Taking Stock
Jan. 1st, 2024 04:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blogcutterSo in January 2023 I wrote the following:
https://blogcutter.dreamwidth.org/2023/01/08/
So did I do what I planned or hoped to do? To some extent yes, somewhat to my surprise!
1. Improving my French
I made it to two of the book discussions held at Alliance française. I renewed my Alliance membership and have bought the books to be discussed in February and April 2024. I listened to Téléjournal (on the Gatineau station) a number of times, mainly on Sundays when local newscasts tend to be few and far between. And I've acquired a fair number of books in French (I listed 4 of them in my last entry) and we'll see if I actually end up reading them! As for oral French, I've had some occasion to use it when I've been in Gatineau; I'm less self-conscious about it than I would have been in my younger days so I guess that's progress.
2. Spending less time online and more time in real life
The comments I made last year still apply. I'm still working at it and still only partially succeeding. But I still use cash when I can and it makes sense, I still write some cheques in addition to using online banking, I still maintain paper-and-pen(cil) planners, I still sometimes write longhand and prefer it for many tasks.
3. Succession Planning (for this phase of my life and beyond)
This, as you might expect, is still ongoing. I didn't really make much progress in terms of financial planning or updating official documents. Let's just describe the situation there as stable. But as for decluttering, I did make some progress. I arranged for Canadian Diabetes to pick up several boxes of unwanted and unneeded household stuff. I packed up several boxes of books and donated them to the Friends of the Experimental Farm for their (usually) annual book sales. They actually held two drop-off days in 2023, one for the sale they held in June (the first one since 2019) and one for the sale planned for 2024. Getting rid of bigger items is a little more problematic. There's some furniture we could probably donate but unfortunately there's no longer much demand for office furniture like desks and filing cabinets.
So what about my goals for 2024? I plan to continue on in those general directions but under item #3 I'll be a little more specific. I want to include some "want tos" rather than just the "ought tos". Come to think of it, that's likely why so many resolutions are ultimately doomed: too many goals that are difficult or distasteful, not enough that are achievable, enjoyable dreams or aspirations.
In 2023, I managed some great trips, which I've written about previously: a trip to Sweden and a tour of the Eastern Townships, "On the trail of Louise Penny". There are still a number of places on my travel bucket list. Germany (especially the Berlin area), where I haven't been since reunification. Austria. Italy. Norway. And within Canada, I want to visit every province - I've never been to Saskatchewan or New Brunswick.
So let's see what 2024 will bring!
https://blogcutter.dreamwidth.org/2023/01/08/
So did I do what I planned or hoped to do? To some extent yes, somewhat to my surprise!
1. Improving my French
I made it to two of the book discussions held at Alliance française. I renewed my Alliance membership and have bought the books to be discussed in February and April 2024. I listened to Téléjournal (on the Gatineau station) a number of times, mainly on Sundays when local newscasts tend to be few and far between. And I've acquired a fair number of books in French (I listed 4 of them in my last entry) and we'll see if I actually end up reading them! As for oral French, I've had some occasion to use it when I've been in Gatineau; I'm less self-conscious about it than I would have been in my younger days so I guess that's progress.
2. Spending less time online and more time in real life
The comments I made last year still apply. I'm still working at it and still only partially succeeding. But I still use cash when I can and it makes sense, I still write some cheques in addition to using online banking, I still maintain paper-and-pen(cil) planners, I still sometimes write longhand and prefer it for many tasks.
3. Succession Planning (for this phase of my life and beyond)
This, as you might expect, is still ongoing. I didn't really make much progress in terms of financial planning or updating official documents. Let's just describe the situation there as stable. But as for decluttering, I did make some progress. I arranged for Canadian Diabetes to pick up several boxes of unwanted and unneeded household stuff. I packed up several boxes of books and donated them to the Friends of the Experimental Farm for their (usually) annual book sales. They actually held two drop-off days in 2023, one for the sale they held in June (the first one since 2019) and one for the sale planned for 2024. Getting rid of bigger items is a little more problematic. There's some furniture we could probably donate but unfortunately there's no longer much demand for office furniture like desks and filing cabinets.
So what about my goals for 2024? I plan to continue on in those general directions but under item #3 I'll be a little more specific. I want to include some "want tos" rather than just the "ought tos". Come to think of it, that's likely why so many resolutions are ultimately doomed: too many goals that are difficult or distasteful, not enough that are achievable, enjoyable dreams or aspirations.
In 2023, I managed some great trips, which I've written about previously: a trip to Sweden and a tour of the Eastern Townships, "On the trail of Louise Penny". There are still a number of places on my travel bucket list. Germany (especially the Berlin area), where I haven't been since reunification. Austria. Italy. Norway. And within Canada, I want to visit every province - I've never been to Saskatchewan or New Brunswick.
So let's see what 2024 will bring!
