Past Year's Resolutions: How'd I Do?

Just a rundown of everything I had planned in January this year versus what’s actually happened. Because I no longer make idle resolutions, and you deserve the best Cracker you can get.

Get and follow a detailed schedule: done

I now keep a schedule per day, per month. It’s helped tremendously with the productivity issues, as well as chart some personal problems regarding confidence and staying active.

Make a short animation: sort of done, and then some

I had to scrap the idea of doing the whole deer and wolf chase scene, and ended up only animating the deer jumping. And even that is a proxy animation. I know I used to upload those silly Doldrum Whimper animations of him paddling along, but I’ll only publish this seven-second thing when I have a finished deer to swap out with . It looks wonky, but it’s an animation, and it’s a start, and it’s not even the only thing I made this year in Synfig. I made a few attempts at doing stick figure animation to use as a job portfolio, but it wasn't up to snuff.

Finish and publish one of my NaNoWriMo novels. Not done and not even close to done.

I’ve decided to turn it into a series, in the same structure/vein as the Rumble fics I did this year. Which is a huge task, because I’m not even satisfied with the first thing I wrote last year, let alone the part two I did this year.
I find myself still struggling at the concept level, and I think I’m going to have to really think my themes through, as well as make sure I’m not just copying the things I see. I have no estimated date for finishing or publishing the first part at the moment, unfortunately. I do have some more detailed character sheets and the beginnings of a model, but that wasn’t the point at hand. So that’s a fail.

Get all my colt OC's down into art form, for cover art/promotion purposes. Done and then some.

Well, you’ve seen how that’s turned out, haven’t you? All my colt OC’s are ready in Inkscape, can be posed and animated in Synfig, if not via their own puppet files then via proxies. And I got the Cutie Mark Crusaders in there . Granted, without their cutie marks, and I keep forgetting to put the highlights in the eyes, but meh, at least then I’ll know if someone steals it, right?

So that’s a resounding success. All the beloved colt OC’s are done: Whimper, Bastion (may need some more tweaking on his mane, but hey), Rumble (I know he’s not an OC, but he might as well be at this point), and of course Hammer, who isn’t a beloved OC yet but will become beloved in the future, I hope.

Get in shape physically and mentally. Not done.

I didn’t keep exact track of it in January, so I don’t know how much of a change it is, but right now I can kind of see the first two pieces of sixpack abs, and about half of the second rung. It’s not even the first row of sixpack abs, it’s smaller, like eight-pack. Plus, my ribs are showing a little more definition, I think, but again, didn't take any pictures, so can't quite compare. Anyway, I’m not at the level I said I wanted to be, so that’s a fail. I don’t think I’ve ever been as stationary as I have been this winter, and trying to do exercises in my room was an on-again, off-again affair, never lasted long enough to make lasting changes. Diet's changed somewhat, though, that probably helped.

Mentally, not a lot of change. I’m still going to bed around 23.30, still antsy, still avoiding pony because I can’t get my head in the right frame of mind, and, like the physical side of things, self-hypnosis and meditation practice was too on and off to get any progress.

I did try going off caffein this year a few times, and I did observe positive changes through that, but still not at the level I’d want, and I haven’t been able to stay off coffee for long. The headaches, combined with the stress of job searching and need for wakefulness, was just too much. Attention span went up a lot, though, so definitely worth looking into next year.

Get a working character in Synfig. Boy, is that ever done.

The CMC work. Rumble works. My stick deer proxy works. The hurdle to making a 2D animation has officially shifted from ‘getting a working puppet to animate’ to ‘learning how to animate.'

Oh, and learning how to draw would probably help.

Finish the review of the Niko movie. Done. No one cares, but it’s done.

It hasn’t attracted much attention, and the only comment on it is from someone I suspect didn’t even bother to read the damn thing, but I did it. I made my first rambling movie review, it’s 20 pages long, I have done my part for that fandom and I stick by it. And it was done before the year ended, so there!

Get a job. With pay. Not done, but progressing.

I’ve applied for… I think one job per month, on average, mostly because it’s such a niche thing I fit into and because, well, the application process takes a while for most of these things and I can't exactly multi-task on it. I did manage to pass the first level of testing for government work, meaning I am exempt from the first-level tests for three years. So that’s something. Still no job, though, and still no pay.

So has 2016 been a good year? Or rather, have I been good this year? Could have been worse, could have been better. Main thing I’m taking away from all this is that the goals I failed at were pretty vague. My next year’s resolutions will have to be specific if I am to find success.

But that’s for the next blog.

Happy New Year, everyone.