2025 is over, and another round of New Year’s resolutions are due for review.
1. Read 30 books, including the complete works of John Wyndham
Status: complete
I finished the remaining John Wyndhams (see 2024 resolutions) and did manage to read 30 books – but only just. I didn’t read The Mirror & The Light.
2. Get into Talking Heads
Status: complete
I finished the target list of media which was my plan to “get into” Talking Heads. That was: Remain in Light, Speaking in Tongues, Little Creatures, Stop Making Sense, David Byrne’s American Utopia and the This Must Be Talking Heads podcast (the episodes relevant to the albums I was listening to).
I struggled with Remain in Light, and I think that was the reason that my progress stalled in 2024. However, this year I cracked it. Stop Making Sense and American Utopia were both delightful. I also completed a stretch goal of watching the music videos for all of Talking Heads’ singles up to Little Creatures.
3. Watch 12 specific films
Status: almost complete
This was the list:
Vivian Stanshall: The Canyons of His Mind (2004)
Beware of Mr. Baker (2012)
The Stone Roses: Made of Stone (2013)
Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love (2019)
Zappa (2020)
The Sparks Brothers (2021)
The Velvet Underground (2021)
Moonage Daydream (2022)
In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50 (2022)
Son of Frankenstein (1939)
Apocalypto (2006)
Lancaster (2022)
I watched all of these except the King Crimson documentary.
The problem is, because we don’t watch a lot of TV or films, it’s not worth subscribing to any streaming services. I’ve found it’s far more cost effective, if I want to watch specific films, to buy cheap second hand copies on physical media. DVDs are considered obsolete by most people now, so there are tonnes of them floating around: you can get almost any film on DVD for £2-3 online or even less in a charity shop.
However, this only applies to films released up to about the year 2020. That was when covid lockdowns accelerated the adoption of streaming services and crashed the demand for DVDs. After that, I suspect that DVDs were produced in much smaller quantities, and are therefore not as readily and cheaply available.
Moonage Daydream was on Channel 4 earlier in the year, and we found The Velvet Underground on a streaming service in a rented cottage we stayed in for a weekend. Zappa and The Sparks Brothers cost me around £11 each on Ebay, but I couldn’t find In the Court of the Crimson King for anything less than £20, and I didn’t want to watch it that desperately.
4. Complete Pokémon Blue
Status: incomplete
Despite being about halfway through the game at the start of the year, I still failed to achieve this one. I played a couple of sessions and made a bit of progress, but gaming still feels too frivolous and time-wasting for me to prioritise it over other tasks. This is despite the recognition – manifested in these repeated resolutions! – that it’s something I’d like to do more of, as a means of ring-fencing time for myself to relax and enjoy without feeling guilt for not doing something else.
5. Run a 10+ km distance once a month, get a parkrun PB, and volunteer at parkruns
Status: complete
OK, technically only partially complete, as I didn’t run a 10k distance in April due to illness. However, I did at least one (and sometimes more) every other month. I also built my distance up to 16k by the end of the year.
As for parkruns, I got a PB early, then improved on it further, getting a sub 22 minute run. I also reached my 100 milestone. But more importantly, I got into a regular routine of exercising three times a week, something I’ve not done since about 2005.
I volunteered at parkrun 10 times and ran 30 times, hitting my 1 in 4 target exactly. However, with hindsight, this target was way too high. Volunteering is quite disruptive, especially when successfully maintaining an exercise regime depends on fitting it into established routines. So I will continue volunteering, but at a much lower 1 in 10 ratio (which is the ratio that parkrun organisers ask parkrunners to do, and is still significantly above average).
6. Give blood 4 times
Status: 50% complete
I only managed twice, due to a combination of lack of available slots and poor personal admin.
7. Publish 3 blog posts
Status: 67% complete.
I published Population peaks, random walks and Catalan numbers and Goodbye, Xitter!, but the third one is still sitting in my drafts.
8. Learn how to pronounce Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
Status: complete but unverified
I think I’ve got it, but I need to try it on my Welsh-speaking relatives to confirm.