10 For 2025: The Final Verdict

 1. Look, I've been saying it for years now, but this has to be the year of Book 4. It's grinding away, little by little but at minimum, I'm going to get this damn thing into a workable draft format this year. If I'm very lucky and write very well, I might be into revisions by the end of the year and beating into shape for a final draft and a release. I have no idea why this is taking so long. I have no excuses to offer. I just really, really want to get this- at a minimum- closer to the finish line this year. 

VERDICT: FAIL-- though not for lack of trying. I'm going to work on restructuring this one and turning it into what it needs to be in the new year. I've got about 40K words, so I've gotta start molding and crafting and making this into something. 

2. Let's Get Some Vinyl: I finally got another tattoo and will probably get another at some point this year, but I really want this year to be the year I expand and actually use/listen to our vinyl collection more. We need more storage for it and I'd like to make purchases from our local store and find some place other than Amazon to snag more records for our collection.

VERDICT: SUCCESS

3. Social Connection: I want to work on being more present when I'm not at work (which has been a lot lately) and start reconnecting with old friends and making new ones with the Missus. I'm going to pull the more noxious social media off my phone so it's not constantly in my pocket. We've also got a 13 year old now, so it'd be nice if the Missus and I can sneak out to eat at some of the places around town we've often wanted to check out. 

VERDICT: SUCCESS-- I do need to do a better job at staying connected with old friends, but we had one hell of a holiday party a couple of weeks back and it was really nice to see people and catch up again. More of that in the New Year, I think!

4. Semi-Professional Development: Some of this will just happen through the course of things at work, but I want to be more intentional and active about it. (2-3 classes/trainings) but what I really want to do this year is get into AI and more importantly, understand how to use it properly- so far, I've only nibbled around the edges of it and I have a feeling it's going to be increasingly important going forward on a variety of fronts.

VERDICT: SUCCESS-- I think I'm thinking and approaching this very differently than I was at the start of the year.

5. Financial Health: A month or two ago, we sketched out a rough financial road map for 2025. I want to stick to it as much as possible, work on finding the best budgetary practices for ourselves, and keep our communication active and frequent with it comes to the budget. (TL;DR: previously how we handled our finances could be charitably described as 'a bit slapdash'. I'm hoping planning and structure will help change that somewhat.)

VERDICT: PARTIAL-- I'm going to give myself half-credit on this. We're getting there, but the end of the year throws everything into mild chaos. I'm hoping we can really lock in come January-- I also want to go see our TIAA CREFF person and make sure we're making all the right moves retirement wise. (God, I'm old.)

6. Health: Get back on the Intermittent Fasting and stick with it, treadmill for at least 30 minutes three times a week, kettlebell/Bowflex at least two times a week, find a Yoga routine to unlock my hips and do that daily, if possible, once a week at minimum. 

VERDICT: PARTIAL-- I'm going to give myself a quarter point for this. I've been better and taking care of myself in the back half of the year. Going to the Dentist, the Doctor, the Therapist, that kind of thing-- need to get myself to a point where I can make exercise an integrated habit, so I didn't succeed on that score, but it's not like I haven't made any progress either. 

7. House Improvement Projects: Shelf for the Kid's Room, Workout Area Downstairs, and Built-In Bookshelves, Luxury Vinyl in the Bedroom and a Bedroom Overhaul. (There will probably be other stuff too, but those are the big four I'm starting with for now.)

VERDICT: SUCCESS! The built-ins are still coming, but everything else is done. So we're calling that good. 

8. Duolingo: At some point last year, I decided to go all in on French and that's what I did. Medium Spawn has also started on Duolingo and since he's doing Spanish, I'm going to make 2025 My Year of Spanish and I'm hoping to get to a 1300-day streak. 

VERDICT: SUCCESS! I should be just over a 1400-day streak by the time this post drops. 

9. Reading: I didn't hit 40 on my Goodreads for 2024, so I think I'm going to take another run at 40 this year. Here's the Official TBR List for 2025, if you want to follow along.

VERDICT: FAIL-- Ended up at 27 books for the year so got about 68% of the way there. Going to keep 40 for next year's goal though. One of these years, I'll actually hit it. 

10. The Annual Control Resolution: Have A List of New Year's Resolutions! (Thus, ensuring that I'm not a complete failure at this!)

VERDICT: SUCCESS!

So, what's the final tally: 6/10 fully completed, which gives me 60% on the year. Add in the half-point and the quarter-point for partials, and I rise up to 6.75/10, which put me at a 67% on the year. It honestly doesn't feel like I did that much this year. Really, 2025 felt like a struggle, so it's nice to see that I accomplished more than I thought I did this year.