Last week, New Years Eve, someone asked if I have any New Years Resolutions. Casual conversation. I remembered dutifully noting my New Years Resolutions back in 2018 and then trying to hold myself accountable quarter by quarter.

Didn’t really work; there’s the quarterly updates for the first and second quarters (even though, oddly, I labeled the second quarter update “Q3”…) and then that’s it.

I didn’t make a list last year. I think it’s because the year started hard and only got more difficult from there. Christmas eve, 2018, a boulder killed my Pontiac Vibe and I was scrapping to find a new car as 2019 came ringing in. The following month my phone drowned. Then there was a flood. A move. Work, work, work… And then Winston died…

I really miss that guy.

I want to start the new year by looking back a little bit. I’d hoped to do some reflection during the holiday break, but I ended up being pretty busy – more on that in a minute. So I’m going to take a moment to be thankful for some 2019 things:

• I’m proud of what I went through. That sounds pretty straight-forward, but like I was really proud of how hard I worked in 2018 (between my day job and two different bartending gigs over the summer and fall), 2019 saw a lot of big changes between my car, phone, living place, heck, I even changed departments at work. And I lost Winston (I’m not crying, you are!).
  …And yet, I think I’m a better person today than I was a year ago. Trial by fire? I don’t fucking know. I want my dog back. But I’m here. Still standing. I’m grateful for that.
• I’m proud that I was able to put together a third annual 31 Ghosts in October. I really love doing that. It’s hard. It’s fun. I don’t know if anyone’s reading, but it doesn’t matter. This is me dancing whether or not anyone’s watching.
• I’m proud of December 2019. Catering bartending dries up with the fall. November offered just a handful of gigs, so when holiday party events started showing up on the calendar, I jumped on every one I could. More quickly than I realized my dance card for December become over-full. I had several 12-hour days and 7am Day Job starting less than four hours after I hit the bed. I even managed to link a bartending gig in San Jose with a conference for Day Job that kept me away from home for the better part of a week (but had the benefit of being able to hang with my brother Jay and his wife Denise).
• I’m proud of what I accomplished this holiday break. I try to build at least one project in the downtime between Christmas and New Year’s. In 2016 I built my sewing table, 2017 was the surrounding “tower”. In 2018 I built my guitar case rack. This year I planned to do a number of things:
  1. Sand, prime, and paint the bathroom: one of the unfinished aspects of my new place was the bathroom. I’d planned on doing this since I moved in, but one thing led to another…
  2. Put up my pot rack in the kitchen: I got the pot rack a number of months ago, but one thing led to another…
  3. Put up the corner shelf unit in the kitchen – henceforth the Koffee Korner (yes, with “K”s!!). The corner shelf unit had been in the back since DE rebuilt the kitchen, but one thing—I’m going to stop saying this, okay?
  4. Bar Cart: I have a lot of alcohol. Please understand, I don’t consume a lot of alcohol, but I do have a lot. In the Mushroom Hut I had a great alcove where I could keep all my bottles, but I don’t have such a place here and it’s all been either taking up counter space in the kitchen or residing in hard-to-get-to milk crates. I resolved to build a bar cart that would slide into an open space beneath the kitchen counter.
  Dear reader, I got all three done! The bathroom is extremely white now (I need to put up pictures). The pot rack looks great, as does the Koffee Korner!! And the bar cart? Finished it yesterday. All my bottles fit! Oh, and I even managed to get in a great motorcycle ride last Friday!

• Finally, I’m patting myself on the back because I weighed myself this morning. I generally don’t like weighing myself for all the standard reasons, but I’ve made a ritual of weighing myself at the beginning of the year. Surprise, surprise, I’m down to my lowest weight since 2013. What’s more, comparing it to the beginning of 2018 I’m down 30 lbs.
  I’ve got a lot more to go, but, hey, nice job, Jordy.

So, what about 2020? What’s planned?

Nothing.

Okay, not “nothing”, but I’m not going to hold myself to resolutions. I want to publish more here. I want to get at least one podcast off the ground. I want to get my passport! I want to live a healthier, more productive life. I want, well, to be happy and fulfilled this year.

And with that, I’m going to head out and get this year started!