Tag: personal

My 2008 Almanac

Here is the roundup for 2008:

Writing

  • Short fiction pieces started: 5
  • Short fiction pieces finished: 2
  • Novels started: 1
  • Novels finished: 0
  • Short fiction words: ~25,000
  • Novel words: 2,700
  • Total fiction: 27,700 words
  • Story submissions: 3
  • Rewrite requests: 1
  • Rejections: 2
  • Outstanding: 1
  • Science fiction conventions: 2
  • Blog posts: 170,000 words

Reading

  • Total books: 20
  • Total words: 3,067,000
  • Total pages: 7,891
  • % fiction: 52.3%
  • % non-fiction: 47.7%
  • Average time to read a book: 8.1 days
  • Average # of words/day: 38,349

Travel

  • Actual miles flown: 14,490
  • Miles driven: ~5,000
  • Countries visited: 4

Social Networking

  • 112 friends on Facebook
  • 41 friends on LiveJournal

Other Major Milestones

  • Got engaged (May)
  • Moved to Virginia (Jul)
  • Got married (Oct)
  • Expecting our first baby
  • A new niece

Happy New Year, everyone!

2007 year-end roundup

I got a haircut yesterday and while snipping away at my hair, the stylist asked me, “Do you have any New Years resolutions?” Well, I don’t really do New Years resolutions. If I resolved to do something, I usually start right away. I see no need of picking an arbitrary point. Why put off tomorrow what you can do today, right? But it made me realize that the New Year came and went almost unnoticed. I barely had time to think about what I accomplished in the last year (and what I didn’t accomplish). What were my successes and failures. How did I fare overall?

2007 by the numbers

Some things that I want

There are a few things that I have been thinking about getting for a long time now, but for reason, I keep putting them off:

1. A new bookshelf. My 7 other bookshelves are bursting at the seams. A new bookshelf might relieve some of the strain. Problem is, I have nowhere to put it.

2. A new telescope. I had a Tasco telescope that my Mom and Dad got for me when I was 5. It lasted 25+ years but finally succumbed to general wear and tear about 4 years ago. I’ve been wanting a new one ever since.

3. A new chair for my office. A good one. Maybe not the Aeron chair I have at work, but something comfortable.

UPDATE: #4. A new vacuum cleaner. The one I have totally sucks. No pun intended.

With the holiday season coming up, maybe I’ll treat myself to one or more of these things.

Sore!

Yesterday I did some serious, Rocky Balboa-style, leg lifts and today my entire rib cage and upper abs are sore. Very sore. But that’s good because it means I’m really working those muscles. I also upped the weights on my kickbacks (delts) and those muscles are sore which is unusual. In fact, I’m getting into bed early tonight (even for me–I’m writing this from bed) to get a little extra rest and to give my muscles a break.

It’s coming along. I caught a glance of myself in the mirror tonight. Not too bad! (If I do say so myself.)

Saturday wrapup

Today was a lazy day for me. For one thing, I did not end up going to the gym today. For another, I slept a lot. I didn’t get up until 9 AM, which is late for me. After breakfast, I lazed around, watching TV until just after noon, when I decided to read. That lasted all of a few minutes. I dozed off on the couch for almost 2 hours, during which time I had those kinds of dreams where you dream you are asleep on the couch but can’t quite wake up.

In the late afternoon, instead of going to the gym, I headed over to the Outback Steakhouse, where I ordered the Aussie Cheese Fries (sans bacon) and watched two episodes of The Office on my iPod.

Incidentally, my video iPod has become the second biggest conversation-started, second only to my New York Yankees jacket. I tend to watch stuff on my video iPod when I’m at restaurants by myself. Lately, I’ve had a number of people (often the restaurant employees) come by and ask me what it is I’m watching, and telling me that they didn’t know you could watch TV shows and movies on an iPod. And if they don’t ask about the iPod, then some Red Sox fan will comment on my Yankees jacket.

I finally got a bit more productive later in the day. I completed by second recap of SF AGE. I completed the first draft of my story, “4005 B.C.” I made good progress reading through issue 3 of SF AGE. I spoke to Dad and Jen and Doug on the phone. I sent out some reminder email that I needed to send. I booked my flight into NYC the weekend of March 10-11 (I am taking a bunch of friends to the Rainbow Room Grill at the top of Rockefeller Center for my birthday, just as I did last year.)

I watched the latest episodes of 24 and Scrubs. And I downloaded the pilot episode of Babylon 5, after mabfan gave it a strong recommendation.

When all is said and done, it sounds like a busy day, but I still feel like I was pretty lazy today.

And eerily, I’m having a jkashlock moment: already I’m thinking about and looking forward to breakfast tomorrow morning.