Maybe I’ll take a nap today. 

• fish more: Ha! I don’t even want to talk about it.
• Write more: Ha! Didn’t even think about this one after writing the resolution. 0 for 2
• Cook more: Ha! Mostly derailed by the kitchen remodel taking, um, I think we’re at week 16 or so now. I HAVE been cooking more since the kitchen’s been functional, and I’m really enjoying it. 1 for 3.
• Clean more: Ha! You can’t clean a house that you’re remodeling. Now that we’re coming down to the finish line (God, I hope so, anyway!), this one should be achievable soon. 1 for 4.

Okay, now that that’s over, maybe some Q3 resolutions just for fun:

• Cook more: startin’ with a winner here. A little confidence booster, as I’m enjoying the hell out of cooking in my new 97% completed kitchen (more pics soon!). This’ll help with the eating healthier, too. I can already tell.
• Sleep more: I average 5-6 hours per night. By the end of the week, I’m in serious sleep deprivation territory. I usually catch back up a little on the weekends, but it’s not enough.
• Exercise…um…some (I can’t really call it “more” when I don’t do it at all now): The Wife up and signed us up at the gym last month. She’s been going regularly, but I’ve just started. I’m feeling confident, though. We’ll see how it’s going in three months.
• Listen more: While I’ve spent a lot of time recently working on MAKING music, I’d like to spend more time just LISTENING to music. I don’t mean having music on in the background when I’m doing other things. I mean JUST listening. While sitting and doing nothing much else. I need to slow down in general, but this is something specific I want to do.

Well, folks, there they are. They’re more ambitious than I had planned (especially the exercise part). I know that sleeping and sitting around listening to music don’t seem like much to get resolved to do, but with all that I have going on, it’ll be tough.

See ya next quarter.

EDIT 2007.07.20: Things are going pretty well so far. And, in response to Luke’s comment below: I didn’t so much need a Resolution about roleplaying (esp. Burning Wheel) as I get in at least one session (and WAY too much forum reading/posting time) per week!

• Fish more: Went fishing today. It was windy. We didn’t catch many. The ones we did catch were smallish. It was a freakin’ blast. I feel much better physically (though I’ll be a bit sore tomorrow, as we did a lot of hiking in river gravel and some bank crawling and sliding, plus a load of double-hauling into the wind) and mentally (fishing and exericise always make me feel better in the head). It’s a win-win.
• Write more: In college I wrote a lot of fiction. As a reporter, I wrote a lot of non-fiction (of a particular kind). While I don’t really miss being a reporter, I do miss the writing. For several years now, a friend and I have said we were going to writing and photograph (he’s the photographer) some flyfishing articles. Well, we finally got off our asses and did it. We submitted some ideas and some work and ended up (so far) with assignments for two short pieces and a feature-length piece. Our trip today was for the first short one, due in about six weeks. I’ll update on this as events warrant. But, I have actual, real impetus to write more. So, I’m going to write every day for at least a half hour. There’s a good chance a lot of it will be blogging, too.
• Cook more: This might get derailed somewhat by our ongoing kitchen remodel, but I want to do more cooking. A lot of the cooking for the next four to six weeks will be grilling and/or salads. Sure, I “cook” most nights (well, all the ones we don’t eat out or get take-out), but lately it’s been more about assembling sustenance rather than cooking. Tonight, I made Ginger Tamari Grilled Flank Steak, Wasabi Mashed Potatoes, and Sesame Soy Green Beans. It was Gooo-ood. I should really do more of that.
• Clean more: We sometimes have a tendency to let the housework go in the face of busy lives and a busy three-year-old. It really affects my mental health to do that, though. I get stressed-out when things are messy. I’m going to try to take the time to clean things up each evening, and do at least one “big” cleaning job per day.

That’s it. I think it covers a lot of aspects of my personal life, though. On re-reading the list, it looks like I seriously need to de-stress. So, I’ve made it a goal, too. See you in three months for the results.

• eat better:: eh. I did technically eat better, but I need to do better still. I lost about 5 lbs. in the first quarter. I plan to lose 20 lbs in Q2, mostly by eating better. We’ll see how it goes. I’m getting back on the whole grains – fruits – vegetables – lean meats bandwagon. We’re about to start remodeling our kitchen, so maybe I’ll eat more salads (since I won’t have a working stove).
• exercise more: yeah, right. I can blame it on the bad weather all day, but the truth is that I’m just lazy. I’ve stepped it up a little, though, and I hope to continue that. I’m shooting for 30 minutes, 3 times a week.
• read more good stuff: Sorta happened. I read six novels in Q1, though only one or two might qualify as “literature.” Still, I’d call this one a success.
• get offline more: I got at least one “computer-free” weekend in, and reduced my time online on other weekends. Weekdays were still pretty busy, though.
• sleep more: Not enough.
• Go fishing!: Not NEARLY enough. But, I did spend more time tying flies and at least THINKING about fishing. I should be able to achieve this goal in Q2, so it’s staying on the list.
• make some music: Didn’t happen, but I’m okay with it. I got to express some creativity via some other outlets, so I’m okay with it. Not a focus for Q2, either.

