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New Years Resolutions -- What does 2005 hold for you?
- Thread starter Xath
- Start date
(waves at Xath - Hi Gertie!)
Good thread for 4:30 AM on New Year's Day when the 2-week old baby won't sleep and the wife is deep in the throes of baby-induced sleep deprivation
!
Let's see...to set the stage...
42 years old, two kids (a two-year old and 2-week old), work 60+ hour weeks (full-time job + part-time professional practice that brings in as much money as my full time job), average 12+ commuting hours per week, too much stress and not enough fun.
However, my "day" job does provide me with 4 weeks of paid parental leave to help out with the newborn, so I get the month of January off (which means no commuting...wahoo!).
Last face-to-face gaming was the MD-VA-DC Game Day on 10/2 at University of Maryland...
My resolutions are:
(1) De-Stress: Being a driven, type-A, ex-military personality isn't all it is cracked up to be
! My life is way too f***ing busy and stress is the result. Not good for the heart, mind or body. I had an "incident" about 9 months ago on the return commute from my day job (2.5 hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic) - chest pain, numbness down the left arm, tingling in my left hand - classic heart attack symptoms. Called my wife (a nurse) from the car and had her meet me at the hospital. Spent the night, full cardiac work-up, treadmill stress-test, etc. Turned out to be nothing more than severe stress, but it was a clear wake-up call that I wasn't taking care of myself. Since then, I have dropped about 25 lbs, been exercising much more regularly and have cut-back on non-essential commitments (which, unfortunately, includes most gaming activities).
My main outlet for stress relief is exercise, but winter makes that difficult. I have 2 bikes - keep one on-site at my day job and one at home - but I don't enjoy riding in sub-30 degree (F) weather. I may take a page from Eric Noah's book and get in indoor trainer. I also need to lift weights more, take up Pilates or yoga and carve out 15-30 to actively relax, meditate and decompress.
I currently work 1 day a week from home and have the full-court press on to get another tele-commuting day per week.
(2) Lose 40 Pounds by 10/6/2005: Very specific...I want to get back down to graduation weight before my 20-year college reunion. That means 40 more lbs. Path to success is cutting out one of my major food groups - sweets - and redoubling the exercise effort.
(3) Have More Fun: I bust my butt and make good money, but need to enjoy the fruits of my labor a bit more. To that end, I have already booked a trip to Italy in September 2005 with my wife and 3 other couples who are good friends that we don't see nearly enough. We are renting a very nice villa about 45 minutes outside of Florence for a week and doing the whole "Under the Tuscan Sun" thing.
I am also going to do my best to get to GenCon this year. I have never been, have wanted to go for 20 years and am going to try and swing it this year. Even if I can't make the whole event, I would love to be there for a couple of days, make the EN World gather, play some games, etc. I have blocked the time out on both work calendars...now I just need to get spousal buy-in!
Gaming falls into this category. My long running Faded Glory campaign is on hiatus and I have taken a 6-month sabbatical from all things gaming (except cruising these boards). I do plan to get back into it around mid-2005, but may look to play or DM a shorter, more frequent weeknight game instead of a more infrequent weekend game to leave more time for family.
(4) Run a Marathon: Those that know me can attest that I am not built to be a runner; built like a dwarf, not an elf (5'6", 195 lbs). Since I have dropped some weight, I started running again for the first time in over a decade. Before the weather got too cold, I worked my way up to 4-5 miles 3x per week at about a 9:30 per mile pace - not fast, but servicible. I have never run a marathon (closest I came was the Berlin 1/2-Marathon in 1987 when I was stationed in Germany), but I figure I can train up for either the Baltimore or Marine Corps marathon in the fall of 2005.
(5) Put Together Another MD-VA-DC Game Day: I had a great time at our 10/2 Game Day...met lots of cool EN-Worlders (Xath, Cthulu's Librarian, Rasyr, Psion and others)...got to demo Grim Tales...etc, etc. It was a pain to put together, but well worth it. I just need to do a better job of delegating next time (control freak that I am).
Here is wishing everyone a safe, happy, prosperous and gaming-filled 2005!
~ Old One
PS - We should do a mid-year "Resolution Check" to see how we are all doing
!
Good thread for 4:30 AM on New Year's Day when the 2-week old baby won't sleep and the wife is deep in the throes of baby-induced sleep deprivation
!Let's see...to set the stage...
42 years old, two kids (a two-year old and 2-week old), work 60+ hour weeks (full-time job + part-time professional practice that brings in as much money as my full time job), average 12+ commuting hours per week, too much stress and not enough fun.
However, my "day" job does provide me with 4 weeks of paid parental leave to help out with the newborn, so I get the month of January off (which means no commuting...wahoo!).
Last face-to-face gaming was the MD-VA-DC Game Day on 10/2 at University of Maryland...
My resolutions are:
(1) De-Stress: Being a driven, type-A, ex-military personality isn't all it is cracked up to be
! My life is way too f***ing busy and stress is the result. Not good for the heart, mind or body. I had an "incident" about 9 months ago on the return commute from my day job (2.5 hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic) - chest pain, numbness down the left arm, tingling in my left hand - classic heart attack symptoms. Called my wife (a nurse) from the car and had her meet me at the hospital. Spent the night, full cardiac work-up, treadmill stress-test, etc. Turned out to be nothing more than severe stress, but it was a clear wake-up call that I wasn't taking care of myself. Since then, I have dropped about 25 lbs, been exercising much more regularly and have cut-back on non-essential commitments (which, unfortunately, includes most gaming activities).My main outlet for stress relief is exercise, but winter makes that difficult. I have 2 bikes - keep one on-site at my day job and one at home - but I don't enjoy riding in sub-30 degree (F) weather. I may take a page from Eric Noah's book and get in indoor trainer. I also need to lift weights more, take up Pilates or yoga and carve out 15-30 to actively relax, meditate and decompress.
I currently work 1 day a week from home and have the full-court press on to get another tele-commuting day per week.
(2) Lose 40 Pounds by 10/6/2005: Very specific...I want to get back down to graduation weight before my 20-year college reunion. That means 40 more lbs. Path to success is cutting out one of my major food groups - sweets - and redoubling the exercise effort.
(3) Have More Fun: I bust my butt and make good money, but need to enjoy the fruits of my labor a bit more. To that end, I have already booked a trip to Italy in September 2005 with my wife and 3 other couples who are good friends that we don't see nearly enough. We are renting a very nice villa about 45 minutes outside of Florence for a week and doing the whole "Under the Tuscan Sun" thing.
I am also going to do my best to get to GenCon this year. I have never been, have wanted to go for 20 years and am going to try and swing it this year. Even if I can't make the whole event, I would love to be there for a couple of days, make the EN World gather, play some games, etc. I have blocked the time out on both work calendars...now I just need to get spousal buy-in
!Gaming falls into this category. My long running Faded Glory campaign is on hiatus and I have taken a 6-month sabbatical from all things gaming (except cruising these boards). I do plan to get back into it around mid-2005, but may look to play or DM a shorter, more frequent weeknight game instead of a more infrequent weekend game to leave more time for family.
(4) Run a Marathon: Those that know me can attest that I am not built to be a runner; built like a dwarf, not an elf (5'6", 195 lbs). Since I have dropped some weight, I started running again for the first time in over a decade. Before the weather got too cold, I worked my way up to 4-5 miles 3x per week at about a 9:30 per mile pace - not fast, but servicible. I have never run a marathon (closest I came was the Berlin 1/2-Marathon in 1987 when I was stationed in Germany), but I figure I can train up for either the Baltimore or Marine Corps marathon in the fall of 2005.
(5) Put Together Another MD-VA-DC Game Day: I had a great time at our 10/2 Game Day...met lots of cool EN-Worlders (Xath, Cthulu's Librarian, Rasyr, Psion and others)...got to demo Grim Tales...etc, etc. It was a pain to put together, but well worth it. I just need to do a better job of delegating next time (control freak that I am
).Here is wishing everyone a safe, happy, prosperous and gaming-filled 2005!
~ Old One
PS - We should do a mid-year "Resolution Check" to see how we are all doing
!
EricNoah
Adventurer
Old One said:
I believe this is what I bought (and from this website too):
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=15846&subcategory_ID=4120
So for a few months a year I ride my bike outside, and the rest of the year (in theory!) I can ride inside.
Evilhalfling
Adventurer
1. Read 20 worthwhile books this year
- my 2004 goal was to read 50 books for the first time which I made WHEE! but looking back 9 were worthwhile, 7 were awuful and there was a lot of mediocre Sci-Fi and fantasy
2. Have a less dangerous New Years - this one was back in my home city after several years away, and my old friends are a pretty wild bunch...it was fun at the time,
but as a movie it would have been rated R for sexual situations, and brief nudity.
- my 2004 goal was to read 50 books for the first time which I made WHEE! but looking back 9 were worthwhile, 7 were awuful and there was a lot of mediocre Sci-Fi and fantasy
2. Have a less dangerous New Years - this one was back in my home city after several years away, and my old friends are a pretty wild bunch...it was fun at the time,
but as a movie it would have been rated R for sexual situations, and brief nudity.
Last edited:
Xath
Moder-gator
Old One said:(waves at Xath - Hi Gertie!)
(5) Put Together Another MD-VA-DC Game Day: I had a great time at our 10/2 Game Day...met lots of cool EN-Worlders (Xath, Cthulu's Librarian, Rasyr, Psion and others)...got to demo Grim Tales...etc, etc. It was a pain to put together, but well worth it. I just need to do a better job of delegating next time (control freak that I am
Howdy back.
Count me in on this resolution. Last time was too much fun not to do it again.
haiiro
First Post
For me, 2005 holds an absence of New Year's resolutions.
I've made them for the past two years, with mixed success -- though overall I'd say it was a positive experience. But so much of my life changed in 2004 that I really don't know what to expect out of 2005, and I don't want to be shackled to something that makes sense now but might not next month, let alone a year down the line.
I've made them for the past two years, with mixed success -- though overall I'd say it was a positive experience. But so much of my life changed in 2004 that I really don't know what to expect out of 2005, and I don't want to be shackled to something that makes sense now but might not next month, let alone a year down the line.
Hida Bukkorosu
First Post
1.) get my room to some degree of organization and actually put up my posters and stuff. to be done by the end of january.
2.) find some form of income. again to be done by the end of january.
3.) ask out at least 1 girl before i graduate.
2.) find some form of income. again to be done by the end of january.
3.) ask out at least 1 girl before i graduate.
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