@rambo and @missy want to know our 2017 New Year's Resolutions...
Resolutions always seem like things you want to achieve but you've got but one shot to achieve them. When you slip up, you give up and feel shitty for a while because you couldn't keep your resolution. Sort of like making a promise and breaking it.
Maybe I'm nitpicking, but instead I make goals. To me goals are things you want to accomplish, but you know they will take some time to complete. They might be short, medium or long term goals. But the way I see it, if I slip up, I don't give up. I look at it as a set back, get back up and continue on.
Maybe goals and resolutions are the same thing, but in my mind they are two distinct things. To me, breaking a resolution is like breaking a promise. Once it's broken, you can't go back and fix it. On the other hand, goals can be designed in such a way that you create intermediate goals. Each intermediate goal (or sub goal) you achieve brings you closer to the overall goal. You create a plan: what you want to achieve, what obstacles might get in your way, how you might overcome those obstacles, steps to achieve your goals, that intermediate or sub goals will help you achieve the main goal and the reward when you reach the main goal.
So with that in mind, here are my goals for 2017...
1. Lose Weight - Get down to 175 or so (that would be about a 50 pound weight loss) and be in better overall shape
Same goal as last year. If I've lost any weight, it was only a couple of pounds. But I did start going to the gym, not as regularly as I want or should, but I have been going. And I've been gaining strength. So that is a step in the right direction. My eating habits haven't improved much, so that's probably why I have not lost much weight, if any. I've done pretty well at reducing my diet soda intake, drinking more iced tea and water though.
My intermediate goals are
a) Get to the gym at least three days each week;
b) On days I don't go to the gym, do at least 1/2 hour of bodyweight exercises and/or cardio boxing.
c) Eat healthier... make smarter choices when dining out, which I do quite often. Instead of going to Five Guys, go to Panera Bread and get a salad; instead of a burrito from Baja Fresh, Del Taco or Taco Bell, get a taco salad. Also, maintain better portion control. Automatically, cut any meal in half and box it up to take home (or put in the refrigerator at work for the next day. Meals including lean chicken, rice, sweet potatoes, and a veggie. Substitute a protein shake/smoothie for one meal. Fresh fruit for morning and/or afternoon snacks.
Rewards: the ultimate reward is getting off my diabetic medication, although I don't know if that will happen even if I do hit my weight goal.
But, intermediate rewards will be a sweet treat or special "junk food" meal for every 10 pounds I lose.
Tentative Bonus Goal?
@nebula runs Spartan Races. I looked into them. They look fun. I also looked at Warrior Dash. I already know about Tough Mudders. I know @nebula is coming to Las Vegas for the Las Vegas Spartan Races in March. I couldn't be ready for the Sprint by then I don't think, but maybe the Los Angeles Spartan Stadium Sprint in August, the SoCal Spartan Beast/Sprint at the end of September (I'd run the Sprint) or the Los Angeles Spartan Sprint in early December. Getting ready for one or more of these races certainly would give me additional motivation to lose the weight I want to lose.
Then look at more regional Warrior Dashes, Tough Mudders and Spartan Races in 2018.
2. Guitar Playing & Songwriting
One of the same goals as last year. I've made progress on this goal, though I didn't finish writing any new songs and, consequently, didn't record any either. The fact that I've been jamming with a couple guys from work every few weeks has helped a lot, both with my skill as a guitarist and with writing music. I figured out the music for my song Toxic. And just tonight I came up with music for another, as of yet, untitled song without lyrics. Jamming with my work friends will continue in 2017. I even came up with a name for the band should we ever decide to learn some songs instead of just fucking around... Soundcheck.
I think once I practice Toxic and the unnamed song a few more times, I'll be ready to try and record some tracks. I plan to video record those as well, which I also plan to post here (with some information about the effects used for each song).
No real intermediate goals, though learning some songs to cover as well as writing new songs and going through my lyric notebook for songs to record or rewrite are also part of this.
I also intend to buy some new effects pedals to either replace or augment those I currently have. One other item on my list to purchase soon is a wireless guitar system (works just like wireless microphones). And I have a head start on the cash with which to purchase these things since I got $150 in Amazon gift cards for Christmas!
3. Photography
This also involves getting outdoors more often.
