Happy New Year 2014!

2013 has come and gone.  For me, it's been a pretty major whirl of activity, and the whole year just seemed to breeze by.  A lot of it is because I recently moved to the lovely state of Utah; my first residence in the United States in over ten years.  With moving, of course, there's also the hassle of finding a new home, retrieving my car, learning a new job, and settling to my new environment.

Among the highlights of the year, I've visited the city of York before leaving England; during which, I got to witness the Jorvik Viking Festival, with people dressed as actual vikings fighting in front of Clifford's Tower.  Upon arriving in Utah, I've gone across the Alpine Loop a couple of times, to see the natural beauty of the Wasatch Mountains.  Later on, I got to visit Zion National Park, which features some impressive landscapes of its own.  Comic Con came to Salt Lake City, and it was such a massive success that there will actually be two Comic Cons in this area for 2014 (one real one, one fan-based one).  In winter, I took one more trip to Scotland, to see the areas of Fort William, Fort Augustus, and Inverness.

In between the moving and traveling, I've spent quite a bit of time watching films (including oodles of new releases), played quite a few new games (a few of which - Far Cry 3, Tomb Raider, The Last of Us, and Bioshock: Infinite - may be some of the best ever made), and I managed to read a few good books.  Unfortunately, I haven't made much time for writing; I've started work on revamping my first novel into something more presentable, but it still has a long ways to go.  In fact, all my projects are in need of major editing.  In spite of that, I still have a bunch of unfinished projects, and I have no real accomplishments this year to speak of.  I did start a new major project - Void - but it remains far from finished.

With all this going on, chances are that I'll remember 2013 the most as the year I moved to Utah, the place where I experienced Comic Con for the first time.  We may all remember this as the year where, for the first time ever, the world saw two Popes in power at the same time.  A meteor struck Russia:  the biggest object to hit the Earth since 1908.  The next wave of cutting-edge video game consoles have been released.  Obamacare tried so hard to take off, but with lackluster results.  The incident involving Edward Snowden came and went.  What surprises me the most, however, are the things that I never saw reported:  we might be on the verge of seeing the first human clone being produced in the world, and China sent a robot to the moon.  Is it me, or does our world sound more and more like some kind of sci-fi novel with a bunch of political drama?

After all this, it would be hard to imagine 2014 being any more eventful.  With a work trip in the very near future, and the prospect of exploring even more national parks, chances are that it may be even more eventful than last year.  Looking ahead, however, there are a few key resolutions I'd like to stick to, to hopefully make the most out a promising new time.  However, I found that dictating resolutions specifically can be inherently daunting, discouraging, and perhaps a bit negative; instead, I'd like to make goals for myself, to give myself something to strive for, as opposed to resolutions, which imply that there's something wrong with my life and I need to fix something.

Thus, I have the following goals for 2014:

• Finish the writing projects I've started.  Sadly, this was one of last year's resolutions, so I really need to get working on this and clear my slate! I have a few major novels and short stories that have been hanging around for years that I need to wrap up.
• I intend on losing 25 more pounds.  I lost 30 pounds in 2012, but I remained at the same weight throughout 2013, with little progress in proper dieting and exercise.  Now that I'm settling into my new home, it's time to establish a proper routine in physical activity and eating healthier, and stick with it.
• I still have a bunch of files on my PC that need to be sorted through.  Not quite as many as I had before, but there are still hours of video I've taken that I'd like to edit, and hundreds of photos to sort.  I expect that, if I devote time to it, I can get through my backlog of files pretty quickly.
• More reading.  I've only read a few books this year, and it always feels like I don't read as much as I should.  Reading is as important as writing, and as a writer, it behooves me to read more, to potentially learn from other authors and become more enlightened on the craft.
• Of course, there must also be more writing.  Not only in finishing stuff I've started, but also in general exercises, short stories, and even blogging.  I've blogged quite a bit in 2013, so I hope to continue the trend and produce another couple hundred posts for the next twelve months.

Happy New Year to all! I will try to make 2014 as productive as I can, and I hope you will to.