A Look Back to 2018… A Look Ahead to 2019

I made a few resolutions/wishes for 2018. This is how I did with them:
1. Get down to 230 pounds, by April 1st; get to 215 pounds, by Halloween. Regardless of the final numbers, this felt like a success. Going strictly by weight and time, it was a partial success: I got under 230 lbs. before April 1st but “only” got to a low of 224.2. I’ll take it!
2. Get a vehicle. Didn’t luck out with a vehicle but I did get fairly close, during the summer. If Tax Returns cooperate, a vehicle – after close to 20 years of trying – may finally be mine in 2019! This was a failure.
3. Find an Internship and/or a job in Programming, Web Development, or Game Design. Believe it or not, I actually found a couple of potential internships. Unfortunately, one was in Indianapolis and the other one was for a free training program in Louisville that I still haven’t heard back from, 5 months later. This resolution was a failure.
4. Make the Dean’s List for the Spring Semester. I wanted to improve on the 2.50 GPA in the Fall ’17 semester. This was a hard failure. However, I got a 3.50 this past Fall. So, a partial success?
5. Take much more time for myself. I still ran into the problems that 2016 and 2017 had: exhaustion, with a side of monotony. However, I felt like I got more frequent breaks from the monotony, and got some really good fun/me time. “Me time” was basically ‘not at work or not studying time’, including: a Reds-Cubs baseball game with one of my longest/best friends, Jessica; going to my 1st ever soccer match and NFL game; Friday Game Nights (and a weekend RPG that a few of us have been playing and recording); and playing PC video games. While it still needs work, I would consider this resolution a success.

I don’t mind calling these next items ‘resolutions’ but calling them ‘game plans’ or ‘wish list’ also works. So, here are my “2019 Resolution Game Plans”:

1. Continue the weight loss/fitness plans: hit 215.0 pounds by April 1st, 205 by Labor Day. April 1st gives me 3 months to drop 10 more pounds – about 3 pounds a month, for 3 months. This is very doable, especially if I stick to a gym routine. The diet tweaks and changes – more water, fix work lunches more often, cut back on carbs – won’t be as much of a challenge as the physical part. However, the physical part will get help from….
2. … a successful Cincinnati Tradition (CT) season. I haven’t been offered an official contract, so that needs to happen before I plan on anything else ;-). If/when that happens, then I will have 7+ months of marching and playing to help with the fitness aspect. On an even bigger note, I have been looking forward to getting back to marching for way too long. Despite the Heart Ablation, despite the heel/arch/plantar plate issues in 2017, despite money derailing 2 previous attempts, I have made it to, and through, Months #1 and #2 of the 2019 season. What would be a ‘successful’ season for me? Improving at each rehearsal, giving maximum effort, keeping the positive attitude, and not being “a weak link”. Doing all of these things will allow me to contribute to the overall success of CT. Can’t wait!
3. I mentioned this above: get a vehicle! There’s a twist on that wish: get a vehicle by April 15th. Once May gets here, I will be rehearsing in Cincinnati, plus competing throughout the Midwest and East, 3-4 weekends a month, for nearly 4 months. Unless I get a bunch saved between now and then, money will again become an issue, the longer I go. Unlike with Minnesota Brass, this potential money issue has potential solutions. Getting a vehicle will save me from using Greyhound and cut way back on hotel usage. It all depends on how much I could be getting back in tax returns.
4. Get “Enter The Cyborg” back up to date, and post more consistently. You, Subscribers, have seen my posts lately: I’ll go 2-3 weeks without a post, then put out 2-3 a day, for a week. I need to get back to posting 2-3 times a week. I also will start streamlining what I write about: Books, Games (Video and Board), and life updates are a given; links to “Comicdom Wrecks” and “Podicus Wrecks” will happen more often; and my writings about this Cincinnati Tradition season will stay around. The rest? We’ll see. I have nearly 10 drafts of reviews and other things on hold – they will slowly be finished in the upcoming weeks.
5. Finish at least 5 of the video games in my library. This isn’t a “Do This or DIE!!” resolution but it’s one that I want to complete, during leisure time or down time. I have a bunch of games that I, for whatever excuse reason, have never finished (and a couple that I haven’t even started). So, some time in 2019, I am going to (re)start and finish at least 5 of the following: 

• Dragon Age: Origins
• Metro 2033 (got it as a free download)
• Skyrim: Special Edition
• Darkest Dungeon (including the “The Crimson Court” DLC)
• Destiny II
•  DOOM
• Nightmares from the Deep (a $3 Value Game purchase from 2017)
• Prey
• Risen (same as Nightmares…)

I also have the MMORPGs Atlas Reactor and World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth to make progress on. School will take precedence over these games, so this might be a summer ‘project’. I will likely write a review about each finished game, so stay tuned!

6. Read 25 or more books. This is the goal I’ve also set for myself on the Goodreads app. I could not squeeze in non-school reading last Fall semester (this is YOUR FAULT, Telecommunications II!); this Spring, I will make a bigger effort into reading outside of class time and work. I have plenty of books on my shelves to finish….

… as well as ordering Books 6 and 7 in the Jim Butcher Harry Dresden series (I am a few pages away from finishing Book 5). I am always up for book suggestions – I am a fan of Horror, Fantasy, and Espionage/Spy/Military – so comment or email me some of your favorites. Speaking of school…

7. Resolve the Financial Aid Appeal/get (back) into classes. Long story, short: I have maxed out on available college credits for Financial Aid. Each semester, I have to appeal for Fin Aid: I got aid for the Spring 2018 semester, I was denied aid for Fall ’18, and I have an Appeal out for Spring ’19. If the Appeal is accepted, I will take 9-12 hours (3 of those as On Demand); if not, I will sit out the Spring and save up for the Summer term or the Fall 2019 semester. Regardless, I will fill out a FAFSA for the 2019-2020 school year, as I still plan on having a Bachelor’s Degree by the end of ’19-’20 school year.

8. More time for me, fun time with others. This is a continuation from ’17 and ’18. I need to not lock into a ‘routine’. Instead, I should do some of the following (subject to money and availability):

• take a 2-3 day solo trip, or take a 2+ day trip with family and/or friends: one of my good college friends took a solo trip to Miami and said that she loved it and it rejuvenated her. I need to do something similar, even if it’s a trip to Chicago or Nashville
• catch up with old friends that I haven’t seen much (or at all) in a few years. There are some friends that I had some really good times and good talks with. It’d be cool to see them and hear from them again.
• Get out and watch more movies, solo or with friends. There are a lot of them that I want to see in 2019
• explore Cincinnati. I might go up on a Friday night before a rehearsal camp, so that I can spend a Saturday or 2 (more, if/when I get a car) catching the sights and sounds of the city.
• have some form of casual, physical intimacy; it doesn’t necessarily mean sex (although that would be awesome if it happened…!) but I’m not going to go looking for a relationship just so I can (for example) make out with someone. At this point in my life, I’m not looking at re-entering “The Dating Game” any time soon, with all of its sometimes-idiotic rules.
• have people over to my apartment: I probably need a love seat or another chair but I finally have a place and furniture to host up to 5 more people, for anything from WWE pay-per-views to Movie Nights to Nintendo Switch Parties
• go to “Shakespeare in the Park” this summer: it’s been a few years since I went to Central Park to see some of the plays

It’s a bigger-than-normal list for 2019. However, I think that I can accomplish items from all 8 resolutions/wishes. Let’s see if 2019 can top what 2018 brought to the table!