Tango Bango

New Year’s “Resolutions”

Somehow, 2009 is creeping up on us (as in, it’s just over a week away).  I never did get around to making resolutions last year, so I can’t see how I fared.  But 2008 was a great year, and therefore I’m looking forward to making some goals for 2009 and trying to stick to them.

So, without further ado….

1) Start being more active.  I want to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather more.  I want to spend lots of time riding my horse, doing more surfing, going to the dog park and the beach, and just anything outside of the house.  I’d love to get a SD Zoo/Wild Animal Park season pass this year and go there more to see the animals.

2) Blog more.  I really enjoy going back and reading my blog posts, but in 2008 I really slacked with the blogging.  My main gaming site was lucky to see one post a week.  My personal sites saw a bit more, but I switched around what site I blogged at so much that I never got into a good rhythm.

3) Move to a new place!  Our lease is up in March, and Luke and I have goals to move closer to downtown - somewhere with a younger atmosphere, closer to shops and restaurants, closer to Balboa Park and the beach.  Pretty soon, my blog will be filled with posts about our moving process :)

4) Research!  I feel very confident and good at my job as a community manager, but I’ve wanted to be known as more of an ‘expert’ in the industry.  I want to do a lot more research about virtual world and gaming history, and broaden my knowledge about process and work towards a career in production.

5) Along with #4, I want to read more this year.  So, to combine with #1 - I want to have a nice patio area or place to read outside.  I want to get my ass off the computer (when I’m not at work) and be more productive.  I have so many series’ that I want to read!

6) Delve further into photography.  Luke has a Nikon D50, and I want to buy a field manual for it and take some classes and really start doing some hobbyist photography in my free time - particularly of horses and animals. 

7) Cook more!  Late this year, I did make an effort to start eating more homemade food rather than going out to eat all the time - and it was fairly successful.  I just want to learn to make a wider variety of healthy food and make food more often even though we don’t get home from work until late.

8) Continue to change my eating and exercise habits and lose more weight.  While I did lose about 14 pounds or so, I want to lose at least another 25.  I know that this is going to take a substantial change in the way I eat and exercise, so I’m making it a goal to do that this year and drop those pounds.  (As soon as the holiday cookies are gone….)

9) Spend more wisely.  I’m notorious for buying every little thing I want and not budgeting my money.  This year, I’m putting myself on a strict spending budget so that Luke doesn’t make me get rid of Finnegan (my horse), and so I can actually save some money. I really need to keep a list of luxury items that I want, and not buy any of them unless it fits within my budget.

10) Learn more art.  I’ve been taking a little CD course about Adobe Illustrator, and I’d love to learn to make vector art.  It’s always been a dream of mine to be able to make something awesome enough to have it framed and hung on my wall.  So, I’m going to be doing a lot of tutorials and practice and try to get my skills to a point where I can be proud of them.

11) Join a choir and do more with my music skills.  I’m auditioning for the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus on Jan 6th, and I’m hoping that I get it.  I really miss singing in a choir, and I know I need to get back into it.  It will be a great way to meet people as well.

12) Go to more shows this year.  Not just bands, but more plays and musicals as well.  That was always something I was big on, and I’m hoping that when I live closer to the ‘action’ I’ll be able to attend more events like that. 

So there you have it, I’m sure I’ll add more as I come up with them!