get my prescription updated for my glasses; get new glasses or at least new lenses
clean up the junk in the living room
visit over on Vancouver Island
go camping for a few days somewhere that isn’t on fire
run 10K at least three times a week (starting in the second week)
write fiction for one hour each day
achieve world peace
I’ve probably left a few out and some goals may be easier than others. For example, world peace may be more within reach than writing an hour of fiction every day. But who knows?
I will report back in a month with the exciting results.
Putting down “writer” as your occupation on forms. It’s practically legal.
Wearing a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches. Or does this make you a college professor? I can never remember.
Smoking a pipe (Harlan Ellison only)
Paying someone else to write stuff under your name. This is actually legal.
Building an amazing writing robot you can dictate your stories to
Buying a nice pen set, especially if they’re fountain pens. And using them too, I suppose. For writing, that is, not, say, stabbing people. Unless you later write about it.
Lists count as writing. Yes, they do.
[Write something here. Ta-da, you’re a writer! This is different than Step 1 somehow.]
Changing your legal name to A. Writer. This, as you may have surmised, is legal.
it snowed today. Boo. But by afternoon it was sunny and the snow was gone. Yay.
I had a terrible headache last night in bed (no, a real headache). Boo. I took Advil and it actually worked. Yay.
I continue to acquire more old music than new, though I’m at least grabbing albums I didn’t own back in the 80s and 90s. Recent purchases range from au fromage to well-regarded classics:
Billy Joel, The Bridge – the beginning of the slide down for Joel creatively, though not his nadir
Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Welcome to the Pleasuredome – cheesy, with weird wide-ranging covers but there’s no denying the irresistible pulse of “Relax” and Holly Johnson lifts every song with his enthusiastic vocals
Crowded House (debut) – pretty pop with just enough smarts to make it more than just pretty pop
Neil Young, Harvest Moon – a gentle, sweet album
I tried and failed to think of any frog-related puns today (there was a reason for this–the puns, not the failure, which was simply lack of imagination on my part)
The Tim Hortons “Roll up to win” contest is on and I’ve won four times. I gave away my two donut wins but kept the coffees (which I will use for tea)
less than two weeks until Daylight Saving Time returns. Yay.
my weight loss for the month will probably be minimal at best and negative at worst. Whoops. But my body fat percentage is down. Yay.
I’m still a bit sore from my outdoor run two days ago. This is mildly embarrassing.
Here’s an incomplete list of things that sucked in January 2017:
snow on New Year’s Eve that added to existing snow and has persisted through the entire month on the trails where I run, making jogging possible only if I include slipping, falling and fracturing bones
the mailbox in the building got broken into (on a Sunday when there’s the least amount of mail to steal) and it’s been out of commission for real mail (they’re still delivering junk mail, yay) for a few weeks, with replacement locks that may not be installed until as late as mid-February
I only lost 1.7 pounds. Better than gaining but still a bit disappointing
everything Donald Trump did in his first 11 days in office. After only eight days he had a negative approval rating and has lived up to every sensible person’s worst fears. A thoroughly awful person and a terrible, awful president. Shame on everyone who cast a vote for this vile excuse for a man
It’s the third day of the month. A few things to note:
it is the first day of the spring semester. I know, it seems odd to refer to it as the spring semester when it starts in January but it ends in April, so it kind of balances out
it was very busy today
I now have a lifelong hatred of projectors
well, maybe not lifelong but at least a week long
the sidewalks that have not been shoveled are basically sheets of ice; I observed several people slipping but none actually ended up flat out, so that’s a positive
I was too tired at lunch to write or work on writing-related stuff, so I surfed
same thing this evening; I’m allowing myself this one day as an exception since I’m just getting into the swing of things after a few weeks off
I have been pretty good on snacking today, having resisted several plates of cookies and other treats
I have over 16,000 steps today, which was my usual average back before The Fattening began–an encouraging sign
17 days to go until Inauguration Day. Will we find Bobby in the shower and realize this has all been a crazy dream? Here’s hoping!
I’m going to be finishing up “The Box on the Bench” by popular request. I love the idea and parts of the story but it needs some major reworking. I haven’t decided if I’m looking forward to this yet or not.
I’ve gotten full value on the “damn snow” tag this past month
the forecast is calling for snow showers on Friday, followed by rain, followed by more snow showers, with temperatures going up and down not unlike a rollercoaster. This means at least a few more weeks of snow/ice/slush/some form of cold horror on the ground. This also means more time on the elliptical and/or treadmill!
Here is my review of 2017, less than 24 hours into the year. This is part of my “get in quick” campaign for the year, to make sure no task is left until it’s too late.
Good
Donald Trump is still not officially president
no new snow
coughing less, feeling a bit better, more energetic
had yummy fresh bread with blueberry jam and tea
Bad
only 19 days until Donald Trump is officially president
existing snow is now getting all crunchy and slippery
would prefer to already be healthy rather than just improving
resisting the urge to put all food into my mouth is not easy
Technically this is a rare white Christmas, not because I am, in fact, white (which is not rare but persistent), but because there is still snow on the ground. It’s been around eight years since snow hung around for so long. It feels like this snow has been around for eight years.
I went for a twenty-minute walk around the neighborhood this evening and as one might expect on Christmas Eve, it was very quiet, aided in part by rather dense fog. I had people in a car pull over and ask me how to get to the Patullo Bridge. Normally you can find it by just driving toward it–it’s kind of hard to miss. But in the fog, it’s actually really easy to miss. If you’re not familiar with the area you’d have no real sense of where you are. You might be driving into a town that sacrifices tourists to appease a corn god or even into Surrey.
Tomorrow is forecast to be cold and clear, which is fine by me. Boxing Day (the start of Boxing Week, Boxing Month and eventually Boxing Year) is slated to feature more snow. This is not fine by me. I’d like to start running outdoors again before it’s officially spring.
Oh, and I somehow hurt my lower back about a week and a half ago (lifting an old Seanix PC, I think) and it’s been slowly recovering, except last night when it suddenly got much worse. I’ve been more mobile today and have medicated in anticipation of the bed failing to comfort as it should.
So I only really want three things for Christmas:
No more snow this winter (seems unlikely)
My back to feel better (there’s a decent chance it will at least be improving again)
Donald Trump to be kidnapped by Bigfoot, never to be seen again (unlikely but I remain hopeful)
Overall, not the worst Christmas Eve ever but given how generally dismal this year has been, I am content the fog outside isn’t actually on fire.
