So, last year, I had a huge list of ambitious New Year’s resolutions and ended up accomplishing almost none of them because 2016 was such a garbage year in general and for my partner and me in particular. The last couple of days, I’ve been doing my best to mentally and emotionally unburden myself from all that bullshit, though, and it’s going alright. I’m not going into 2017 with no cares or worries, and I’ve got one last bit of 2016 business (wrapping things up with insurance after a car accident I was in the day before Thanksgiving) that I’m only going to be finished with in another week or two. But compared to how tightly wound and overburdened I was feeling even a week ago, I’m doing pretty well.  However, I’m also determined to not go into 2017 with any very high expectations. My failure to achieve goals and milestones last year was a major part of my latter-half-of-2016 malaise, and I’d hate to go through that a second year in a row.

So this year I’m keeping things simple, thinking smaller, and focusing on reasonably achievable goals that I can revisit and expand upon as the year goes on. Secondarily, I’m concentrating on building new routines and recommitting to routines that have worked well for me in the past. No need to reinvent the wheel, right? I was doing pretty well a couple of years ago. Just gotta get things rolling again.

Reading

• Last year, I read 108 things that counted as books on Goodreads, when I had a goal of just 72. This year, I expect to read about the same, so I’ve set my Goodreads Challenge goal to 104. Two books a week should be eminently doable.
• Last year I started with a goal of reading one nonfiction book per month. I totally failed at that, but I still think it’s a reasonable goal if I just plan better, so I’m sticking with it this year with the intention of actually do it.
• I’ve been happy with the diversity of my reading, for the most part, but I’ve been trying to read more short fiction the last few months. To continue that trend, my third reading goal for 2017 is to read at least one collection of short fiction–a magazine, anthology, or single-author collection–each month. With a couple of Kickstarted projects on their way over the next few months and a subscription to Uncanny‘s Year 3, I don’t think this will be a problem.

Writing

• In the past, I have struggled to stay caught up on writing about the books that I read. This year, I will be writing about everything immediately and before I start my next book. This should ensure a more steady stream of book content on the blog and prevent any mid-year meltdowns over how behind I’ve fallen.
• I started last year with the goal of writing at least some fiction every month, and I didn’t. I do have some ideas, though. Instead of a word count or other goal, this year I intend to have just one story written and ready to submit for publication by the end of the year.

Health and Fitness

• Counting calories. It’s not for everyone, but it was working well for me before I broke my foot, and I appreciate the combination of mindfulness and accountability involved with it. I updated MyFitnessPal today and will be back on track with it starting tomorrow.
• Drink only water. It’s unbelievable the calories you can unthinkingly consume with sugary drinks. And I’m certain that giving up caffeine will have a positive impact on my sleep patterns and energy level.
• Yoga. Three days a week.
• Cardio. At least 30 minutes, five days a week.
• Walking. 2 miles, five days a week.

Cooking and Food

• Learn to make my own pasta.
• Cook with a totally new to me ingredient once per month.
• Make at least one vegetarian meal each week.

Political

• Call or write to my legislators weekly. A thankless task for a leftist in suburban Ohio, but it ought to be done.
• Get involved in local government. Currently looking at opportunities in my town.
• Hit a Nazi with my purse if I get the chance.

Personal and Miscellany

• Get a tattoo. I’m about 95% certain of what I’m going to get. Just have to find an artist and get it done.
• Learn a new skill. I’m thinking knitting, but I haven’t decided yet.

So, yikes. It’s been a while, and (as always) there’s a somewhat good excuse for my absence and lack of updates (although I’ve been somewhat active on Twitter, even when not putting out anything longer here).

Here’s the deal: fucking bedbugs. We found a few in my daughter’s room last week, and a couple more in several other places in the apartment. Apparently, even if you just have a few, you have to treat it it like a full-blown infestation, and this is expensive, time-consuming, and just–generally–extremely disruptive to one’s life. There’s no way of knowing where they came from (I would guess one of my daughter’s friends’ houses, but they could have come from a restaurant, theater, hotel, grocery store or literally anywhere according to the exterminator), and everything about having them (and it really is just a few of them–fortunately, we caught them early, even though not as early as I originally thought/hoped). In any case, everything about this situation is an absolute nightmare–from the bugs themselves, to my daughter’s reaction to them, to the smell of pesticide, the constant psychosomatic itching, the non-stop cleaning and laundering and vacuuming, and so on–and I have been unable to accomplish much of anything creative or writing-related for two straight weeks.

So, basically, everything is terrible.

The good news, such as it is, is that there is–sort of–hopefully–an end in sight for this mess. We’ve already had an exterminator here once, and he’s coming back this week for a second treatment that will hopefully take care of things. With any luck, we’ll be able to put all our stuff away soon and life can start going back to normal. This week, I’ve got a couple of things planned already, and I’m hoping to start getting caught up on some backlog of work I’ve been meaning to do. Most significantly, I’m planning to get caught up with writing about some of the shows I’m watching this season, so watch for that. I’ve got a couple of book reviews almost finished and several more to do, and I’m hoping to make some progress there as well. That said, I still have no idea when the exterminator is actually going to be here this week, and there’s always the outside chance that he’s going to have more bad news for me when he does show up. So, no promises. I figure if I keep my productivity goals very low, I’m less likely to be disappointed and self-hating at the end of the week.

This whole situation, combined with other life stresses (this fucking year, you guys) and this hot garbage fire of a U.S. election season, has caused me to plunge into, well, maybe not an actual depression but certainly a decided funk after a couple of years of relatively robust mental health, so I’ve been, frankly, trying to focus on self-care in order to head off any potential mental health crisis. There’s good news on this front, as well. A combination of good books, enjoying the nice weather, and judicious application of alcohol seems to working to help me keep my head above water, bad brain chemicals-wise. It’s not perfect, but it beats the abject misery of a straight-up bout of can’t-get-out-of-bed-or-enjoy-anything depression, which is something I’ve felt precariously close to for months.

TLDR: I have been away from blogging for life reasons, which sucks, but I’m trying my best to get back on track and have some hope that I will be successful in doing so soon-ish.