So, overall, I’d give myself a D+ for Q1. Let’s see if I can improve in Q2. Those resolutions coming up soon.

I’ve held off making any resolutions — New Year’s or otherwise — because I’m notoriously bad at keeping them. Why bother if I know I’m going to fail? But, I’ve come to a few realizations or decisions that have put me in the mind to make some resolutions. And resolutions tend to stick better if you announce them publicly.

So, with little further ado, my Q1 2006 Resolutions:

• eat better: I should do this. I’m 36. I’m overweight. I’m in terrible shape. I’d rather not die before my son graduates from high school (or kindergarten). The thing is: I’m compelled to eat total crap. I’m a stress eater, and I’m a depression eater. I have too much of both of those in my life. For example: tonight for supper I had a plate of chilli cheese fries. Sounds good, right? Nope. They weren’t. The anticipation of the chilli cheese fries was good. VERY good. But the truth of the chilli cheese fries is that I didn’t really enjoy them that much, they cost too much, and I feel guilty as hell (and a little queasy) after having eaten them. I derive more satisfaction (in all dimensions) from eating a big healthy salad. So, why do I eat the chilli cheese fries instead? I think it’s mostly about perceptions. I perceive the chilli cheese fries (or pizza or whatever) as a guilty pleasure or an indulgence, and by God, I’ve had a rough week, so I deserve a little indulging. What I need to do is work on changing my perceptions of indulgence. That’s a better formulation of my first resolution.
• exercise more: really, in order to make the eating better effective at the primary goal (lose weight, be healthier) it HAS to be coupled with exercising more. Plus, I know from past experience that exercising (even just walking regularly) makes me feel better mentally because it reduces stress and because I know I’m making myself healthier. Plus, it makes me feel better physically, too. I say my life’s too busy to do this regularly, but, hell, I spend twice that per day mindlessly surfing the web for stupid crap. I’d LOVE replace some of that with some exercise. This one’s easy. Resolved: walk for 30 minutes every day.
• read more good stuff: I was an English major in college. I actually ENJOYED reading “literature” at one time. Lately, it’s been mostly roleplaying games, flyfishing books (not the literary kind, usually), comics, and technical books. I’m committing myself to read two novels per month, one of them “literary.” Yeah, I know this one sounds like I ganked it from Wheat, but it’s all mine.
• get offline more: I’m a web developer and my day job entails sitting in front of a computer with an internet connection and using the web all day. Granted the lion’s share of that is directly work related. But, I can skim in a minute or two here and there (far less than what a lot of my co-workers spend on smoke breaks) and get all the web surfing I need done. I need to spend more time reading, interacting with my friends and family, listening to music, being outside, etc.
• sleep more: Seriously. I have a fairly stressful day job and a rambunctious almost-three-year-old to entertain when I get home from the job. When everyone else is asleep is usually my “me time.” I’m selfish, and I like as much “me time” as I can squeeze out of the day. What usually gets cut from the rest of the day? It’s not work. It’s not time with my son and wife. It’s not time spent watching TV. Usually, it’s sleeping. I get on average about six hours of sleep per night during the week. The weekends probably bump that to seven hours, rarely eight. Getting more sleep will work hand-in-hand with the eating better and exercising more to make me healthier.

[Edit: I left out a couple of important ones.]

• Go fishing!: in the literal and figurative senses. I used to be deep into flyfishing, but I let life and some other things pile up and conspire to keep me close to home for the last year or so. Fishing (at least the way I do it) usually results in more poking around the river banks or watching birds or dragonflies instead of fish caught (and almost always released, anyway). If I do it right, it’s restorative. If I don’t, it’s frustrating. I aim to do it right this time.
• make some music: I’ve been a musician since I was a kid, and at some times very serious about it. I’ve missed that part of my life, and I intend to get back into it in a small way, enough to satisfy that part of me. I usually have the problem of getting too intense about it and abandoning other parts of my life to devote to “The Music.” My resolution is to spend more time making music, but to do it just for my own pleasure, without any need for external validation. This may be the toughest one.

Hmmm. I think that’s enough for now. I mean, really, isn’t a total reboot of my mental and physical health enough to handle for one three-month period? I’ll report back at least monthly, then do a end-of-quarter recap and set new goals. See you in April!