I started writing down New Years Resolutions a couple years back and have continued the trend for some time now. Although I'm not super-devoted to making sure that I meet all of them, they do pop into my head occassionally over the course of the year and if I'm behind on something, I might try to make an effort to change things around a bit. Last Year, I came up with a whole batch of things I wanted to try to work on before things rolled over to the big 2000, and below is how I ended up fairing.

I only had three real categories that I wanted to work on specifically, and they were all pretty easy to keep track of since I wrote down actual numerical goals in most cases. The first category was simply called Input/Output and although it had slight sexual connotations, it really only had to do with what I read and what I wrote (and otherwise created).

More specificially, the first thing that I wanted to do was write at least 600 pages worth of material. After plowing through everything I've written for the site over the past 12 months, as well as the stuff that I have yet to put up and the things that will never see the light of day, I'm happy to say that I met this goal. It was one of the things that I didn't manage to do the year previous, and I'm happy that I was able to keep up such a steady pace of writing (both creative and journalistic (with the music reviews)) as well as get better in quality (hopefully). I didn't get around to starting my screenplay idea, but the more I thought about it, the less I think that it's actually going to work. Someday perhaps.

The next part of my goals for the year involved the purchase of a computer and although it took about 2 months longer than I had originally planned, I got one and re-designed the entire site. In regards to how much time I spent on things, it (the site) definitely comes in first on the list. Starting in July, I updated the site twice a week without fail (with one new piece of writing in this section and at least three new music reviews) and tried to throw in several other things along the way. I finally bought a domain name and added several new sections (including a new, daily one starting two days ago). The progression of the site in general is one that I'm very happy with as well, and I hope that I can continue to gain steam with it in the following 12 months. Having tons of traffic isn't something that I try to spend a lot of time worrying about, but it is nice to see that more and more people have been stopping by.

Another part of the new computer equation was that I wanted to start trying to do some electronic music composition, but it proved a little more difficult than I had originally planned. One of the things holding me back was my insistence on creating all sounds that I use from scratch, but I have a few little snippets I'm happy with and perhaps I'll be able to kick things into gear more in the near future. You'll hear it here first if I do.

Because I managed to get so many things done above, the input side of my goals for the year suffered a bit. Whereas I managed to read 52 or so books (and over 13,000 pages worth) in 1998, I only got around to 13 (and just under 4000 pages worth) in 1999. This came in at about 3000 pages worth under my goal, but I did manage to focus a lot more on non-fiction titles, which was something I wanted to do. Since I didn't read that many, I'll just go ahead and list them below. As always, if you have some suggestions for me, feel free to drop me a line.

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
Galapagos - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
The First Man - Albert Camus
Broca's Brain - Carl Sagan
The Cosmic Code - Heinz Pagels
The Dragons Of Eden - Carl Sagan
The Hacker Crackdown - Bruce Sterling
Other Worlds - Carl Sagan
Cosmos - Carl Sagan
The Dancing Wu Li Masters - Gary Zakov
Slapstick - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Billions and Billions - Carl Sagan
The Complete Kafka - Franz Kafka

The final category I made for myself I simply entitled "other" and it encompassed a bunch of junk that didn't fit into other categories. I managed to easily make the fist part of this, which was pay off my student loans. It was quite a relief, I must say.

I'm not sure whether I've become more articulate or not, but I'd like to think that I have. I know I still get flustered around pretty girls, though. One thing I didn't manage to do was write more actual letters to people, but I did write more e-mail and keep up several very interesting e-mail only conversations with people I'd never met, so maybe that counts a bit.

In terms of health (the final installment, fortunately for you), I managed to get quite a bit done. I didn't manage to bike 1000 miles like I had wanted to (I only mustered just over 700), but I got hooked on rollerblading and did over 500 miles on those (and through 2 sets of wheels), which managed to more than equal things out. Actually, with the racquetball I've been playing now, I'm in some of the best health of my life (including a changed diet about halfway through the year), so I'm not very upset about not keeping my arse on the somewhat uncomfortable seat of my bike for 1000 miles.

And that's about it. Like always, I managed to meet some goals, while a couple of others fell by the wayside. As I mentioned above, the goals I set aren't something that I rigorously adhere to, but they're sort of nice to have as rough guidelines. Anyway, now I have to think up some things I want to get done before the real millenium next year. Heh.

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