5 For 2017: How'd I Do?

1. I am getting that tattoo, damn it.

 Well, that didn't happen. I know exactly what I want to get and where I want to get it and I just have to make the appointment and do it. Guess what's rolling over to 2018? That's right...  I am getting that tattoo, damn it.
2. I'm declaring this my Year of Books

I did do a ton more reading than I had in years past this year...  I haven't been reading exclusively from the list and I have taken some detours (Lincoln In The Bardo, Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion) but I think I'm going to make it a goal to finish this list in 2018.

The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
Before The Fall, Noah Hawley
War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Ulysses, James Joyce
Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse
Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig
Use of Weapons, Iain M. Banks
Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson

3. I want to up my writing/blogging game.

I started 2017 with maybe 8K in pageviews... right now, I'm ending the year with 25K in pageviews. I'd call this one a qualified success. But going forward, I want to try and make it even better and make it more of a 'thing' if that makes sense. If the main rule of social media is to have your own website to build your channels off of, then I want this blog to be the foundation of whatever the hell it is I'm doing going forward.

4. I want to be my best self.

This was pretty vague, but I'm journaling. I'm doing my Tai Chi. I'm practicing gratitude whenever I can and trying to stay positive? Does this count? In general, I try not to be an asshole whenever I can, but I don't always succeed. I think the bigger thing is that I always try.

5. The Great Debt Snowball of 2017

Our first year at trying to apply 'adulting' to our financial management went well. We had some wobbly months, but are ending the year on the right note. We paid off two credit cards this year and assuming the dogs don't bankrupt us like they did in the back half of 2017, I feel good about getting something else paid off this year and putting us in the driver's seat for 2019.

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