2014 Resolutions Recap

When 2014 started, I had set ten goals for myself. Now that the year is over, it’s time to review how well I did at completing them.

1: Run at Least Two Marathons

I was originally planning to go for two marathons in 2014, a 50K in 2015, two 50Ks in 2016, and a 50-miler in 2017. Instead, I knocked out a 50K in February, a 50-miler in May, and still completed two marathons in June and October. On top of that, I ran a trail marathon (Masters of All Terrain in June) in the blazing heat, a trail 50K (Bandit Ultra Trail Run) in California, up and down mountains, and the Chicago Marathon in October, one of the six World Marathon Majors. I call this goal Beyond Achieved.

2: Complete an Olympic-Distance Triathlon

This one was completed back in March when I completed the Greater Cleremont Triathlon. I did better than I thought I would and was hoping to work up to a Half-Ironman Triathlon, but other things got in the way and I didn’t ride my bike for a while. Now it’s got some issues that need repairing before I can start training again. But nonetheless, this goal was easily Achieved.

3: Get Scuba Certified for Nitrox and Advanced Open Water

I got my Nitrox Certification in January and my Advanced Open Water Certification a couple days into February. I followed it up by getting Rescue Diver Certified in July, but blew out my shoulder during the class – an injury I still haven’t recovered from. I think Rescue Diver is as far as I’m going to go with my certifications, especially with how expensive scuba diving is, but I did have some great dives this year, including diving with sharks and diving in Zanzibar. This goal was Beyond Achieved.

4: Go to Burning Man

I quickly decided that I wasn’t going to be able to complete this in 2014 and it wasn’t high on my priority list anyway, so I scratched it. That’s the beauty of having 10 goals for the year and have some very difficult goals is that I can feel perfectly fine in scrapping a few. Therefore, I must mark this goal as Retracted.

5: Go Hiking

The goal was to hike a long trail – the John Muir Trail, the Appalachian Trail, or Mount Kilimanjaro. Well, I completed Mount Kilimanjaro on November 15th (summiting on the 14th) after a 6-day trek. I still need to do a write-up on this hike, but I did post pictures. However, even without the write-up, it’s still Achieved.

6: Travel Outside the Country

Like I just said above, I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in November. If you don’t know, Mount Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania. And if you don’t know, Tanzania is in Africa. And if you still don’t know, Tanzania is another country and Africa is another continent. I also took a trip to the Bahamas for a day for scuba diving, but does that really count? Africa however took 35 hours to fly to and 40 hours to fly home from. I got to travel through Paris and Amsterdam, but never left either airport. The flights out, climbing Kilimanjaro, and most of the flights home I was by myself, which got lonely at times. I was so excited when I finally met up with the rest of our group for the safaris and I was also excited when I got home and could talk to people again. International Travel? Achieved.

7: See My Sports Teams Play Live

This didn’t go as well as some of the other goals. I saw the Bruins play in Tampa in the early part of the year, but that was it. The Celtics suck so bad, it’s not worth the money (and I hate the NBA anyway). The Red Sox had a crappy year and I didn’t make it to Tampa for a game. The closest the Patriots came was Miami, but that was Week 1 of the season. If they came to Miami later in the season I might have gone. Or if they came to Tampa or Jacksonville. Next year won’t be much better, but the New England Revolution will be down to play Orlando now that Orlando is in the MLS. For 2014, I have to mark it as Partially Achieved.

8: Write Something

Erm… So I didn’t even bother posted in this blog for most of the year. I guess I’ll mark this one down as a Failure.

9: Meet New People

I met so many new people this year. I made some friends at karaoke, I made some new scuba diving friends, and I got to meet a lot of people in my travels from Africa to Chicago. I also got into online dating and had a few dates (and some no-shows). I’d say this goal was Achieved.

10: Find Something New and Jump Right In

This was really more of an abstract idea in my mind. I started going to karaoke regularly, which kind of qualified, though it wasn’t completely spontaneous. Traveling around the world was also a big jump, but again not spontaneous. One spontaneous action that I definitely remember from this year however was going to Universal and riding Dr Doom for the first time. A friend of mine convinced me to get an annual pass and we went with some of his other friends. I had never ridden Dr Doom or any ride like it due to my fear of heights. When asked if I would ride it, I said yes and hopped right on. My palms were sweaty and I was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane, but I did it. And then I did it a second time a month later, though I was still shaking like a leaf. Any way you cut it – Achieved.

