In many past years, I've made new years resolutions. I didn't do that last year. I'm not 100% sure why, but it was some combination of feeling overwhelmed with my work obligations, not being in the mood, and recovering from a really difficult 2016 (in general, not resolution-wise). But I'm now ready. I remember Blevins saying of me 2006 cross country season that I was setup for success by not being distracted by a job or a girlfriend and having lost weight. I'm setting myself up similarly for a strong 2018. I have relatively few resolutions, but I plan to take them seriously.
Bicycle From Florida to Alaska
In 2013 I took a bicycle trip from Los Angeles to Boston. It was a tremendous experience that provided physical and mental challenges I had never faced before and gave me plenty of time to reflect on my life. It set the tone for the next several months, which were some of the best of my life. However, at the end of 2013 I made the mistake of taking a full time job. While that is a lifestyle that is fulfilling for many people, and I would hate to speak negatively of it overall, I can honestly say it isn't for me. With a few exceptions, I've lived that lifestyle for the last four years. I'm now 30 years old, and more than ready for a midlife crisis. Many well meaning friends and colleagues have told me I'm too young for a midlife crisis, but they're wrong. I can have a midlife crisis whenever the f I feel like it. And with the deaths of my friend Rutter (52) and uncle Larry (59) in 2016 I learned that you never know what's going to happen. So no reason to put it off. I plan to leave mid March.
Update 9 February: Going well. I'm officially leaving March 12, and currently in NC training. While it will be incredibly hard, and I'm starting to get nervous, I'm also excited and gaining confidence.
Quit Smoking Weed
For years I was a very occasional user; a few times a year. But the lifestyle I described above has led me to increase my usage considerably. There are many positive consequences including increased patience, empathy, and creativity, high motivation during acute intoxication, and others that I'm happy to talk about if you're interested. But there are also many negative consequences including accelerated aging, irritability, cardio-respiratory stress, and social anxiety. I'm not committing to quitting forever, and I'm not even sure I want to quit forever. But I am committing to quitting for several months, and never becoming as chronic as I have been these past several months.
Update 9 February: Going great. Cravings are really rare, and there is nothing I could do about them even if I wanted to. I'm thinking I'll be cold turkey until summer and then set a limit like maybe 21 times over the summer or something like that.
Complete my Clue App
In 2016 I resolved to write a clue notepad app. I made significant progress, but ultimately didn't complete it. My experience teaching CS has made me a significantly better programmer since then. And I've also recently learned and come to really like javascript. Writing it in JS solves the UI problem by allowing me to easily write a web app, and prevents me from having to learn the Android API, a task that I've become steadily less excited about as I've lost faith in google and the future of the API.
Update 9 February: Started the JS rewrite, but no real significant progress yet.
Go to sleep without TV
I've done this several times in the past. Usually for less than a year at a time. I just really wanna start sleeping better and dreaming better.
Update 9 February: Going great.
