2024 Goals

I plan to take an art class this year. Next year the splash drawing could be Kayur-generated.

I caught Cat in a moment of weakness: we spent one of our recent dates discussing and hammering out our 2024 goals. This year, we have joint goals. Let’s see how we do.

Joint with Cat

• Run a marathon. Running a marathon is a long standing goal that I’ve failed to achieve. This year, I’ve pulled Cat into my legacy of failure. We have 11 months to get ourselves into shape for the Seattle Marathon. She already has a couch to marathon plan set up, so who knows, we might make it.

My first marathon attempt was the 2009 Vancouver Marathon. I sprained my ankle on an early training run and ended up running the half. This picture was taken right after we finished. I’m in much less pain then the folks who decided to run the full.

• Go on 18 dates, just us. Last year we went on 23 dates, 10 were double dates. We love hanging out with our friends, but we missed having regular one-on-one adult conversations with each other. Talking to your partner makes the relationship feel like more than just a long war of attrition against the children. We’re gonna up the number of one-on-one dates.
• Read or listen to 6 books together. Over the years, I’ve fallen out of the habit of watching shows or going to the movies. I listen to audiobooks, watch YouTube, and occasionally, play video games. As a result, Cat and I don’t have a common source of media upon which to form common cultural references. A few years ago, we had a habit of listening to audiobooks together. It was possible because we had a lot of free time on monthly, cross-country flights and long car rides to visit my parents while my dad fought cancer. We listened to some awesome sci-fi/fantasy by Naomi Novik and N.K. Jemisin. This year we have some new Naomi Novik books and lots of audiobook time together as we train for a marathon. A book every two months seems reasonable.

Physical

• 30,000 pushups and 30,000 sit-ups. Apparently, Pete Davidson tricked Alec Baldwin into doing 100 pushups and 100 sit-ups a day. If it works for the Boss Baby, why not me? I’m over 40, so I toned down the total number to give me a rest day or two each week.
• Do one rep of 10 pull-ups. Self explanatory. I used to be able to do 10 pull ups. When I could, I was stronger and my shoulder hurt less.
• Track my mood for 200 days. There were a lot of changes last year, lots of excitement and a lot of stress. At times, I felt out of control, and this year the change will be even more intense. Tracking my mental state should keep me anchored.
• Eat less than 183 processed, fried, or red meat meals. That’s one meat meal every other day. This goal is both harder and easier than last year. It’s harder because it’s just less. But it’s easier because I’m relaxing the definition of meat meal. As I work out more, I want an easy, healthy protein source like grilled or roasted chicken. And since my motivation is primarily health related, I’m gonna include white meat in the OK category.
• Do a knee rehab program. After I posted my 2023 recap, friends and family pointed me to Knees over Toes. I did some research and folks seem to have reduced knee pain. I’m gonna try it (or some variant), worst case I’ll strengthen supporting muscles and gain flexibility.

Personal (Kids)

• Leela can read. Leela loves stories. She loves hearing them. She loves creating them. Reading will unlock worlds for her to dive into. I’ll be working with her to make that happen. I got this book, and we have been going through it slowly. It’s tough, but I think she can do it by the end of the year.

Pravin reading with Leela. When he’s “good” he can be very sweet to his sister.

• Leela can ride a pedal bike. Last year we enrolled Pravin in PedalHeads. He now knows how to ride a bike. This year, hopefully, we can get the same results for Leela.
• Pravin and Leela can swim. Over Thanksgiving, we rented a nice AirBnb in San Diego with a swimming pool. Pravin just jumped into the pool, and he hadn’t been swimming for a while. When he did, he freaked out. I had to jump in fully clothed to save him. When I pulled him out, he shamed me for not teaching him to swim and made me promise to get him swimming lessons. This is my way of following through on that promise.
• Pravin can make his breakfast. Don’t get too excited. Pravin’s breakfast is an Eggo waffle with almond butter and honey. He can already put the waffle in the toaster. If he can apply the almond butter and honey and do the same for his sister, we might be able to get an additional 30 minutes of sleep.

Personal

• 2 Friend trips: With the new startup and Cat’s travel schedule, I’m not traveling as much as I was before. That means I don’t see friends outside of Seattle. A few intentional trips can go a long way.
• 2 Family trips: My cousin is getting married in Chicago, and we have a trip to visit my sister in Dallas during the eclipse. We have these trips planned. Maybe that’s cheating, but I’m ok with it.
• Sort through all our books: We haven’t unpacked our book boxes in the five years we’ve been in the house. We have a lot of books, and have accumulated more over the years. We’re gonna gather all our books together, pick the best ones, and find a good place to display them.

We turned a wall into a mini-library at our old place. All of these books are now in boxes that we haven’t looked at in five years. On top of that we’ve accumulated more books. Something’s gotta give.

• Create an attic space for kids. As the kids get older, separating them is useful. There is room for them upstairs. Pravin or Leela can color or watch tv or act crazy, but away from their sibling.
• Organized and functional playroom. The need for better toy storage and organization has become clear after this year’s Christmas haul. They just have too much stuff and the pieces all mix into each other.

Creative

• Update photo wall. I was supposed to do this last year. As I mentioned, Leela is starting to notice pictures of herself on the wall. It will be a matter of time before she realizes there are more pictures of Pravin. To avoid future therapy, I must become un-lazy.
• Read 26 books. 10 books from existing collection. I have piles of unread books. This is a common phenomena. As I sort through and organize our books this year, I want pick some to finally read.
• Create a wardrobe. I want a uniform and a capsule wardrobe. I already dress like a cartoon character — red hoodie, white t-shirt, jeans, and all black nikes. All of these pieces could be nicer, more intentional. They could fit me better. I also want a couple nice outfits — one or two pants and 2–3 shirts that go with each other.
• Redo website and blog. My website is functional, but dated. I want to update it and move this blog to it. I kinda want to make it look nice, but I’m so wary of bike shedding on the site that I never take the first step.
• Take an Art class. Drawing or some sort of digital art class seems easiest. But I can also see myself taking another comedy class or writing or something more dancey with a performance at the end. I just need to flex my creative juices a bit.
• Frame and hang artwork. As I cleaned the attic last year, I found a lot of artwork — some of it needs framing, some of it needs a new home, some of it can just go up on a wall.