Slowly Climbing

Despite my motivation, 2017 was off to a rough start. I almost don't even have to say something like that at this point; it should just be assumed that I'm having a hard time, especially in January.

Mainly, our water filter exploded. While we had to wait for the replacement to arrive, our lives revolved around using other people's plumbing. It was an unpleasant delay, and we seem to be without water for one reason or another about twice a year.

Lately I've been poring over my Truman Retrospective folder, expanding the outline, revisiting old files. I had hoped to have it near completion by February, or sometime in February, but it's going a lot slower than I'd thought. And I have made it bigger than I originally described/intended. I will blog more about that when I come back around the bend to it, but right now I'm kind of burned out on it an I'm moving on.

I have goals in many areas for this year, but I haven't gotten ahead in any of them.

The core set of 2017 goals is a list of twenty. That is not counting the category lists of other objectives. Twenty is a good number, because I can just roll a d20 and focus on whatever number it landed on. Most of these goals consist of professional development, honing my skill sets or adding new ones, while the rest are massive creative projects that can't possibly all get done in a year.

I might lay out the actual list of 2017 goals, but I still want to play my cards close to the chest. Granted, by now most people have abandoned their New Year's resolutions and can't begrudge me looking the fool for failing in my own, but I am still sore about January being a bad start to the year.

One thing I've been doing is keeping a daily journal of sorts. It's not a journal of thoughts or feelings or anything, but more of a time sheet than anything else. I thought of it right before Halloween, actually, but decided to sacrifice November and December simply because it would be tidier to have it start on New Year's Day.

You see, looking back on years of this blog, I kept kicking myself for not keeping a better record of chronology for little details that seemed inconsequential. I remember my own thoughts and feelings with almost eidetic precision, but constantly find myself asking, "When was that?" So I don't need a diary. What I need is a log. It's my own private supplement to this blog, because it's far too bland to publish. I am listing the things I did, the music and mindset of the day, and even sometimes the weather. On more noteworthy days, I list exact times. This way, for posterity's sake, I can better relive certain situations in my mind. But I have yet to do anything worth remembering this year. So far, it's just a bunch of entries like this one:


01/07/17 SATURDAY

I dropped Liam off for my morning piano lessons (Brad and Jacob), giving the Rogue One soundtrack a preliminary listen. After picking Liam up, I went to Florence to organize the house but it was too cold to stay long, so I went back to Ray’s. Eventually, after putting Liam to bed, I watched Batman: Gotham Knight.

Some of them are even drier than that. It's for me, though. It's an investment on future nostalgia, so to speak. Mainly, it's there to clear up any confusion I had about when something happened. I probably won't find this useful for a few years to come. Maybe closer to New Year's Eve, I'll skim and see what 2017 was really like, for perspective. I don't know, but I am glad I'm doing it. Some days I forget and have to fill it in the next day, which almost defeats the purpose. New habits take continuous attention to develop.

Of course, putting all that energy into making sure I keep up with my 2017 Daily Journal means it is even harder to write a blog post! But here I am, faithfully reviewing the first month.

I have more to say about 2017, about one goal in particular, which I will save for the next post. Stand-alone topics make tidier blog entries.

February had better be good.