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Half Past 2014


Daft

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So we always have New Year's resolutions thread but I thought it'd be interesting to see how everyone was getting in just past this year's half way point.

 

These were mine,

 

Finish my first draft by end of April.

Find an artist.

Carry on freelance copywriting.

Learn how to cross stitch.

Get 600 followers on Instagram by year's end (arbritrary and random).

Bench 150kg. Don't know how realistic this is. I can bench 110kg at the moment.

Do more powerlifting in general. Maybe try aim to do a one max rep Squat of 200kg.

Go bouldering more.

Finish reading East of Eden.

 

 

The first one was always ridiculously optimistic and I've worked much more than I intended/expected. I'm almost 70% done with my first draft (~62,000 words written), it has gone much better than I expected. I'm hoping to finish it in a few months...latest by October, my birthday.

 

Carry on freelancing - that's what I'm doing right this second. looking for a more permanent job, though.

 

Learn how to cross-stitch - done. Though I still never finished that Majora's Mask piece.

 

600 Instagram followers - currently on 695 so yay...or whatever.

 

More powerlifting - I started running instead...which is the total opposite. I will probably turn my attention to powerlifting when the weather starts to turn.

 

Go bouldering - haven't done and actually not interested anymore.

 

Finish East of Eden - Ha! Barely touched it, even though I love reading it. I've been reading way too many other books.

 

 

So I guess I'm pretty happy with that. I think. let me meditate on that.

 

 

So, how's everyone else's 2014 going?

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Continue enjoying life as much as I have been since starting university.

 

Done : peace:

 

Maybe a bit too much because I have exams coming up next week and haven't studied at all so far :blank:

 

Ah well....I enjoy life, so...fuck it :D

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Move to a nicer place, save more money, tattoo, write and draw more, one decent holiday, form more meaningful connections with people.

 

I'd also like to be more healthy, particularly with my diet.

 

Move to a nicer place:

 

- Resolved to stay in our current place because it'll allow us to save/experience more in the coming years.

 

Save more money:

 

- Almost. See above. Repeat visits to The Drowned Man (purchasing two sets of tickets each time) have utterly ruined my wallet the last few months. Regret nothing, it was incredible. The show is over now so saving can resume.

 

Tattoo:

 

- Within the next few months. It's coming.

 

Write and draw more:

 

- Yep. Almost have a 2 month buffer for an upcoming thrice-weekly comic and 100+ potential storylines jotted down.

 

One decent holiday:

 

- Visited Japan a few months ago. Can consider that one well and truly ticked.

 

Form more meaningful connections with people:

 

- Getting there.

 

I'd also like to be more healthy, particularly with my diet:

 

Haven't done so great at this one. I hit 30 in January, so plan to have a decent structure in place for health/fitness by then. I'll need it if I'm spending all day on my butt at work and then lots of free time sitting on my butt writing/drawing at home.

 

 

---

 

Overall I'd say 2014 is going pretty damn well.

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  • Lose at least another stone/become slimmer and stronger
  • Bench at least 100kg or more
  • Become a supervisor
  • Meet someone
  • Write in a blog every day
  • Finish writing my book

 

Lose at least another stone/become slimmer and stronger

I was 18st-ish when I began my dieting blog and now I'm 17st, I've lost 13cm all around my body and I am more fitter and stronger than ever before. I can lift heavier than I could imagine. I'm still going through the process but I've lost a stone, become fitter and stronger so this was successful

 

Bench at least 100kg or more

I can do 5 reps at 100kg benching and that's it. When it comes to squats, I can do 80kg and when it comes to deadlifts, I can do 70kg. I've put this as a pass because I've technically benched it even though I mainly bench 70kg because my arms are the weakest part of me right now.

 

Become a supervisor

Well, we all know that THIS was a success and is my most recent one! :D

 

Meet someone

I did do this but that went all wrong. This still needs to be done and I've no fear that it'll happen some time soon. Someday my princess will come /Disney

 

Write in a blog every day

I did this for quite a few months in my fitness blog but then I ran out of things to write so I stopped. I have a personal blog, a movie review blog and another fitness blog but I've not written in it every day. I've been told it's good and that I shouldn't stop so maybe I'll pick it up again.

 

Finish writing my book

This is going pretty well at the moment too. I've been writing the outline of it and going in-depth with a few things before actually carrying on writing it. I've had someone who is actually a published writer read the first few chapters and she said it was fantastic. We spoke on Skype recently and I told her about things and she said it's amazing how I've thought it up and that I should get writing straightaway. Hopefully, my dream will come true of actually having a published book in a shop! :D

 

All in all, fuck yeah! I've actually completed most of my ones! More than I thought!

