2014 Accomplishments
Jan. 10th, 2015 04:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebAlthough I wasn't into committing to serious resolutions last year, I did accomplish a few things besides getting a job and donating blood, mostly in the physical and intellectual categories.
Physical
I started jogging again and can now jog three miles without stopping. Depending how you define "jog." Maybe it's more of a slog. But it's still aerobic, so it counts. I wasn't going to worry about this until after I retired, but changed my mind due to my brother-in-law's "Middle Kingdom March to War" challenge. I've already earned a coin!
I lost about half the weight I wanted to. In the past, I could lose excess weight by eating only my own cooking, but Robin likes to take me out to eat, so I'm not doing that diet. Instead, I have found two other things that work. One is to weigh myself every day to get an idea of which foods make me weigh more the next day and which don't. And the other is portion control on the things that lead to weight gain. I'm much better with moderation than quitting. (Exercise doesn't matter, nor does getting enough sleep, or drinking enough water; of course those things are all still good ideas for other reasons.) I now look exactly the same except one size smaller.
I finally got a colonoscopy, over 1.5 years late, but it worked out fine.
Intellectual
I read more books than usual this year. I real twelve nonfiction books plus parts of many American history books I learned about at my job. I've already written about Desert Solitaire, some books on aging, and an organizing book.
I also read fifty-one fiction books. That includes a lot of books by the same authors: Anne McCaffrey's Pern books, Craig Johnson's Longmire books, Georgette Heyer's Regency romances, Louis L'amour's westerns, and Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan and John Carter of Mars books. I also finally read Divergent and found another book in the Mysterious Benedict Society Series (The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict, which I liked so much I'm going to buy it). Plus I read a couple of books from other countries and a couple of other books recommended by various people.
I watched twenty-nine movies, fewer than usual, though still plenty. My favorites were "Her," "Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier," and "Big Hero 6." I also quite enjoyed parts of "The Grand Budapest Hotel," "Chef," "How to Train Your Dragon 2," "Snowpiercer," "Guardians of the Galaxy," "The King's Speech," "The Judge," "Juan of the Dead," and "John Wick."
And I saw two live performances: a singer-songwriter showcase including someone I know and a performance of "Much Ado About Nothing" (because I can never see too many versions of that play).
I didn't do any super exciting vacations, but I did do three mini-vacations to semi-local places we'd never been: Waco, Denton, and Lockhart plus a last-minute trip to New Orleans over the holidays.
And I started taking Spanish. This was another thing I was going to wait on until after I retired, but I heard two of our friends were taking Spanish I, so we joined them.
Creative
Not much on the creative front, but I did accomplish a few cool thing things: I found a feather scarf knitting pattern that's both easy and beautiful and knit a scarf. I discovered chocolate banana bread. A friend of mine taught a bunch of us to make a tree of life pendant. And I tried my new castle-shaped pan.
Social
My social achievements were also pretty minimal but I did get to attend quite a few parties and craft nights as well as Board Game Bash. And we got to visit a friend who'd moved to Denton from Denver.
Spiritual
I never do much in this category. I did donate some blood and sign so many petitions that I now fear my checking my non-friend e-mail address. I also made a few charitable donations, though I held off on most of those until after January 1 for tax purposes.
Domestic
I decluttered a few areas and helped Robin re-paint the bathroom after we got an exhaust fan installed.
Career
Besides getting a job and failing to work for a tax service, I also applied for retirement and made all the decisions required for that paperwork.
Financial
I did the usual--recalculating my budget as my income changed, contributing to retirement accounts and rebalancing those accounts, and taking Defensive Driving. I also thought through some different tax strategies for my bizarrely low-income year this year--more on that later.
Physical
I started jogging again and can now jog three miles without stopping. Depending how you define "jog." Maybe it's more of a slog. But it's still aerobic, so it counts. I wasn't going to worry about this until after I retired, but changed my mind due to my brother-in-law's "Middle Kingdom March to War" challenge. I've already earned a coin!
I lost about half the weight I wanted to. In the past, I could lose excess weight by eating only my own cooking, but Robin likes to take me out to eat, so I'm not doing that diet. Instead, I have found two other things that work. One is to weigh myself every day to get an idea of which foods make me weigh more the next day and which don't. And the other is portion control on the things that lead to weight gain. I'm much better with moderation than quitting. (Exercise doesn't matter, nor does getting enough sleep, or drinking enough water; of course those things are all still good ideas for other reasons.) I now look exactly the same except one size smaller.
I finally got a colonoscopy, over 1.5 years late, but it worked out fine.
Intellectual
I read more books than usual this year. I real twelve nonfiction books plus parts of many American history books I learned about at my job. I've already written about Desert Solitaire, some books on aging, and an organizing book.
I also read fifty-one fiction books. That includes a lot of books by the same authors: Anne McCaffrey's Pern books, Craig Johnson's Longmire books, Georgette Heyer's Regency romances, Louis L'amour's westerns, and Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan and John Carter of Mars books. I also finally read Divergent and found another book in the Mysterious Benedict Society Series (The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict, which I liked so much I'm going to buy it). Plus I read a couple of books from other countries and a couple of other books recommended by various people.
I watched twenty-nine movies, fewer than usual, though still plenty. My favorites were "Her," "Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier," and "Big Hero 6." I also quite enjoyed parts of "The Grand Budapest Hotel," "Chef," "How to Train Your Dragon 2," "Snowpiercer," "Guardians of the Galaxy," "The King's Speech," "The Judge," "Juan of the Dead," and "John Wick."
And I saw two live performances: a singer-songwriter showcase including someone I know and a performance of "Much Ado About Nothing" (because I can never see too many versions of that play).
I didn't do any super exciting vacations, but I did do three mini-vacations to semi-local places we'd never been: Waco, Denton, and Lockhart plus a last-minute trip to New Orleans over the holidays.
And I started taking Spanish. This was another thing I was going to wait on until after I retired, but I heard two of our friends were taking Spanish I, so we joined them.
Creative
Not much on the creative front, but I did accomplish a few cool thing things: I found a feather scarf knitting pattern that's both easy and beautiful and knit a scarf. I discovered chocolate banana bread. A friend of mine taught a bunch of us to make a tree of life pendant. And I tried my new castle-shaped pan.
Social
My social achievements were also pretty minimal but I did get to attend quite a few parties and craft nights as well as Board Game Bash. And we got to visit a friend who'd moved to Denton from Denver.
Spiritual
I never do much in this category. I did donate some blood and sign so many petitions that I now fear my checking my non-friend e-mail address. I also made a few charitable donations, though I held off on most of those until after January 1 for tax purposes.
Domestic
I decluttered a few areas and helped Robin re-paint the bathroom after we got an exhaust fan installed.
Career
Besides getting a job and failing to work for a tax service, I also applied for retirement and made all the decisions required for that paperwork.
Financial
I did the usual--recalculating my budget as my income changed, contributing to retirement accounts and rebalancing those accounts, and taking Defensive Driving. I also thought through some different tax strategies for my bizarrely low-income year this year--more on that later.