2024 Goals: Life, the Universe, and Everything

[gabolange]

I am not really doing the Snowflake Challenge (or am I?), but I do like the idea of setting 2024 goals. In no particular order:

1. I turn 40 in April, and I have one stated goal for this: to be able to deadlift 100 lbs. I am well on my way -- I started working with a personal trainer on strength training about 15 months ago, and as of today, I can deadlift 75 lbs. Onward!

2. I have only one proper resolution for the year, which is to suck less at work lunch. Once upon a time, I used to bring my lunch to the office like four days a week. Since returning to the office 3+ days a week, I have landed on a lackluster diet of chicken fingers, grocery store sushi, and frozen meals, and it's honestly sort of gross. My progress against this right now is to...buy a prepared meal service to provide about one meal a day. It feels like giving in to, I don't know, being the overworked, single, middle-aged product of corporate America that I am, but on the other hand, it isn't chicken fingers. A week in, I am cautiously optimistic.

3. At work, I have a *really* big project to deliver. And we're gonna do it, and it's gonna be great.

4. I don't set reading goals, because I have flashbacks to getting in trouble for not reading enough when I was a teenager. But I do want to read books I enjoy, and do so with intention. I would love recommendations--the books I loved most in 2023 were "A Memory Called Empire," by Arkady Martine, and "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow," by Gabrielle Zevin, but I appreciate recommendations across genre with the key exception that I refuse to read books with fake maps.

5. Writing! ICYMI, I wrote *one* whole story in 2023, a Star Trek: Strange New Worlds story I am immensely proud of. the wheel of the headlong year is Marie Batel in the aftermath of "Hegemony." It's a story of grief, and trauma, and loss, and love. It took me five months.

So my writing goal is...write. Not write more, if there isn't more. But to write what I can, when I can, with as much love and attention and care as I brought to this story. Because writing with love--not for obligation, not for kudos, not for anything other than the joy of it--is the best thing ever.

6. I want to do a better job commenting on stories this year.

7. I want to post here more. Perhaps a goal of once a month! (And look, January is done!) And with that, I would like to connect more with people here -- I have wonderful Tumblr and Discord communities especially, but I miss the slower and more thoughtful pace of the old ways.

8. I turn 40 this year. I want to rest well, and enjoy the small things, and slow down sometimes. I want to snuggle the cat and hug my friends. I want to see new places and revel in the old ones. I want to enjoy my aging, challenging, wonderful parents. I want to thrive.

Comments

[pebbleinalake]

"Because writing with love--not for obligation, not for kudos, not for anything other than the joy of it--is the best thing ever."

Agreed! It's something I've seen discussed a lot in writing communities recently, and I definitely think writing out of genuine love for the story makes it feel so much better and more rewarding.

Your goals sound awesome. Wishing you the best in accomplishing them!

[gabolange]

I do think that one place I diverge from some of the commentary about writing for love is that I don't think writing for love should mean not writing well. Not that everyone says this, ofc, but it's out there and it annoys me.

I am a product of the mid-aughts beta culture and still write that way, so for me part of writing for love is treating the characters and the story with respect--and if that means many drafts and fighting with which word is right in which spot and taking months and months to finish something, that's part of it. Because if I love this character and this idea, I want it to be the best possible version of that thing.

But anyway! Hi! Thank you for the note and happy new year!

[princessofgeeks]

It's big milestone!

Good to see you and wishing you all the best.

(Oh to be 40 again.)

[gabolange]

Good to see you, too! I don't always comment, but I am keeping up with reading your journal and such!

Every year is a gift--some of them just have multiples of ten that we have decided have meaning. I am taking it as an excuse to have some ridiculous meals.

[freevistas]

As someone who recently entered his forties, that last goal resonates!

[gabolange]

Here's hoping for all of us!

[kanadka]

These are such good awesome goals. Cheering you on for all of them!!! 💖️

I hear you so much on work lunch. I'm only in once a week and we're surrounded by not-great options (two burger joints, the mall food court...etc; multiple days a week is even trickier. Prep meal service sounds like a genuinely fantastic option. I also really love your deadlifting goal!! What a cool goal :D

[gabolange]

I really think the pandemic completely eradicated some old habits...but I am also just too busy these days to do multiple rounds of meal prep. So I can do one thing that becomes dinners, and then the prepared things that show up in the mail fill in the rest, and it's already so much less stress.

And thank you for the cheers! The deadlift thing is *hard* but it's been fun to work toward, and I shall continue!

[vriddy]

Snuggling the cat: always the best goal!

Multiple people have recommended "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" to me and my library has over 200 holds for it! I'm tremendously curious because in my years of going to this library, it's the first time I see reserves in the triple digits like that haha. Really looking forward to it!

I hope you have a great time reaching those goals! :D

[gabolange]

200 holds?? Wow! I hope they have a lot of copies so it doesn't mean you're waiting for two years!

I hope you have a great time reaching those goals! :D

Thank you! Cat snuggling well underway. :D

[vriddy]

I hope they will order more copies, yeah XD I suppose in the meantime, I should finish the stack of books I already borrowed... XD

Cat snuggling ftw! :D

[tellitslant]

Wheeee 100lb deadlift! I look forward to buying you a 100lb burger :D

I do the meal service thing (even though I work from home!) and I do love it. I hope it is a good lunch solution for you!

[gabolange]

If all goes to plan, 100lb burger time will be right around when you get here!

And yeah, so far the meal service seems solid. It’s only been two weeks, but it’s taking a lot of mental energy out of the equation and helping me make healthier choices. Hopefully I continue to like the offerings, but preliminarily, thumbs up!

[ziparumpazoo]

Re: #4 - I enjoyed both those books. Recs: The sequel to Empire, A Desolation Called Peace was even better.
Also, the latest Murderbot was fun.

I really enjoyed Miriam Toews’ Women Talking, but mind the warnings for sexual assault - it’s not graphic, and some of the worst is implied, but it is critical to the plot. The story is a conversation on the nature of faith in an impossible situation and has some interesting Jewish parallels.

Currently reading Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang and enjoying it so far.

[gabolange]

Oh, I really enjoyed both Desolation Called Peace (I picked it up right after I finished the first one and read it basically straight through) and the last Murderbot!

Thank you for the other recs, I will investigate! I am between books at the moment because work is very busy and For All Mankind has eaten my brain, but I am looking forward to getting back to reading.

[ziparumpazoo]

I went through my list of finished books on my kobo last night because we’re pretty much on the same page with that list of books and I could have sworn I read a lot more last year, but turns out it was a ton of SNW fic 😆

Oh, and House of Leaves, but I’m not sure I’d rec that one - it was good, but a lot of work to read.

[gabolange]

I would also take recommendations for SNW fic! Since I am obviously dipping my toes in that fandom (though apparently writing and loving a rarepair...what can you do!).

[ziparumpazoo]

I think anything that isn’t Spock/Kirk is probably a rare pair at this point ;)

The NCC 1701 series by Account5738525 (https://archiveofourown.org/series/2932605) is a long slow burn neurodivergent Chapel/ace La’an series. Some bits are a bit drawn out and wandery and maybe could have used a beta for clarity at some points, but I enjoyed the compliment of OC’s almost as much as some of the settings and descriptions in this one.

Trekkerverse series (https://archiveofourown.org/series/2978370) by Alsike, starting with part 2 made me love T’Pring more than I thought possible. I didn’t read the La’an/Una stories in the series though (just not a pairing I’m interested in)
Summary:
Dr Christine Chapel always figured that T'Pring was a Vulcan's Vulcan, and never expected to find her here, on Betazed, living a very different life than she'd had before. But, no one gets out of a relationship with Spock unscathed. And sometimes the ways you tried to change yourself to keep him end up showing you who you want to be.

There were a couple more I enjoyed enough to rec, but I seemed to have failed to bookmark them and I’m afraid of the rabbit hole I’ll fall down if I skim through the SNW tag tonight. Lol.

[gabolange]

Thank you for the recs!

And you’re right about the rarepair thing for sure. I love how varied the shipping in the fandom is, but I also am both amused and a little sad that my pairing of choice has 39 stories (not all of which actually count!). It’s canon! And yet… :D