I can’t remember ever really making a meaningful New Year’s Resolution, much less whether or not I ever stuck to it/accomplished the goal (the bookies wouldn’t even put those odds on the board). This trend will continue because pledging to do one single thing is rather easy (unless it’s like “get married”, which is a stupid thing to resolve to do, anyway). Therefore, if just a single one is easy… how about 100? Ranging in degree of difficulty and time-required-to-accomplish, this is a real challenge/way of improving.

I am putting the following one hundo Pledges for 2009 on my Post-It wall (take one second and appreciate how clean and pristine and fresh that wall looks, on January 1). I intend to do all of these by January 13, 2010. Check ‘em out, motherhubbard:

1. Don’t wish anyone a Happy New Year; based on the logic of “Happy New Year”, why don’t we wish everyone a Happy New Monday or New Week or New Month? Yeah. No! None! You should wish someone a Happy New Year on their birthday, not blindly on January 1… which is why I’m posting this list on the day after my birthday, as that is the Justin Brown New Year’s Day.
2. Travel to Canada.
3. Lose 20 lbs. by the Final Four (early April).
4. Get a new video camera.
5. Get a new digital camera.
6. Take more pictures (at least one per day, as part of my Image-ination idea).
7. Make more videos.
8. Decrease my list of “Number of States I’ve Never Been To” from 31 to something in the 20s.
9. Train Riley to be inside as much as possible.
10. Finish the two scripts I started in 2008.
11. Put at least $20 aside, per week (for no particular reason).
12. Get new glasses.
13. Ride my bike more (at least three times per week).
14. Maintain (or increase) my daily Tumblr-post average of 1.3 per day.
15. Collect state quarters for Nanny.
16. Move at least one truckload of stuff out of the attic, each month.
17. Overhaul, organize, and clean out the bathroom cabinets.
18. Go with the shirt-and-tie look more often.
19. Play guitar more.
20. Finish my clonetrooper helmet project.
21. Ask at least one question to a stranger everyday.
22. Ask more questions, in general.
23. Not-be in New York City on Saturday, May 23 (I just have this hunch that something terrible happens on that day).
24. Train enough to be able to do 25 pull-ups in one set.
25. Train enough to be able to do 100 push-ups in one set.
26. Get better at cooking; learn to make at least two real dishes, per month.
27. Buy more Old Dominion University paraphernalia.
28. Drink 75 ounces of water everyday.
29. Use the elliptical more.
30. See how long I can go without eating candy or cookies (longest streak wins a cookie from Harris Teeter on Christmas Day).
31. Learn to play Poker.
32. Sit up on the roof more.
33. Take advantage of Planet Smoothie’s Monday-Thursday Happy Hour $2 smoothies as much as possible.
34. Always get the smallest fountain drink available.
35. Decline plastic or paper bags at stores if I don’t need them (you could read into this as some sort of environmentally motivated ideal but I look at it more as “I rarely need a bag and so I should save the store from giving one away to someone who doesn’t need one”).
36. Eat while driving as little as possible.
37. Eat while using the computer as little as possible.
38. Go to at least one Braves game in DC.
39. Eat out less.
40. Tweak everything slightly, just to be different (i.e., sit in a different spot on the couch).
41. Go to a batting cage and try to hit some baseballs.
42. Chew more gum.
43. Finish all the books on my “I have yet to read these” shelf before buying another book (you can still give me a book as a gift, though… I’m just forbidding myself from buying any more, on my own).
44. Donate one article of clothing for every article purchased (I generally do this already but would like to make it a science in 2009).
45. Incorporate more unique and interesting adjectives into my vocabulary (consult Thesaurus, if necessary).
46. Do push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups.
47. Get more into yoga.
48. Get a new driver’s license picture (plus, I want the horizontally-oriented license reserved for people over 21).
49. Develop my graphic novel idea.
50. Read more books (starting with those mentioned in #43); aim for one per week.
51. Finish editing that thing [title omitted for your safety].
52. Wear socks to bed (it apparently helps you sleep).
53. Attempt to go the entire year without saying the word “amazing” unless quoting something. It’s easily the most overused adjective of the last five years and I will no longer stand for it.
54. Stop waiting until Tuesday morning to take the trash cans to the curb; do it Monday night.
55. Donate more money to more than one charity (I like The V Fund plenty but I should spread it around).
56. Clean out upper shelves in my closet.
57. See if I can get down to a 32-inch waist.
58. Organize trading cards in storage closet.
59. Make dinner once per week.
60. Watch at least one movie I’ve never seen before, per week.
61. Eat at/shop at places I’ve never been to before.
62. Learn how our washing machine and dryer work.
63. Do laundry.
64. Watch all six Star Wars films on May 25 (I should do this every year… instead, I’ve only done it once).
65. Shoot hoops more.
66. Try Thai food.
67. Get organizer/storage thing for my rolled art/prints/posters (one of those compartmentalized cardboard wine/liquor boxes could do the trick).
68. Make all the gifts that I give more personal.
69. Apply to more jobs (at least one per month).
70. Get a coffee table.
71. Go to more than one concert (that’s a bad job by you, 2008 Justin).
72. Look people in the eyes more often.
73. Do more crossword puzzles.
74. Finish my HD-DVD project.
75. Go unshaven for a while and see where it goes.
76. Watch more basketball (I’ve slacked off way too much — I haven’t written about sports on here, in general, as much because I think it’s a very boring subject but I still feel like I should be watching more).
77. Start making models (even if it just means blowing them up on film a few weeks later).
78. Finish things faster. Rationalizing long work periods as “I’m a perfectionist” really doesn’t work for me, anymore.
79. Look at it as “being responsible”, not as “being stressed”.
80. Use the hot tub more.
81. Wash my hands more.
82. Look awesome without a shirt on (separate from the lose 20 lbs. thing).
83. Learn another language (probably Spanish).
84. Delete unnecessary duplicate Yahoo account once Fantasy Basketball season is over.
85. Think of a more fun way to greet people when answering the phone.
86. Give more gifts to more people (reasons not required).
87. Figure out an awesome ruse (unrelated to Christmas, a birthday, a wedding, or a baby shower) to get a ton of free gifts for very little reason. Do people give you gifts if you lose a bunch of weight? I didn’t, last time, but if I am 50 lbs. lighter than I was in May 2007… I think that’s celebration-worthy. Plus, what’s a baby shower if not just a party for your soon-to-occur weightloss? The only difference is that I didn’t have sex to gain weight and once I lose my weight, I never have to see it again/pay for it. I think that warrants a few gift cards.
88. Get dessert at a restaurant. I don’t think I ever have and I always feel bad about stonewalling the waiter.
89. Get more sleep. I’m going to die at 50 if I keep playing the “2-4 hours per night” game. Although if I slept an average of 4 fewer hours than the average person… by age 50, I had just as much “living, awake time” as someone over 72. So, maybe I should veto this. Actually, no, I like the idea of sleeping more. It’s one I can really work on.
90. Use stairs instead of elevators/escalators at all times when confronted with climbs of seven floors or less.
91. Send out Valentines.
92. Get a sweet watch.
93. Always pin my socks together when throwing them in the wash.
94. Eat more fiber.
95. Work on not-getting upset when my mom refers to Darth Vader or Iron Man as “that robot man”. *deep sigh*
96. Take vitamins/minerals everyday, not just when I remember to do so.
97. Finish my “pictures from weird old cooking and design books” project… wherever it takes me.
98. Keep all of my movie ticket stubs for the year.
99. Get a cool telescope (for the roof).
100. Think of 100 things to put on this list.