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2014

- lose weight

- get a new job and move somewhere else

- (once the above two have been accomplished) try to meet somebody. If you don't meet anybody through new job/moving, give online dating a try (and actually do something on it, not just signing up and occasionally logging in).

- complete another half marathon. Bronze: beat old time; Silver: beat 1:45:00; Gold: beat 1:40:00.

- get laid (without acquiring a receipt)

 

- lose weight

 

Nope. Am a little bit fitter though.

 

- get a new job and move somewhere else

 

Nope, and I've kind of changed my plan on this one.

 

- (once the above two have been accomplished) try to meet somebody. If you don't meet anybody through new job/moving, give online dating a try (and actually do something on it, not just signing up and occasionally logging in).

 

I've done a fair bit on this, even if its not come to fruition.

 

- complete another half marathon. Bronze: beat old time; Silver: beat 1:45:00; Gold: beat 1:40:00.

 

I signed up for the Sheffield half marathon. I was out because I got injured, although it got cancelled anyway.

 

- get laid (without acquiring a receipt)

 

Nope. Will keep trying.

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Resolution in red.

Progress in blue

 

Get out of overdraft and start saving for a house

This is very slow progress, but I have started saving. Sloooow. We've also taken a hit on this slightly due to going on holiday and Ine starting a new job.

 

Increase my lifts. All of theeem

I've changed my routine and haven't been focusing on strength as much as previously. The overall look is better, though. Switched to dumbbell press instead of benching with barbell, doing a lot more dumbbell work than before.

 

Get lean for summer, but bulk at some point

Big achievement, this one. Am leaner, stuck to my cut and look pretty decent. Now looking at ways to keep the same bodyfat percentage but add more mass.

To turn our school football team from chumps to champions

Best player is leaving to join a rival school. Feelsbadman.

Save up for Rock Werchter in Belgium!

Didn't do this...we also missed out on Glastonbury and decided to go on holiday to Spain instead. :D

 

To improve my Dutch/Flemish and Spanish

Am still doing this, seeing a good improvement in both. Can more than hold my own in Spain and I'm finally understanding the construction for Dutch. Wooooo.

 

To start looking the basics of keyboard.

Haven't had time to do this yet, may look into this during the summer.

 

Somehow, someway, record an instrumental where I play bass, guitar and drums

I've actually started to do this! Not necessarily coming up with anything good, but I've bought a cable and have recorded a few little riffs for guitar and bass. Haven't got an electric drum kit yet, but am looking into this.

 

Think I've pretty well, tbh. I had a difficult period when my Dad passed away and the last few weeks of work were so utterly draining and tiring. But, I feel that the worst of it is over and it can only improve from here on in.

Edited by Fierce_LiNk
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Body fat 10%.

125kg squat/Deadlift

80kg Bench press

Play tennis at least 52 times

Score a goal for my 11s team. Not shit out of headers and challenges.

Get a booking - because I'm massive pussy when it comes to tackling

 

Bodyfat - I'm probably sitting around 12-13% at the moment (as estimated by Reddit) so I'm well on my way there.

 

125kg squat/80kg bench - took time off the weights to lose bodyfat, this will come towards the end of the year.

 

Tennis - I actually stopped counting because I was playing on average twice a week. I'm probably close to 52 already.Definitely going to do this unless I get an injury.

 

Score a goal - I missed a header from a few feet out, this will be my biggest chance. Season still going on though.

 

Headers - I've won a few! Shat out of a few others

 

Challenges - I totally halved a boy because I was a little bit late, he got the ball and I got his foot. It really should have been a booking so I'm taking that one as a win.

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-Pass fucking everything

 

I passed nearly fucking everything. As it turned out, that was enough, and it didn't set me back, but other problems arose.

 

-Find a job abroad during the summer.

 

I kind of... changed goals, here. I might end up finishing one semester earlier than expected, so making sure my next (and final) semester runs smoothly is more important right now.

 

-Do something new during the coming semester. Like learning Japanese.

 

I started tutoring, so there's that. But maybe I can get started on something else during the summer, too, like programming. Leaving Japanese for occasional self-teaching also works.

 

-----

 

Funny how my goals changed for the first two resolutions, even though they looked like the more straightforward, rigid ones.