So there we have it, 2014 contained one Failure, one Retracted goal, one that was Partially Achieved, and seven that I completed successfully (and sometimes went even farther). I’d consider that a successful year.

Karaoke @ Post Time Lounge

I’ve done karaoke a few times in my life. The first time was while I was at Relay for Life in 2011, nearing the midnight hour a couple co-workers and I all took a turn singing. I sang Get Over It by the Eagles while one of my coworkers recorded me.

Near the end of 2012, I went on a cruise to the Bahamas for a week and the last two nights of the cruise I went out to karaoke. The first night I just sat back and watched for an hour before heading out, but the second night I got into it early and often singing Take It Easy by the Eagles, Addicted to Love by Robert Palmer, It’s Gonna Be Me by N*Sync, Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley, and Size Matters by Joe Nichols.

The next time I did karaoke was at Relay for Life in 2013. We had set up a karaoke machine at our tent and had four discs with music, all from 2009. I did parts of some songs to try and attract attention to our tent, stopping to allow donators to sing. The one song I truly did was during the Mr. Relay competition where I was dressed in drag for an hour trying to collect money. Another contestant and I did a duet of Single Ladies by Beyonce.

Bahamas Cruise

Last September I decided to go on a cruise on my week off from work. I found a cheap deal for a five-night Carnival cruise leaving from Port Canaveral and making three stops in the Bahamas. On Monday I hit the gym near where I live before heading off to Port Canaveral and boarding the ship. It was a couple hours before we could access our rooms, so I had to lug around my backpack for a while and decided to get something to eat at the buffet.

Once I had access to the room, I dropped off my stuff and started to tour the ship. We had to meet up before debarking for our safety drills, so I went to that once called. On leaving the area we were meeting in, I found myself at the front of the ship, so I stood there and watched as we left Port Canaveral. I was joined by many other cruisers wanting to watch the debarkation. As Port Canaveral faded off in the distance, everyone else left, but I hung around for a couple more hours just watching the sea and the sky embracing each other on the horizon as the sun sank in the sky.

The second day of the cruise was a day at sea, which I spent lying around in the sun and reading some books that I brought along with me. Although I had lathered myself with suntan lotion, the heat caused me to sweat most of it away and by the end of the day I was majorly sunburned. I spent most of the afternoon bouncing from shady spot to indoor activities such as the sauna and steamroom or the gym.

The third day we anchored at sea and they ferried people to Half Moon Cay. It was a beautiful location, but due to being sunburned I stayed on the boat, spending most of the day in the shade of the hot tub and lounge area reserved for adults only. The fourth day was a stop in Nassau, which looked okay from the ship, but since I’m not a huge fan of cities, I decided to relax on the ship again. I was still majorly sunburned and didn’t feel like worsening it for Nassau. That night I decided to go to karaoke and enjoy the singing of non-professionals. I didn’t partake on this day, but I enjoyed watching as others did.

On the fifth day, the ship stopped at Freeport, which was even less impressive than Nassau. Again, I spent my time on the boat lounging in the shade reading books or partaking in indoor activities. That night, once again, I went to karaoke and this time I got in on the action early and often. I started off with an Eagles song – Take it Easy – and then started going through songs of many genres – It’ll Be Me by N*Sync, Size Matters by Joe Nichols, and Jailhouse Rock by Elvis. I chatted with one lady most of the night and we left karaoke and toured the ship together, from the upper deck to the closed adults-only area at the rear of the ship.

Eventually we ended the night as we had to be up early the next morning to disembark back at Port Canaveral. No hanky-panky for me. I disembarked and drove home on Saturday morning, a little disappointed that I came so close to getting some and the cruise was over, though I did have a lot of fun while I was out there. I was more disappointed by the lack of singles on the cruise; I only came across two the whole time I was out there. I was also disappointed that I got sunburned and had to spend most of the trip making sure not to make it worse.