It’s the beginning of April and the Giants hat in the picture serves two purposes – one, as much as any, it’s the start of the baseball season! The Giants are 2 and 2 and I’m happy with that right now. Tomorrow they have their first homestead and that as much as the glorious weather are showing the way to summer.

The second thing about that hat is it’s become my writing hat. It started as a fidget – the hat was in my office and I had writers block. I just put it on because it meant I didn’t have to stare at the blank screen. But as soon as I put it on, poof! The words came! I repeated it a few days later and, poof! More words! I hope this means the Giants will similarly find offense instead of just defense, but we’ll see! TWO AND TWO, I say!

Which reminds me, April also means the year is officially a quarter over. I’m honestly in a little bit of denial about this, but you can’t argue with the calendar. Well, sure you can, but people are just going to look at you funny. Funnier, that is. Back in January, I made some 2018 resolutions and I did say I wanted to “review every quarter to see how I’m doing.”

Lovely.

With no further ado, let’s get to the resolutions:

• Achieve low-hanging Bucket List fruit: Cross off five bucket list items this year.
  Number of bucket list items crossed off Q1: zero.
  Yeah, we’re not starting out great, are we? I have excuses – of course I do, right? – but it’s been a matter of time and money, or rather a scarcity of both. I have gone through the bucket list and thought about what is reasonable for the year, and I still maintain I will be able to hit five items this year. And since this resolution doesn’t explicitly say “x number of items per quarter” I’m technically not behind.
  No if I have nothing to show for myself come the end of June, then it’s time to admit I’m behind the proverbial eight ball.
• Selfie Posts! I’m not kidding: One Selfie Post a week. 
  On this point I can claim a victory! I admit, I’ve begun to stretch the definition of Selfie, but nonetheless, this marks the twelfth selfie post in a row since I started this. And, here’s a parade of Selfies thus far:
  
• Stick to a posting schedule: three posts a week.
  Not bad so far, and I’m proud of myself for this. Yes, a couple stories took the better part of two weeks (I’m looking at you “Utterly Unexplainable” parts 1 and 3!), but so far this year we’ve had a metal magician, a different perspective on a “Groundhog Day” phenomenon, a hit man who screwed up, Larry (destroyer of worlds), Last call on a space station, a dragon finding love, trouble in created realities, and then the three part story about unexplained belly button rings, three alien species, and sasquatches.
  It’s been a great quarter for stories! I hope you’re not bored, because there’s more coming.
  Oh, and I shouldn’t forget Five Things This Week. It’s expanded from exclusively linking to articles, to adding music, television, even shameless gadget plugging. I hope some of the stories and recommendations have been useful or at the very least put a smile on your face.
  To summarize: doing good on the schedule, and proud of it!
• 10,000 step days. ‘ll start small and build: At least 1 10K day a week in Q1, 2 10K days a week in Q2…
  Where the bucket list items couldn’t be technically gauged as a failure since no specific quarterly timetable was announced, I can safely say this is the resolution I have most egregiously flubbed. Without checking I think I might have just a handful of 10K days for the entire quarter. Yeah, totally botched this one.
  Okay, new quarter, new start. I’m hitting the reset button and starting this week aiming for 1 10K day a week each week for the quarter. Here’s to new-new beginnings!
• Shut up and make things! One completed project a month. 
  Yeah, I’m chalking this one up to time and money again, with a healthy dose of “weather,” as my construction area is the deck and it’s been messy to work out there. But that just counts as another excuse.
  I’m hoping to get this one started again for this quarter.

Honestly, these four resolutions are good ones and I’m glad I made them. Even though I’m only two and two (sound familiar??), I can say that the two I have been good on – the writing parts – have made a profound difference in my spirit and mood. There have been some major reasons for me to get pretty down these last few months – and anyone who has been around me can attest that they’ve probably seen me in those moments. But my writing has buoyed me like nothing else. I’m extremely proud of the quarter’s worth of writing that’s on here, and I’m excited to keep it up. Let’s make it a great spring!

Oh, and that podcast thing? Totally happening this spring!