i think i’ll start ’05 by looking forward before looking back, mostly because resolutions i should get started on right away, whereas best of ’04 lists should not theoretically change depending on the first few days of the new year.

even more importantly though, perhaps i should take a second to leaf through last year’s resolutions to see which i accomplished, which should carry over, and which were utter failures…

resolutions for 2004, with results:

— read an average of 2 or more books a month.

failed at this, reading only about 1.5/month, a low in recent years. decided this was okay, since i went out so much more, actually living life instead of reading so much about it. hope to find a happy medium this year.

— write here regularly, become better writer, try writing something that isn’t a weblog post.

did pretty well at this, right? you should probably be telling me. and i also have a new project to be unveiled shortly, so that last part worked out as well. will try to keep up at this and you’ll see on the new stuff soon.

— talk to more people who aren’t already my friends.

not bad, i’d say… getting better all the time. and made friends with some of my neighbors who are awesome, so that’s pretty sweet.

— much more importantly: actually talk to girls instead of just looking.

well, i’m still bad at this, but i take consolation in the fact that everyone i know is also bad at this. maybe this year we will all simultaneously improve, wreaking havoc on the female population.

— more quantifiably: get at least one number per month.

i told myself last year should be the ‘year of the ladies’, and i did date two people and sort-of-see a few others over the course of the year, so i didn’t do too badly — but to be honest i totally forgot about my monthly quota so i can only assume i didn’t quite measure up to this one. and for now i have a lady friend (yes!), so the requirement is waived until she gets sick of me.

— a sub-goal of the previous: get at least one number from someone i meet at a concert.

technically succeeded, but that business ended really sourly, so i’d like to think something more positive still needs to be accomplished in this arena.

— ride my bike more, and more regularly.

utterly failed. sometime in june i think i rode it after having neglected it for months, and the tire popped before i got four blocks from my house.

— learn to cook more real food.

also utterly failed. i didn’t even try with this one, but as with the bike, these two were more pie-in-the-sky resolutions anyway.

— cross an ocean.

totally accomplished! prague was beautiful and exciting, i have a passport, and i have to say i’m probably most proud of this one.

— sleep with someone who works at my office.

possibly could have at one point but thought better of it in that case. have not sought out other opportunites so far, probably wisely.

— visit new american cities i’ve never seen.

hmmm… spent too much money crossing the ocean to do this. do airports i’ve never seen count?

— have an affair with an older woman.

yeah, i still am only attractive to the younger ones, it looks like. oh well, in a few years time women that qualify as ‘older’ compared to me won’t be in the sexy range any more, so then i’ll be in the perfect place with my appeal to the young. i can sleep with 27 year olds when i’m 30 instead of now, that would be fine with me.

coming soon… new resolutions for a better brian.