Nicole’s 2015 Resolutions
It’s the start of another new year and tradition dictates that we come up with ways we want to improve ourselves in the coming year. Some argue that waiting until a specific day is silly, and that we should strive to better ourselves continuously. I understand where they’re coming from, but taking a day to reflect is never a bad idea. But before I go into my 2015 goals, here’s how I did on my 2014 goals:
- Learn Home Networking – Done!
- Organize Digital Collections – Maybe 75% there?
- Set Up a Home Server – Decided to go NAS instead. It’ll run cooler (it will be in the loft and that gets warm in the summer as it is) and take less energy. Plus, there are home NAS systems with RAID which I’d love to have.
- Ditch the Console – Honestly, it didn’t make financial sense. I’ll want to play it on my TV, and I really didn’t want to have to have a second computer just for that.
- Vlogging – I just haven’t found a way I want to do this. Plus, I’m pretty self conscious about my voice and the way I speak.
- Get Reviews Out in a Timely Manner – HAHAHAHAHA
Now, for 2015.
- Learn to Play Guitar – I’ve always wanted to learn guitar, but never have. Last year I picked up Rocksmith 2014 for my husband (he used to play, and was wanting to pick it up again) and recently I’ve been playing myself. It’s going pretty well, especially since I started at step 0. The muscle memory games and step-by-step song learning makes it feel achievable.
- Learn to Speak (at least) Basic Spanish– We live in a multicultural world, one where knowing multiple languages is becoming increasingly important. It’s time I started learning to speak something other than English. I’ll be using Duolingo to achieve this goal.
- Learn to Sew – This is the lowest priority as far as things I’d like to learn, so I’m not going to beat myself up if it doesn’t happen. But I keep seeing cute skirts and skater dresses on Pinterest claiming they are “easy to make.” I’d love to be able to expand my wardrobe with pieces I’ve made. I’m going to use Craftsy to find lessons.
- Continue to Increase my Audio Equipment Knowledge– I’m wanting to update my sound system around my turntable, but it’s hard to know what to do. The land of audio gear is complex, especially when numbers don’t tell the entire story and opinions are rampant. I’ll be sharing some things I find helpful with you throughout the year.
- Send Out Real Cards – I hate doing the impersonal Facebook birthday thing. I’m going to send out real cards. Although if your birthday is the beginning of this month, it’s going to be late. Give a girl a chance to ramp up. I’m using Postable for the moment, but I’m open to suggestions.
These are fewer goals than I had last year, but are more focused on expanding my own horizons and talents. They’re also ways to expand my creativity. I’ve been having problems writing lately, and I think part of it is all my creative energy has gone into blogging for the last two years that I need something new. By learning new skills, I hope to get over my writers block and blogger burnout.
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Nicole is a Software Quality Engineer, music collector, and chronic project starter. In her free time she enjoys reading trashy romance novels, catching up on her game backlog, and bourbon.
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Oooh, sending out real cards. That’s a great goal. I need to get better at that myself. Hope your 2015 is going well so far!
I am also attempting Duolingo this year to learn Spanish. I tried it last year, but my motivation was short-lived. It’s a great app, though, so I need to be more serious about it in 2015.
Burn all Social Media and useless websites… Yahoo, Instagram, Facebook, FourSquare, LastFM, Vine, Twitter, Pandora, and many more already deleted but I have MUCH more to kill. Get back to daily exercising or cycling, even if it is just a 30 minute walk. I also want to get Rocksmith and learn to play, and get back to freaking writing. I have an idea for a film script bouncing around in my head, and I would like to get my Cult Film program up and running again at a local theater.
I disagree on Last.FM being useless. It has a great recommendation engine with minimal effort (or at least the way I use it). I sync my iPod (which I’m going to do anyway), and get new recommendations. But maybe your use case is different.
I actually visited/used LastFM maybe once in the 4+ years I have had an account. Beginning this year, if I have not used a service/site within a year it burns. LOL… I should have done this years ago. So much nicer and I don’t waste hours visiting sites and reading fluff. 😉 I am also consolidating my feeds on Feedly too… too many Tech/Gaming sites just vomit up the same news every two to three days.
I hope you keep reading our fluff, it’s at least different fluff 🙂
I do like the idea of going away from sites you don’t use. I have so many of those. My first priority is to unsubscribe from email lists though. Over the holidays I realized how many of those I have.
I love the fluff here. LOL… just many Tech/Gaming sites keep reusing the same news. I have been unsubscribing for the last 6 months… email has been a dream so far. Most of my resolutions this year are a LONG time coming and me just ignoring them. Need to buckle down. LOL.
I’m glad I’m not the only one with the goal of sending out real cards. Postable is a great idea for doing that–why did I not know about this before?
I think it’s an emerging market, most Google searches will send you to e-cards still. Postable isn’t my ideal, but it’s the closest to what I want that I could find. I might use treat.com a bit too, because with that service you can include gift cards. The problem is there are only a few merchants (and surprisingly Starbucks isn’t one).
I will join you on learning to sew, mostly for cosplay purposes. I am crafty but have never really learned this skill.
I think we may need a craft party….
Sewing is one of those life skills that can help saving a lot of money in the long run.
I was lucky because my father had the time to teach me the basics.
I didn’t make a resolution list because I have too many lists in my life already.
It really can. I can mend holes, and being 5’2″ I’ve learned how to hem my own pants. But that’s where my skills end.