New Years...uhm 'not' Resolutions'

So as I've said here before, I don't make New Year's Resolutions. I work on the theory that if there's a part of you that needs improvement, you should just get on with it rather than waiting on some arbitrary date. Instead, I set "goals" and while I'm no better at keeping them at least the failure is spread out over the calendar year.

However, last year I went out on a limb by not only setting myself a series of goals, I posted them publicly where my (inevitable) failure to keep them would be displayed for all to see. So as 2008 grinds to a close, let's see how I did.

1. I will update The Gunsmoke Files frequently.
Yeah, that worked out well, didn't it? OK, this year I'll update it frequently, will that work?

2. I will go to the gym regularly.
Acksherly, I did go to the gym fairly regularly. Unfortunately, while "once or twice very few weeks" does qualify as "regularly", the Greek God on the inside me is still trapped by the skinny bugger on the outside. Although to be fair, I did bang myself up pretty badly towards the end of summer and that curtailed my iron-pumping for quite some time.

3. I will take more photographs.
I did carry my camera around a lot more this year than in the past, but I still need to take more photographs.

4. I will work on my drumming.
OK, this one I handled quite cleverly, by retiring from the pipe band. Ergo, no need to feel guilty about not practicing my drumming. Smart, huh?

5. I will climb a 14'er.
You know there was one day where I set off to climb a 14'er. But, I got away far too late in the morning, it took me longer to get there than I anticipated and by the time I got to the bit where the road was washed out 3 miles from the trail head, I realized there wasn't enough daylight left for me to get up and back down again in safety. I did manage a lot of fun hikes, but the highest I managed was around 13,000 feet. This goal too, is carried forward to 2009.

6. I will memorize some knots.
Hey, I actually did learn quite a few. But as I didn't have occasion to use them. I've forgotten them again. Sigh.

7. I will push on along the Colorado Trail.
Wayull, I ended up going to Britain this year and that turned out to be my 'big' vacation. Yes, I could have gone another time but something always seemed to come up. Such as the time I was all set to knock off a 33 mile segment over the course of a long weekend, and an early winter storm blew in the night before. Another one for 2009.

8. I will continue my policy of never watching a movie starring anybody who used to be on Saturday Night Live.
Woo hoo! I got one!

OK, well that was a pretty depressing exercise. You would think I could at least have managed a couple of them, but the only one for which I can claim any real success was number 8 and that involved not doing something. How crap is that?

Ah well, 2009 is a whole blank page.

Have a safe, prosperous and happy new year everybody!