment for us (we eat family style, as well, which only makes the bonding part stronger--we make jokes about sharing germs/spit/whatever). Our preferred restaurant is Asian, which at least means I can avoid bread as long as I don't get a breaded dish. But a lot of the sauces are probably heavy on sugar/flour/cornstarch, and of course you get mounds of rice with them...
*rubs head* I will probably just try to order low-sauce high-vegetable dishes and hope that I can manage one big meal a week without wrecking my body. I'm not diabetic, but my father is, and I think some of my great-grandparents were. I don't want to learn I have a genetic predisposition by developing it. :,
Too many...
Date: 2015-01-09 07:44 pm (UTC)Restaurant sizes: My partner and I have been doing quite well with ordering a single entree and appetizer to split between us. Difficulties include wanting to try all the things, when we don't want to eat the same, or the rare occasions we eat alone or with others. Good stuff is we usually like the same thing, and in most cases good restaurants won't disappear so we can go back to try the rest if the things later.
Social eating: Almost the same thing; if eating "family style" we can try a bit of this and a bit of that and let everyone else finish off the seconds. If food is gifted, can have a bite today and a bite tomorrow and... one of my coworkers gave everyone a pile of candy and I won't finish it until a month from now.
Cheese alone: I'm the same way; could live entirely on cheese if it wouldn't result in constipation and/or death.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-02 12:59 pm (UTC)Those all seem like admirable aspirations. I'm not doing resolutions either because they just lead to me being disappointed in myself, but I have a couple of tasks similar to your aspirations.
Once DH's family leaves, we need to clear out most of our sweet snacks - DH wants to lose weight, and I really should try not to rot out my teeth (though dentures do sound like a lot less work - no flossing!!). We've fallen into the Dessert Is Very Day pit trap and it's not good for anyone.
And the harder one because it's a fundamental part of who I am to date, alas - stop taking on other people's emotions. I'm way too empathetic and it's killing me. I do NOT need to feel crushing disappointment when someone's UPS package that has nothing to do with me doesn't arrive the day it's supposed to!! We'll see how I accomplish that - I'm thinking distraction. So if you encounter me breakdancing in the stacks, I'm just trying to not feel pissed that Alma lost someone else's hour of work ;)
Happy New Year!!
(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-02 01:19 pm (UTC)Yeah, just not keeping sweet snacks around goes a long way. Mind you, it doesn't stop me from tossing a bowl of tortilla chips in the microwave covered in cheese and eating that, but at least it's not cookies.
Oy, on the empathy. Especially combined with dealing with Alma and its fallout. Also, I'm not sure how safe those stacks are for breakdancing. Seems more like a Farber Green Room thing.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-02 01:55 pm (UTC)Damnit, now I want cheese.
Not that I don't always want cheese.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-02 02:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-03 01:09 pm (UTC)