Sapient pearwood is a really hilarious. Can't seem to get it out
of my head, probably because I've been reading a lot of Terry
Pratchett novels lately. The other thing I can't get out of my
head is
Wil Wheaton's latest blog.
Yes,
that
Wil
Wheaton.
The one who played that kid on TNG and now makes his living
being a real person who is also a nerd. Last Fall he wrote
a blog
about being less than the person he wanted to be and so
decided to make some changes, specifically
- Drink less beer.
- Read more (and Reddit does not count as reading).
- Write more.
- Watch more movies.
- Get better sleep.
- Eat better food.
- Exercise more.
All laudable goals, right? I think I've made them all myself at
various points in my life and with varying degrees of success.
Drink Less Beer
Like Wil, I homebrew, blog about it, and enjoy tasting new beers
everywhere I go. Exploring the gastronomy of places I visit, be it St. Louis,
the Rocky Mountains, or Florida, for me is right up there with
experiencing the geology. And in American culture today that
means microbrews. Kultur ist wichtig.
I'd also add wine to that (I did live in California for a year).
And scotch. And
tequila. And schnapps. What say we just call it alcohol. I actually
stopped drinking entirely for the better part of 2010 and 2011.
But damn if I don't enjoy it. And it's great for helping ignore
those nagging worries that are always pulling at the edges of
my brain. And sometimes in the middle.
But calories.
And depression.
And livers aren't really that replaceable yet (although mine is
still running like a champ according to my last physical a few
months back).
So let's call my first goal
because I'm going to Europe in a few weeks and no place's
gastronomy is quite so tied to alcohol. But how about holding off
until then? That'll give this goal a little more specificity
beyond the nebulous "less".
Read More
I actually made this a serious goal two years ago, more specifically,
and
have succeeded the past couple years
. I like always having new ideas in my head and I've even
allowed myself to deviate from a strict diet of nonfiction. This
is a good one to keep up with, although I'm a little behind so
far this year.
And while we're on the subject of expanding horizons, I'd like to
add in another goal:
This one has always sort of been there, but some years I forget
how important it is. Like earlier this year when
I allowed a planned trip to Alaska to get scuttled.
It remains the only state I haven't been to. And having
visited every state as well as Canada (many times) and Mexico I
realize that I need to expand my horizons. Hence
the trip to Norway.
The main thing that's been holding me back is a fear of
security checkpoints. Every trip I've taken to Canada except the
last one I've been stopped, harassed, and had my car searched.
People in uniform love their security theater. Although last summer
I went to Canada without issue; the difference was that I brought
Cara. She will also be coming with me to Norway and once inside
the Schengen zone there won't be anymore checkpoints. Hopefully.
Also, seeing Alora and now Brittan travel to Europe has
emboldened me to do likewise.
Write More
I've been journaling for decades, and writing this blog for 12
years now. I've tried to do
NaNoWriMo
and even got Alora started on that obsession of hers. So I'd say
I'm doing pretty good on this one too. So let's call it
and move on. This blog is already getting long as it is...
Watch More Movies
Movies are entertainment - a diversion from reality. Trying to
hide from reality is something I need to do less of, not more.
Sorry, Wil, I'm going to have to leave this one off my list.
Get Better Sleep
Nightmares suck. I can definitely relate to Wil there, although
I will say for me alcohol keeps them away. Most of the worst ones
tend to be about losing a loved one; often because of my failing
to protect them. The Ghost and the Darkness and it's
realistic depiction of those manhunting lions is no doubt the
source of many of the visuals in those dreams.
Since getting into my mid-30's I've really stopped sleeping in.
It was never something I was particularly good at, but now I'm
up with the sun every day. And, yes, that means I've been waking
up before 6 lately but in midwinter I'm waking up naturally
after 9 because of the latitude I live on. Thus the only real
control I can exert over how much sleep I get is to go to bed on
time. That means
Again, this is a more concrete goal than the one Wil set, but I
like specificity. It helps to have a yardstick to measure progress
against that you can't cheat. I also know the main impediment to
achieving this goal: late night movies. Last night we stayed up
watching Agents of Shield (yes, I know it's garbage). I
know if we removed the TV from the bedroom this would happen a
lot less. I would remove it right now. But she-who-shares-the-bed-with-me
has always had a TV in her bedroom and is about as willing to
give it up as her pillow. Earlier in our marriage I won the
argument for a little while, but mainly that just meant Cara
fell asleep watching TV on the couch instead of in our bed.
Eat Better Food
Gastronomy, as I mentioned earlier, is a passion. I love to eat.
And Wogslands are know for their girth. My ancestor who emigranted
from Norway, the first Wogsland in America, was noted for his
"corpulent propensities...caused
by indulging in too much intoxicating beverages."
So, yeah, there are some genetics working against me. The best
success I've had in this area was a few years back when I
stopped drinking soda and my Coke every morning
(which the Europeans at SLAC made fun of me for)
became black coffee. No sugar. No cream. Just water and caffeine.
But I still go to McDonald's. A lot. I'm a stress eater and
those burgers are magical.
My grandmother is also turning 90 tomorrow, so there are some
genes on my side.
Exercise More
Ten years ago I looked at my fat self, said "this won't do", and
signed up for a 5K. Since then my goal has been
and I've done pretty well keeping up with it outside of the
Winter months. It's harder to find races then (especially when
we lived in Nebraska) and harder to get motivated to run in the
cold weather. I've also started throwing in the odd race along
with geology and gastronomy as part of my travels. This had led
to the completable goal to
- Run a Race in Every State
which I am tracking
here.
Maybe such goals are off topic for this post, but I'm including
it anyway as it fits into the general driving theme.
Craft
Wil's craft is entertainment. My craft is code. Part of my
personal growth is growth in that profession and thus I'm also
including
among my goals. To this end I read books about the languages I
use at work - JavaScript, PHP and Python. I attend meetups and hackathons to
learn from other craftsmen in the field. I also dabble in other
languages (Rust, Go, etc.) and try to help other coders on
StackOverflow.
Everyone is the Red Queen in the tech world, running as fast as
they can just to avoid falling behind. For me JavaScript is the
hardest to keep up with because there is just so much happening
with that language right now. I also don't feel as mature in
handling code run in the browser as I do about code running on
the back end. I grew up with the command line and I still feel
most at home there.
Summing Up
I've tried making necessary changes lots of times, but a month
of dieting and exercise always seems to get undone with a
weekend of pizza and beer. It just seems like life is a constant
struggle that eventually you lose. Odin listening to the Raven on
his shoulder trying to stave off Ragnarok a little longer.
Still, I keep on struggling.
Maybe that's all any of us can do. Anyway, here are all my goals,
restated and in one place:
- Drink Less Alcohol
- Eat Better Food
- Write Better Code
- Run a Race a Month
- Read 50 Books a Year
- Travel Often
- Write Regularly
- Get to Bed By 10 PM
- Run a Race in Every State
Maybe sharing them with the world will keep me focused; striving
to become that unobtainable person I want to be. Maybe this will
inspire you like Wil inspired me. I know, there's only 9. Lists
are suppose to have 10 things. Couldn't I just add one more?
Well, as someone who often overloads himself with more goals than
he can possibly achieve, no, no I won't. I'll just have to be
content with 9.
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