sayajay.net

I wish I could say that new year's was an eventful time. Truth be told, it is only the beginning of February and I already don't remember what I did.

Which just goes to say: if it can't be remember, it probably wasn't worth remembering. There is probably a ton of exceptions to that rule, none of which are coming to mind at the moment.

Seeing my old blog posts about the new year in 2004/2005 made me think: was I still so optimistic then that I spent time and effort making a list of things that I wanted to do? I suspect that my lack of fervor probably stemmed by any concrete plan to do any of these things.

In a half-hearted attempt to show (or not show, really), the progress I've made in all this time, let's take a look at some choice resolution lists that I've made in the past.

From here:

• finish reading borges' ficciones
• brush up on my japanese
• figure out my class schedule
• polish up my resume (i'm graduating)!
• clean up!!

"Finish reading Bogres' Ficciones". Alright, so, uh, I actually don't remember Ficciones, though it looks like a good read.

"Brush up on my Japanese". My Japanese has, and always will be, a work in progress. I can't (and yet, somehow I can) believe how abstract these goals are.

"Figure out my class schedule". Finally, something concrete! And something I obviously got done, because I did indeed register for classes every semester.

"Polish up my resume". Sometimes I'll look at myself in the mirror and wonder, "How does this awkward human being get through life?" It's any wonder now that I have the job that I have now.

"Clean up!!" Hmm... I used to be quite the neat freak. In retrospect though, I wonder if that was just a function of me not having a ton of belongings to begin with.

Alright, continuing on, here's another list that I allegedly made:

• updating this site with ASP .NET, or maybe something like PHP
• creating a personal wireless music server.
• eating some thai food
• getting a new job
• writing a novel
• jumping off a cliff
• smiling

"Updating this site with ASP .NET, or maybe something like PHP". Oh. Good. Gawd. what. dafuq. was I thinking here? I guess looking back at much younger version of myself was bound to make me hang my head in shame, ever so slightly.

"Creating a personal wireless music server". I still want to make one of these -- in all this time, just never got around to it. This sounds like a recurring theme in my life.

"Eating some thai food". Setting the bar pretty low, though I have definitely had Thai food since then. So, yes, I did accomplish one of my listed items after all.

"Getting a new job". So many jobs. So much time wasted. Eh.

"Writing a novel". HA!

"Jumping off a cliff". I used to say stuff like this all the time. Looking back on it now, I really used to say a lot of stupid shit.

"smiling". <-- See, this right here? I used to say tons of stupid shit like this.

I did kind of nonchalantly make a list of things to do. But they're oddly specific. Here are some of the items that I finished very recently:

• clean the kitchen floor
• adjust the monthly mortgage payment
• close this account
• clean the bathroom
• organize your clothing
• clean the microwave

Now, none of these seem life changing, or even very lofty. And in the current state I'm in right now, I think that that's okay. I'd like to think that my advancing years has brought about less idealism and more pragmatism.

I don't know what I want to accomplish the year, but the more I think about it, the more that I just want to live more simply. So I guess some themes for the year are:

• trim down. Mostly thinking about physic items; but the more I dive into it, the more I think about simplifying my finances and my digital life too.

Hmm, how that I've typed this out, that's about the gist of it. A few things come top-of-mind with regards to "trim down":

• getting rid of furniture
• cleaning out kitchen cabinets of stale food
• selling old video games. As much as a collector I've been, it's getting to the point that I don't find much value in amassing more than I already have. This is a pretty big change from years ago when I would literally buy video games every single week.
• consolidating my various domains, servers, and giving up on projects that I never finished. Sunken cost fallacy most definitely in full effect here.

That's all I got for now. Cheers to new year?

---

Oh yes, I just rememberd. The cover image for this post! Me, Sean, Jason, Shirley wandered through an urban neighborhood, whose houses were festively decorated. Quite a spectacle for me, as one not accustomed to urban life!