Six months on

At the start of the year, I posted six New Year resolutions. I put them online specifically because knowing they were a matter of public record, I would be more encouraged to stick to them, since my success or failure would be public too.

The year's now half over, so it seems like a good time to go back to the scorecard and try to figure out how well I'm doing so far.

This year I will:

• Get more exercise. Haven't really been doing this, and I can't blame it entirely on the weather. And I think I'm gaining weight. A few years ago that didn't seem possible. Success: Not really.
• Read more books. I've read a few. I even put the titles on the website sidebar while I'm reading them. But I'm still a long way from reading every day as a matter of habit -- I just need to reserve the time for it. Success: Somewhat.
• Blog more often. Nope. For the past six months this site has been a wasteland, with only a handful of decent entries. This isn't one of them. Sorry readers. Success: Nil.
• Complete, and maintain, another website. The site in question is The Sky is Falling and it's going well. It's been running for five months now and it's updated six days a week. Its audience has grown every month, too. Sometimes people even leave comments. Success: Definitely.

By the end of this year I will:

• Finish a personal creative project. Haven't started this yet, but have one or two ideas. Well, one idea. And it's not very good. But there's still time. Success: Not yet.
• Start working out a career. I haven't even landed a job yet. I'm not even sure what kind of job I really want -- so far it's been individual jobs, not types of job, that have appealed to me most. I'm still stumbling around in the dark. And I just stubbed my toe on something. Success: No.

That's 1.5 out of 6 resolutions achieved. Not too impressive, really. If only my six resolutions had been:

• Cover a pinboard in job ads
• Perform abysmally in an interview
• Learn a magic trick
• Stagnate socially
• Suffer from allergies
• Shave off that stupid beard

...then I would have a 100% success rate right now. Ah well, hindsight is 20/20.

So there we go. It's a good day to reaffirm my commitment to the six original resolutions. I won't mention them again for another six months, but my final score will hopefully be a lot better than 1.5. Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion. How can you possibly handle this much suspense?