At the end of January, I made some goals for 2018 and set some milestones for what I’d do in February. Then I did a bunch of non-goal things, like skiing and going on a road trip that included more skiing (I’ve been on the slopes more days than I’ve ever gotten in a season before) and continuing to develop semi-local friendships (still thinking about how best to go about connecting with folks closer to home). I’m about to head out for more travel, but figured I’d at least try to sit down and do this overdue update before I go.

1. Photographing
My goal for February was to not fall more than a few days behind posting to my daily project on Flickr. I failed, falling a couple weeks behind at one point around my road trip. I’m caught up again now. I have no illusions that I’ll stay caught up in April, what with the travel I mentioned above. I can say I’ll aim to be caught up again by the end of the month. While I’m gone, I’ll be meeting up with one of the people from the Flickr group, a first for me, and hope that will change the dynamic I feel there for the good.

2. Reading
For February, I wanted to stay on schedule toward my goal of reading 56 books this year. I did, and as of now, I’m ahead of schedule for March before logging the latest titles I’ve finished. For April, just going to stay the course.

3. Writing: Nail Blog
I aimed to to eight posts on my nail blog for February; I did seven. Not bad. I did seven for March, too. In April, I’d really like to hit that eight threshold.

4. Writing: Online Journal
I wanted to do three entries here in February. Ha ha ha ha ha. I did one. Just one. These words I’m typing now will make two for March. In April, maybe I can finally reach three.

5. Resisting
I sucked at this. I talked back to bigots online, but that’s about it. I need to do better, start showing up to more events and making more donations to candidates and organizations whose values I support.

6. Organizing
For February, I was going to clear the stacks of old mail (mostly charity solicitations) that were sitting on the card table I use as a desk. I made a really good dent in these, moving a lot of paper to the recycling and shred bins and corralling the stuff that was left in one slim file box. I’ve mostly kept up with processing the new mail as it comes in, too. In April, when I’m not on the road, I’m going to focus on the studio/storage unit we have in town, with an aim to know what boxes are where. I started that project but got distracted.

7. Cooking
I was going to try one new recipe in February, and I did: maple BBQ chicken. It was okay, but I haven’t made it again. I don’t recall cooking anything new in March other than a purple and white marbled cake I made from a mix for my birthday, and I don’t think that counts. In April, I’m aiming to try one of the many recipes I’ve saved in Facebook.

8. Exercising
No problem here, what with all the skiing. We had a brief warmup during which I even took a walk; that worked fine until we got to the part of the road that was still snow covered, at which point, I wished I’d worn my hiking boots.

9. Losing weight
I set a goal to lose one pound in February, some way, some how. I lost five, primarily by not eating on the mountain as much (fries and cookies hit the spot in the middle of a ski day, but they’re not great for me). I was pleased as could be to maintain that loss during our road trip at the end of February/beginning of March. Since then, I lost a pound, gained two, gained another one, then lost six, then gained one, for a net as of right now of eight pounds down since the end of January. I’m pretty pleased with that since I haven’t had to struggle to do it. I want to at least stay even for April; travel will challenge me, especially as this trip does not involve skiing or other intense exercise.

There you have it: me and my goals as of the first quarter of 2018. Could have been better, but could have been way worse.