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gabolangeI 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.
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.
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on 2024-01-05 02:34 am (UTC)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!
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on 2024-01-05 03:56 am (UTC)Good to see you and wishing you all the best.
(Oh to be 40 again.)
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on 2024-01-05 05:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
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on 2024-01-06 12:25 pm (UTC)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
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on 2024-01-06 05:44 pm (UTC)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
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on 2024-01-08 02:21 am (UTC)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!
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on 2024-01-09 12:26 am (UTC)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.
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