I shot some photos in the spring, then once summer arrived and it got hot, I didn't get out much to take photos. And I haven't taken very many with my new camera either. Getting out and taking more photos is one of my 2017 goals. And to do it more year round than concentrated in the early part of the year.
I know I'll be heading out to Southern California and the Salton Sea for the first week in February. There should be plenty of photo ops that weekend, not only landscapes, wildlife and abandoned buildings and trains, but people too, posed and candids I hope.
I'm also planning on going for a day trip to Death Valley in March or early April. That trip might also include a stop at Rhyolite, Nevada, which is a ghost town.
I'm thinking about going out to the Las Vegas Spartan Race as a spectator/photographer to cheer on @nebula.
I'll probably hit up Red Rock Canyon again this year, but this year it will also include some hiking. Also in my plans is the Clark County Wetlands Park and the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. I'd like to hit the latter two spots in spring and again in autumn to shoot migratory birds.
Some other places I might go are Zion National Park, Lake Havasu (London Bridge), Joshua Tree National Park, The Extra Terrestrial Highway and maybe Bryce Canyon National Park, Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park. I'd like to hit Yosemite National Park in 2017, but I'm not sure about it. I might try to go in December and then back in the summer of 2018. I've never been to Yosemite in the winter.
I also plan to go up to the Goldfield, Nevada area next summer and do some astrophotography during the Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower in July or, most likely, the Perseids Meteor Shower in August. I'd also like to photograph the Gemimids Meteor Shower in December.
I also hope to do some portraits (studio or "live" settings), boudoir shoots and similar shoots. And if I can find someone willing to let me shoot them for SG, well, that too.
I don't have any intermediate goals for this one, but there are a couple of things I want to purchase to help me out: a 500mm/1000mm lens for shooting wildlife, a shoulder harness/strap, a belt or backpack strap clip, white balance cards, and portable reflectors. Also want to buy some camping equipment for longer trips: tent, sleeping bag, lantern, etc.
Some nice to have equipment would be studio lights with reflectors and diffusers, a second tripod to mount my flash unit for remote flash, a backpack that has space and protection for camera equipment as well as space for clothes, food, hydration pouch and other equipment, and a slide scanner so that I can scan slides I've taken and will take with my Konica film camera.
4. Bowling Goals
My average last year dipped below 200, I'm close to getting it back to 200+. I should get there by the end of the season in May. I'm still trying to get that elusive 300 game and 800 series.
I sort of came close to a 300 game a couple of weeks ago. I buried every shot in the pocket (between the 1 and 3 pins for right handed bowlers). In the second frame, I ended up with a pocket 7-10 split. In the 8th frame, I buried it in the pocket but left the 10 pin. Every other frame was a strike, including 3 strikes in the 20th frame.
The most consecutive strikes I've had is 9 (first 9 frames) during practice. My highest score is 277 which I've done 3 times during league and once in practice. That 300 game will happen eventually. In 2017, I hope. I've been bowling really well the last 6-8 weeks, despite a sore right shoulder.
5. Meet People from SG
This one is going to be met. @nebula is putting together a day at the Salton Sea in early February and made sure to invite me. It's a 5 hour drive one way, but I'm planning on going. Besides @nebula, I think I'll get to meet @zelena, @floydian, @electriceye22 and several others. Once I know the details, I'll figure out my travel plans and how many vacation days to use (will use at least one).
Then, in mid-March, @nebula is visiting Las Vegas to run two Spartan Races. I think she's staying with @zen, so I hope to get to see @nebula again and meet @zen (and who knows who else) while she's here.
So those are my 2017 goals (aka resolutions), what are yours? Write your blog and post the link in a comment below. And let me know what you think of my 2017 goals.
————————————————————————
Stay Tuned...
DeadGuitarist
Besides Suicide Girls, you can find me on various other social, photography and music sites, as well as career oriented sites:
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | REVERBNATION (ARTIST) | SOUNDCLOUD | FANDALISM | TUMBLR | FLICKR | 500PX | VIEWBUG | GURUSHOTS | WASTED YEARS (MY PERSONAL WEBSITE)| YOUTUBE | LINKEDIN | AMAZON WISHLIST
I'm not super active on all of them, but I add stuff to each of them occasionally that you won't necessarily find on my SG profile page.