Attempting 2016 Resolutions Again

I think I skipped last year with a resolution post for 2015. I think I failed my 2014 so miserably that I thought doing one for 2015 was a waste of time. Also, a reminder of what a year of failure I had. Well, even though I did not have a list, I would of failed at it. I think last year was very unmotivating to me. I tried to escape this year with minimal effort and I’m sure it showed from time to time.

I say it every year, but this year is going to be different. I hope. Every thing needs to be reviewed and looked upon in a new light. This is my last full year before I turn 40. I’m halfway through a life and have a lot of work ahead of me.

I started looking over older lists and realized I had either recurring items or just items I never accomplished so just carried it over from year to year. These recycled items are:

A different elf puts something on our shelf on NYE

We never had an elf on the shelf. Never had to hunt for elves a month prior to Christmas. Snooping around our house. However an elf does break into our house on New Year’s Eve. It all started last year when a strange letter was left on our coffee table.  It was a letter from Nerd Y. the Elf who is Santa’s head elf in charge of “nerdy” subjects like comic books and games. Nerd Y. also shares the same initials as New Year’s Eve. So, this is one of his favorite holidays.

The elf took notice to our family’s NYE tradition of playing games all day long with each other. We break out the cards, dice, the classics, and any new editions we got for Christmas. Video games are also played but we try to downplay them and go with a different type of interactive game. Nerdy loved the tradition and his buddies get together and roll a d20 by the fireplace up north. He wanted to add to our excitement so he hid a game somewhere in our house on the morning of New Year’s Eve. The game was Munchkin by Steven Jackson and is one of our favorite card games of dungeon crawling and back stabbing.

This New Year’s Eve I know the elf will be back but what will he bring? I hear its a game with a fun word to say like Qwirkle or Babaganush. We already got 2 games for Christmas and one of them is becoming a top favorite,  Apples to Apples.  The other game is the starter set for Dungeons and Dragons (red box). I never played so I guess I should read the rules so lil Eddie knows what he is doing. Some of the other games we will likely play on NYE is Munchkin, Clue, Magic the Gathering, 3 man chess/checkers, Scrabble, cards, Dungeon Run, and more.

I hope a lot of other families could be visited by Nerdy. Gather around a table with family and friends too. Put Dick Clark’s Rockin’ Eve on in the background. Order a pizza. Make a drink. Roll some dice, flip a card, kill a meeple this New Year’s Eve. Stay in and don’t battle the roads with drunken revelers.

This has become a great family tradition. I know my kids love it. I hope this carries over to their families when the time comes.

Goals/Gameplan for 2013

Here we go again. It’s a new year and it’s time to post up my list of goals to do this year. These aren’t resolutions because resolutions never last. I will probably break a resolution by the time I am done typing this post. This is also not meant to boast because I think I am far off from others on being able to boast. I am just throwing these items out there into the blogosphere to create some sort of accountability that I need to accomplish more than half of the items below. I feel better about myself when I can physically see items being crossed off of my list. Sure, I can easily keep all my goals in my head but it is not the same.

It is not specific but the items towards the top of the list are more important to me than ones towards the bottom. They all carry some weight in the grand scheme of things but I would rather take my kids camping than replacing all the light switches and outlets in the house. Scratch that. I’m not going to waste any brain cycles on prioritizing them.

So without further ado, here is the 2013 goals: