I don't really subscribe to setting new year's resolutions, but I don't hate people who make them either. I see resolutions usually as a list of things to change, whereas I usually set out to achieve some broader goals, which you may consider the same thing or totally different. With that said, I didn't really consciously set myself any goals for 2013, or if I did I certainly don't remember them now, but I do know that I introduced some goals during the year, and so I will use them as the basis for this review.
- Finance
- Home Loan
- I did not initially have a goal to pay off the home loan by the end of the year, but with the payout that Jason and I each got for changing jobs (voluntarily or otherwise) during the year, it became a goal by the middle of the year. The last payment was made in the middle of December and a week later the home loan account disappeared from my online banking. So long, farewell.
- Job
- I was getting pretty sick of my job and intended to once and for all make a change. As it turned out I just missed out on the chance to get a redundancy (although I may have been one of the unlucky few to be kept on without a say in the matter) but I had another job to walk straight into (actually I had three to choose from at the same time after spending a few months looking without much success). So I finished up my old job after about nine years and eight months and started my new job at the university on March 15. A few months later I even got a bonus payment for a software patent that we submitted before leaving, I had completely forgotten about it.
- Health & Fitness
- Running
- I plan to write another article soon which lists the running events I have participated in over the past year, plus there is a running page that lists some of my all-time records. I've gone from occasional to regular runner without any debilitating injuries so far (just the ongoing and never ending left calf and knee problems, but I've pretty much given up on those). I can now run under 4 minutes per kilometre for 10 kilometres or more, which was a nice round number to get to, 3 minutes per kilometre is of course impossible unless you're an olympic athlete, so 3:45 and 3:30 would still be very difficult, but not impossible to achieve in time.
- Weight Loss
- I had the very stereotypical goal in 2013 (actually since December 2012) to try and lose weight, since I was up around 86 kilograms. Since I was quite poor at eating less, most of my opportunity for losing weight came from extra exercise, in particular running at lunch time during the week and then some races on the weekend. I started the year at 84 kilograms and ended at 71 kilograms. Now I would be able to just control my wait at or below 70 kilograms without having to worry too much about my eating habits - by doing enough exercise to take care of it.
- Other
- Study
- My goal in the past years has been the same, try and complete one certification course each year. This year it was going to be the Java Web Services exam, but being busy with the change of jobs I didn't get around to it. No matter though, as I had to attend a four day course for ITIL which ends with an exam and certification. The exam was a breeze, I think I got two incorrect answers for a total of 95 percent.
- Recreation
- Cooking
- I've been cooking my own vegetarian dinners for years now, but in 2013 I discovered a bit of an interest in baking as well. It's fun to learn a few new cooking skills and as a bonus you have something sweet and tasty to eat at the end. The bakery tag lists all of the things I have baked.
- Holiday
- I don't know what the hell I was doing or thinking between 2003 and 2008 (the first six years I was in full time employment) but I never went on an international holiday for this entire period (excluding a one week work trip to Hyderabad in India). I guess I was desperately saving money to pay off my HECS debt, buy a car and then try to get a good deposit for a house (in an increasingly more expensive housing market no less). I will try to look through my old emails and stuff some time to try to piece together what I was doing between say 2003 and 2012, but that's a different story. Despite changing jobs, I was just able to squeeze in a good international holiday. I opted for South East Asia for a couple of reasons: (1) it was much closer, meaning a much shorter (and less painful) plane trip and (2) it didn't require as much time off, and I only had two weeks of annual leave. A full review of my holiday is available from this Asia Holiday 2013 index page.
- Music
- I've had a separate music page going for some time now. Stupidly I never put any dates against the bands, so I can't go back and see how many bands I went to see last year. I try to see at least five good bands a year, but I don't get much time to listen to new music right now, so I've probably missed a lot of opportunities too. The bands I can remember seeing in 2013 includes:
- Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
- Crystal Castles
- Franz Ferdinand
- Metallica
- Metric
- Muse
- Reading
- I purchased a cheap model Kobo e-book reader during the year. Prior to that, I don't think I'd read more than five or ten books combined over the past several years. So my travel to work and back is now either listening to music (or ESPN podcasts), reading books on the reader or catching up on sleep...in particular I got stuck on the extended version of The Stand for months it felt like, I've started listing all of the books I've read (or can remember reading) on a separate books page.
- Video Games
- I still just play video games at an irregular rate. I've probably got about twenty good quality Xbox 360 games I haven't even started yet. The only game I really dedicated a good amount of time to in 2013 was Grand Theft Auto V. I don't have a goal to play more video games, just be able to have a bit of time to relax and play some games from time to time. I compiled a list of my gaming history from 2007 to 2013.
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