I haven't blogged in a while (and I've been very bad about keeping track of my reading page) because I've been preoccupied with work and getting caught up on various shows I've let lapse. I also had a pretty severe depressive episode at the beginning of the year and had to deal with an activation lock being put on my iPad that I couldn't disable. Things seem to be on track again though, and (now that I have access to my iPad again) I'm hopeful I'll be able to start working out again regularly this week.

Something that I never got around to doing was a proper New Years' Resolution post. After giving it some thought, I've settled on five things of (varying) degrees of seriousness that I'd like to put my energy into this year. If I manage to hit 2-3 of these I'll be thrilled.

1) Write More - I made a post a few weeks ago about unfinished 18+ drabbles I've had sitting in my drafts for ages, and something I'd like to do is publish one fic (or one chapter of a fic) or an original piece of writing, once a month every month this year. In the past I've gone through waves where I publish four things in a short period then don't write for a year. This year I'd like to make actual headway and even complete some stuff I've been working on as far back as 2011.

2) Exercise Better - In 2017 I made a resolution to work out consistently and I did it. Over the course of the last two years I've lost over 60 lbs, and I'm relatively close to my goal weight, so I'd like to put more energy into varying my workouts away from simply burning fat on an elliptical and actually getting in shape. Unfortunately, in order to do that I'll need to join a gym, and I need to figure out a way to do that where I'll actually go and not waste a ton of money like the last two times.

3) Do More at Work - I like the flexibility and ease of my job as it is, but over the last few months I've really felt like I've been coasting and not pulling my weight. The nature of what I do means I'll been obscenely busy for two weeks and then barely have anything to do for two months, and it is a very weird feeling. I've already started to make headway on this, and I'm looking forward to tackling a new project in earnest this week.

4) Figure Out Longer-Term Career Stuff - With all of the above said, I don't anticipate staying at my current job forever. It is not what I studied for in school and doesn't tie in with any particular interest I have. This year I'd like to figure out more concretely what I want to do with the rest of my life, and do research into next steps I can take (such as Grad School) in order to achieve it.

5) Watch One Season of Classic Doctor Who per month - This is very silly compared to the other goals, but I'd like to reach the end of the Fourth Doctor's tenure by the time this year is over. I'm currently in the seventh season (the first featuring the Third Doctor) and if I do one season per month, I'll be watching the eighteenth season (the last featuring the Fourth Doctor) in December. I don't feel like this is an unrealistic goal, and to be honest I'd rather not drag the process of watching the Classic series out over the course of years, so the sooner I can finish the better.

I'm also gonna carry over a couple of resolutions from 2018: Do more stuff! And do new stuff! I had a lot of fun going on trips and experiencing new things and life milestones last year and I'd like to do more of them this year. I need to make more friends irl though, considering how busy and spread apart all my college friends are progressively getting.

Oh, and I'll do my best to use this site more!