Resolutions for 2015

I won't dilly-dally with  an introduction for this post, as it seems fairly obvious what it'll be about. And I already said in a post from yesterday that I'd be doing this today. So here we go!

1. Do better with exercise. I know that sounds pretty non-specific, so here's my plan to start out. I have a FitBit, which is a small device that looks like a watch that measures a ton of different things: steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned, stairs climbed, and active minutes throughout the day. My initial goal is to walk at least 10,000 steps per day, and if I manage to do that for a few weeks in a row then I'll up it by 1,000 steps. This could also include me doing other forms of exercise, such as playing Just Dance or using an elliptical, both of which I have easy access to.

2. Eat better. I really do want to get my weight down, so in addition to making sure my exercise habits are better I'll be disciplining myself on what and how much I eat. I've constantly had problems with this in the past: getting portions that would almost certainly make me full, getting seconds, drinks that aren't water – just not great decisions overall. My dad has been doing Weight Watchers for a while and has enjoyed it a lot, and I've thought a lot about joining as well. While I don't think my weight is at a danger level at the moment, I'm certainly not making the best choices for a healthy future. So while there are definitely many things that I can and will do to fulfill this resolution, I know how I'm going to start: no soda whatsoever. I actually did okay with this for a while a few months ago, but the holidays started up in November and I broke my streak. So that will be the first thing to cut, which should help a ton. (Jan. 8 update – I took a look at a Weight Watchers pamphlet yesterday, and they said diet sodas were okay. I'm usually not the biggest fan of them because of the taste, but I'm willing to give them a shot...)

3. Read at least one new book a month. This is a repeat from last year, but I know what I'm going to start with, and by the end of this month I'll have a list of one book for every month this year. So far I have Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, The Art of Manliness (thank you Old Spice for that one), and Unbroken which has just had a movie made of it, which we saw on Christmas and is quite good. Intense, though, as it depicts the true story of a survivor of a Japanese POW camp during World War II.

4. Make at least one video per month. While my resolution on this topic last year was to start up a media production of some kind, it just wasn't specific. And that was my problem with a lot of my resolutions – I liked them, but I wasn't clear to myself how I was going to go about fulfilling them. This is a lot more specific than "just start up" and gives me a deadline of when to get things done. My next post on here will be brainstorming ideas of what to make.

This doesn't really have anything to do with this resolution, but I couldn't think of anything else. And apparently, Friends is now on Netflix as of today. So there's that.

5. Continue dating, still working towards an eventual relationship that could lead to marriage. I feel like I did fairly well on my part last year. I dated around a lot, got a better feel of what I'm looking for in a relationship, and have a lot of possibilities in store for the future. I have the small series I write about already as far as dating goes (the "Plight of the Provo Bachelor" posts), so I don't plan on going into more detail at the moment on this subject, but probably will soon. An experience I had fairly recently kind of bugged me, and I'll get my thoughts out on the subject soon enough.

Well, not lies.

6. Write a blog post on Sunday every week. Again, more specific version of a previous resolution. And it doesn't mean I can't/won't write during the week as well, but if I make sure to set a specific day (and even then, a specific time) to write every week then I'll feel better about having this as a goal.

because I can write as much as I want!

7. Start working on movie reviews. One of the reasons I've been collecting so many movies is because I've been wanting to begin a channel on YouTube or at least a blog specifically reviewing movies you can get for cheap. I know this resolution isn't as specific as my others so far, but that's because at the time of writing this post I'm still a little scatterbrained as to how to get started with this one. I definitely have inspirations, like CinemaSins, ScreenJunkies, or BelatedMedia. We'll see what happens though.

I still have yet to see an episode of Adventure Time, but these feel like wise words to me.

8. Attend a convention. The ones I have in mind are either FanXperience (happening this month), Salt Lake ComicCon (happening later this year), or RTX (in early August). Like I said in my last post, I did volunteer work at FantasyCon last summer, and while it was fun to go they won't hold it again until 2016. FanX and ComicCon are definitely the kinds of conventions I'm interested in, and RTX is one I'd love to go to as well, and especially for the people who put it on... except it's all the way down in Austin, Texas. So in addition to tickets just to the event I'd have to work out a flight, hotel, meals, etc. In any case, I want to go more to participate than to work this time around, because I feel like FantasyCon had a lot that I missed because I was working.

Because Galaxy Quest started with a convention. It makes sense.

9. Figure out my future. As I mentioned yesterday, I'm not going to school this next semester, and I'm planning on working for a while to save up some money. But with that as my current plan, it's not exactly what I had in mind to reach my long-term goals of getting married in the temple, starting a family, and getting into the movie business. I need to take some time and just reevaluate a lot of things going on in my life.

10. Keep becoming happier with myself. Again, I'm a little vague on how this'll happen for now. But part of that is that as I keep all these other resolutions, I'm confident that they'll all contribute toward this one. (Especially #9 – having a set plan on what to do always gets me in a good mood.) And I like being happy, simple as that. Choosing not to be happy just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. So I'll be doing things, many which are along the lines of these resolutions, that will help me become a much happier person, and happy with who I am.

There they are! Ten resolutions for 2015. I know they're pretty much taken from last year, but seeing as they are mine, and there are ways that I'm improving on almost all of them, it's totally fair game.