The Infrequent Blogger: 2018 Goals

Remember that time when I said I was going to try to blog everyday? Then I pared it back to once a week? Yeah, I do, too. I could offer excuses but as my dad often said, "Excuses are meaningless;  your enemies don't believe them and your friends don't require them."In the spirit of making this more of a regular thing this year, here are some goals for the new year ahead:

1. Stop following and engaging angry people online - even the ones with whom I'm philosophically aligned.
2. Play more electric guitar. I have a house full of guitars and I need to put them all to better use.
3. Listen to more new music. While I probably listen to more new music than the average listener, due to my freelancing activities, I still feel like I miss out on a lot of good stuff. I fall back on familiar old albums, bands and playlists and when I do find something new that pumps my tires, I tend to play it into the ground. I have hundreds of new records sent my way every month and it would take very little to throw on the headphones and surf through more of them.
4. Eat less sugar. This will be a hard one (TWSS). Friends know that I have a rapacious sweet tooth and if there's any sort of confectionery goodness in my house, I will attack it like a tornado blowing through a trailer park. I've read a bit of research from Dr. Tim Noaks, who insists that our collective sugar addiction is more potent than anything you'd smoke or snort and I tend to think he's right. Of course, you don't hear of people staying up for three days on Snickers bars, so it doesn't receive the attention it likely deserves when compared to other forms of addiction.
5. Improve on the ice. In 2017, I ended a 25 year hiatus from playing hockey and unsurprisingly, it was a blast to be back. I hooked up with an adult skills clinic to get my legs back, then joined a couple of leagues. After 9 months, I've still got a good bit to go, but I find myself steadily improving the more I play and more importantly, when I play with guys at a higher level. Maybe I'll hit a weekend skills clinic or maybe I'll just play in a higher league, but hockey is such a great workout and so much goddamned fun that it's an easy area of focus for the new year.
6. Focus my discussions on more positive topics instead of feeding my lower impulses to complain or gossip. Another maxim a friend once shared was, "Never pass up an opportunity to keep your mouth shut." I hope to follow that a bit more diligently this year
7. Plan fun activities. My delightful gf is always down for an evening of nesting, but we live in such a gorgeous part of the planet, surrounded by beaches, mountains, hikes, and interesting road trip destinations that demand to be explored. Between my day job, writing and hockey, I'm usually pretty gassed so I want to manage my time better this year to leave plenty of room for day trips and weekend getaways.

Happy 2018, everybody!