TroytlePower

Hoo boy, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything here, eh?

2019 wrapped up with the birth of our first child, Atticus. Ramping up to the birth, the time in the hospital, and the lack of sleep since then has left me feeling pretty wiped out, creatively, so I haven’t written or drawn or done much at all on that side of things lately.

What I have been doing is watching a lot of TV, listening to a lot of podcasts, and playing a lot of video games, all while my son sleeps on my chest. In that pursuit, I listened to an episode of the “And Sometimes Rob” podcast where Rob and his wife went over their list of 2020 goals (and talked about how goals differ from resolutions) which really inspired me to make my own list… which includes blogging/journaling more!

I made my list on, I think, January 3rd… and haven’t really done much with it since (thanks to the sleep deprivation), but this morning I’m getting ready to start working after being awake since just after midnight and I thought, “hey, why not write a blog post about your goals, so that there’s some semblance of accountability for them?”

So, with that, here are my 2020 goals, in no particular order at all:

• Anchor bookshelves!
  • I know that Atticus won’t be crawling for a while, but I still want to get our shelves fully anchored to the wall, because safety.
• Reduce video game collection!
  • This is kind of nebulous… I want to keep my NES, SNES, and N64 cartridges (because I think the idea of playing home console cartridge games with the kid will be cool someday), but I’ve got a huge collection of DS games and PS2/Xbox/GC discs that I don’t think I’ll ever really go back to. Some of these I’ll just trade in for new games, but the rest I’ll put up on eBay.
• Go through the storage unit!
  • My wife and I have had a storage unit for years now, and I suspect there’s a lot of stuff in there that we really, really don’t need. We’ve made small excursions into it’s depths before to either retrieve or remove certain items (like those disc-based video games), but I really want to take a weekend to empty it out, go through everything, and then either repack it or just get rid of it.
• Read 12 books I already own!
  • This is the first of a few “backlog” goals on this list… I’m a sucker for picking up random books from thrift stores, which has left me with a bunch of books that looked interesting but I haven’t read.  I suspect I’ll bounce of several before I find 12 to follow through on.
• Read 12 comics (graphic novels or story-arc collections) I already own!
  • The nice thing about this one is that I know I won’t totally bounce off of these, because at least the art will be engaging!
• Watch 10 new “films”!
  • I’m not sure what to call the class of movie I’m referring to here, but basically, I want to watch some movies that are outside of my normal sarcastic-but-optimistic-action-comedy wheelhouse.
• Sell the Subaru!
  • My wife’s poor car has problems, so it’s gotta go. We were all set to try to sell it last fall but didn’t get it done with all the baby stuff going on.
• Cook 12 new recipes!
  • I love cooking, but sometimes it’s hard to motivate myself to find new things to cook, so we end up falling into dietary ruts. I’m hoping that pushing myself to find new things will help with variety.
• Ride 200 miles!
  • I absolutely love biking. I’ve got a road bike that I bought nearly a decade ago that is great, even if it’s nowhere near the new hotness… but last year I didn’t ride it even a single time. That ain’t gonna fly in 2020!
• Get under 200 lbs!
  • My weight has fluctuated a lot in the past few years… I lost something like 50 pounds before my wife and I got married by doing a keto-based diet, then packed most of that back on when we stopped. I’m sitting around 215 right now and would love to get into and stay in the 190-200 range (though less than that would be just fine, too!). I don’t want to do an extreme diet again, so this one is mostly about being more mindful about what I eat and staying active.
• Illustrate a kids’ book!
  • I’ve had so many ideas for this over the years, and I never have the discipline to just sit down and do it… I’d really, really like to have a book I made to read to my kid by the end of the year.
• Learn 5 new Ukulele songs!
  • I know a few chords on the ukulele, which lets me strum a few songs, but I’d like to really learn to play some things… I’ll probably pull something from The Beatles first!
• Check on ADHD and Anxiety!
  • I used to take medication for ADHD and I hated it. I’ve never been diagnosed with any anxiety disorder, but I know I have issues there. I’d like to talk to someone about both of those things and see if there might be a treatment plan that could help me cope better than I do on my own.
• Get my tooth fixed!
  • I’ve got this tooth that sucks, and I hate it.
• Meditate 100 times!
  • I started doing a bit of meditation last year, but never really made it a part of my routine. It helps with the anxiety I mentioned above, so I really want to make it a common practice.
• Get a tattoo!
  • This is actually part of a Christmas gift to my wife from a while back, but we’re finally going to do it!
• Keep “The Best Animated Shows Ever… So Far!” going!
  • I love making this podcast because it gives me an excuse to chat with my buddy, MC, and I really want to make sure that keeps happening. We had to drop off after Atticus was born, but I’m hoping to get back to full-on production soon.
• Draw or Design 100 times!
  • This is, like, twice a week.. shouldn’t be too hard, right? Especially if I’m trying to make that book happen!
• Journal or blog 100 times!
  • Hey look, I’m doing it!
• Work on meal planning!
  • This is another nebulous goal, but a really important one with there being a child in our lives. We’re trying to make sure we think at least a few days ahead about what we’re going to cook for dinner to ease up on the stress of last-minute shopping trips.
• Beat 12 backlog games!
  • There’s a lot of games that I’ve enjoyed but haven’t finished, and I want to take the time to see some of them through!

So that’s it, my 21 goals for 2020! I think most of these are pretty attainable, as long as I stay focused on them.

If you’re reading this and have ideas about films I should watch or ukulele songs to learn or anything else, let me know! I’d also love to hear what your goals are!

Let’s make 2020 productive!