Meanwhile, the third one is really something I shouldn't be slacking off with, so I'm determined to learn programming, Japanese and improving my German until the end of the year.

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Get a job

 

My PhD comes to an end soon, so I've been applying for jobs as a medical writer. I've performed a couple of writing tests for companies in both London and Cambridge (the one I want to work for is in Cambridge) and have met with the Cambridge folk at an open evening, and it looks like a really cool place to work. Hopefully I'll get an interview when I hear back from them next week, if the test outcome was good.

 

Get a PhD

 

At the end of this year, hopefully I'll have it, heh. I'll be the kind of 'doctor' that can help if you're suffering from a chronic sort of ailment, but other than that don't come to me. :p

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Well, of last year's I only kinda/sorta resolved the 'get a job' one, and even then it's not a proper job. Still, I'm counting it as a win otherwise I failed on all accounts. Saying that, I did move out and get my own place, which while not a resolution was a massive, massive step forward.

 

For this coming year, I already know I want to stop drinking coffee but that's less a resolution and more just something I hope that I'll minimise over a couple of weeks/months before stopping completely. Think my heart could do with a break from the at times excessive caffeine highs.

 

I think generally, I just kind of want to keep pushing to be a bit more open. Can be quite introverted in real life but I've been making a big effort over the last year to be more open, talkative and approachable to people, both with colleagues as well as with strangers/randomers/new people I meet day to day. I mean, previously if I was sitting outside with a coffee or something, I'd never strike up a conversation with someone I didn't know but I've done it loads this year and met some really great people, so just kinda want to keep that up. And who knows, hopefully it'll lead on to me meeting someone really special

 

Other than that, I know I'm sorting out my gym membership in January as I want to get back into running so there's that to work towards. I still want to learn to play guitar, so hopefully I'll do that. But more importantly, I want to keep up the drawing and start writing again to help break up the constant flow of research I'll be embroiled in.

 

Lets see:

 

Cut down on coffee - Have done a bit but could do with getting it down to 2 cups, 3 at most, a day. So 6 and two 3s on that one really.

 

Be more outgoing - Have accomplished this. Have been going out more, meeting new people, striking up conversations and just generally having a lot more fun. And as a result...

 

Meet someone special - ...Big ol' tick on this one. Met my current GF back at the very start of February and we've seen each other ever since and it's going amazingly. Extremely happy and genuinely see it as something which could go the whole hog :grin:

 

Gym Membership/Running - Didn't sort that in January and haven't exactly been as active as I could be as I have put on a bit of weight; a small amount but it's bugging me that I have. Really do need to get round to sorting this and get back to being more proactive with exercising.

 

Guitar/Drawing/Writing - Haven't made any progress on the learning to play guitar front but have done some drawing and writing, albeit small amounts. So not bad but do want to do more so just need to set more time aside to do these things.

 

All in all, I'd say I'm not doing too bad at keeping most of my resolutions. Some need a bit of work but have definitely accomplished more than I thought I would.

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Mine last year

 

Get/build a female companion.

 

Simple :)

 

Got so far as building and coding a robotic crane arm, but then got distracted by Generation VI of Pokémon. My attempts at wooing a human female also failed.

 

Same idea this year I guess

 

I have still yet to find or create a female companion so I have failed mine.

 

However, I have gained a fair bit of confidence in the last two months. Was able to do a big podcast with strangers yesterday, never would have been able to in the past, and meet a load of new people without panicking when at UK Nationals in May.

 

Small steps

 

Oh yeah. I guess I could aim to move out this year, but if I move out on my own, I fear I'll turn all Howard Hughes like.

 

Haven't moved out yet, though, but saving enough money so I can get a nice place when I do.

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Lose Weight

Become more Social

Leave my job

Get another job

Stop being a dick/idiot

Read more books

 

Progress

 

Lose Weight

 

It's in progress, i'm down 3/4 of a stone since Christmas. Which is good for me. I'm on target to lose a stone before the N-Europe Meet in August.

 

Become more Social

 

I'm not just hanging out with the usual friends, but got a few others which i'm hanging out with on different days of the week. So yeah, i think this one has been achieved.

 

Leave my job

 

Not happened yet, i really ought to just do a "go for it" decision and see what happens.

 

Get another job

 

Many applications rejected, still waiting.

 

Stop being a dick/idiot

 

Achieved, hence the social has increased

 

Read more books

 

I've read 2 books this year, but i still have the old book on the side not yet finished.

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