Despite its lameness, at the start of each of the past two years I have written up goals, which on the surface appear as enumerations of scheduled quotas (to read so many books per year, watch so many films and write so many journal entries per week, etc.). They are really ways of not only motivating myself but allowing me to quantify my otherwise immeasurable goals, which are far more important to me than actually meeting the quotas themselves. At this point, I'm pretty well settled into my learning routine so this year I'll be a lot more ambiguous.
As far as books, I'm planning on tackling Proust's In Search of Lost Time (eep!) and Joyce's Ulysses. I'd like to finish 20 books, which is less than what I wanted/accomplished last year but this is because I'm pushing myself to read more challenging works.
I probably watch too many films as it is, so if anything I should be setting up a maximum. I'd like to get into the habit of watching more complex films multiple times and I already have a long mental list of films I need to re-watch for further insight. I'm also planning on studying a number of directors at length: Fellini, Rossellini, Pasolini, Fassbinder, Ozu, Bergman, and Leigh.
More than my reading and film watching, writing will be my biggest aspiration. I need to stop being so damn lazy and start writing more analysis... on everything. (If I can't articulate it, then I'm not fully seeing it.) I need to set aside more time for learning/improving my grammar and very poor vocabulary. This blog will be my main output for all this, but I won't necessarily be posting everything.
And I have numerous miscellaneous improvement objectives: being less hostile when voicing my opinions, finishing things I start, being more honest (though not necessarily more open), trying to become as good at praising things as I am at bashing others, spacing out less amid company, doing what I want despite the objections of others, not using detachment as an easy escape, and (seriously) spending less time making lists and more time actually doing things on those lists.
Somewhere within all this I'll try and find time for my day job and sleep.
As far as books, I'm planning on tackling Proust's In Search of Lost Time (eep!) and Joyce's Ulysses. I'd like to finish 20 books, which is less than what I wanted/accomplished last year but this is because I'm pushing myself to read more challenging works.
I probably watch too many films as it is, so if anything I should be setting up a maximum. I'd like to get into the habit of watching more complex films multiple times and I already have a long mental list of films I need to re-watch for further insight. I'm also planning on studying a number of directors at length: Fellini, Rossellini, Pasolini, Fassbinder, Ozu, Bergman, and Leigh.
More than my reading and film watching, writing will be my biggest aspiration. I need to stop being so damn lazy and start writing more analysis... on everything. (If I can't articulate it, then I'm not fully seeing it.) I need to set aside more time for learning/improving my grammar and very poor vocabulary. This blog will be my main output for all this, but I won't necessarily be posting everything.
And I have numerous miscellaneous improvement objectives: being less hostile when voicing my opinions, finishing things I start, being more honest (though not necessarily more open), trying to become as good at praising things as I am at bashing others, spacing out less amid company, doing what I want despite the objections of others, not using detachment as an easy escape, and (seriously) spending less time making lists and more time actually doing things on those lists.
Somewhere within all this I'll try and find time for my day job and sleep.
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