2024 New Year's Resolutions

The theme for for 2024 is focusing on the things that I really enjoy doing. My hope is that it will help me find more contentment in my life. Instead of focusing on one year-long goal that I don't really want to do, like I did last year, I've picked three things that get me excited. I've recently started to accept that life is too short to be chasing so many dreams and, that at nearly 40 years of age, I know what I like. Coupling that with my goal of wanting a simple life, I want to spend more time on my interests. So in 2024, I will:

1) Cook More Italian Food


On the final episode of the year of the Sporkful podcast, host Dan Pashman vows to eat more of a type of food and also grades himself on how well he did on the previous year's goal. In keeping with the spirit of doing things that I love, cooking (Italian food especially) is definitely one of my favorites. This year I want to cook more Italian food, with a focus on non-pasta dishes. Don't get me wrong, I will be making a lot of pasta dishes in 2024 but I also want to try foods and flavors from other regions of Italy. 

A couple of years ago, I received La Cucina: The Regional Cooking of Italy for Christmas. This behemoth of a book contains 2,000 recipes that represent the patrimony of Italian country cooking. I plan to use it as my guide to try all sorts of dishes like White Bean and Escarole Soup, Polenta with Tomato Sauce, Chicken with Lemon and Capers, and many more. 2024 should be a very tasty year in the Isom household and I look forward to embracing a piece of one of my cultural heritages. 

2) Log 600 Plays of At Least 150 Games


2023 was my best gaming year on record. I played 128 unique games a total of 404 times. A lot of those plays came playing digitally on Board Game Arena and apps, but 142 were in person either solo or with others. Both the number of unique games and number of plays in person were personal bests for a given year. Since the vast majority of the plays came in the final quarter of the year, I think being able to spread more plays over the whole year will be doable. 

I have one of the largest unplayed piles that I've had in a few years, so my focus will be learning how to play those and getting them to the table. I'd also like to play my games that haven't been opened in years. Being able to track my plays easily with the BG Stats app will really help assist me with this in the future, but I have so many that I haven't played since starting to use that app regularly. Doing both of those things will help me start to thin the collection out and get me to a place where I have something more manageable.

3) Write at Least 3 Blog Posts Each Month


I've had various writing goals for the blog over the years, including a resolution to write at least 2 blog posts a month, where I was successful in completing that task. With the monthly wrap-up posts being something I'm really enjoying, I think I can easily get to three each month. I've been writing more about board gaming lately, so having this goal and the previous one in the same year should work very well together. This blog is a place for me to share and log things that are going on in my life. It continues to be a form of therapy that I find incredibly helpful, an activity that affects my mental health when I'm not doing it, like physical exercise.

As for types of posts outside of the monthly wrap-ups, I mentioned possibly doing long form game reviews in one of the wrap-up posts. I might also bring back my food review series, Dan Devours. Posting shorter posts of the food I'm making could also be an option. That would coincide with the first goal when I find a recipe I'd really like to share. Regardless of what directions I choose to go, expect a lot of food and board game related content. Those are my main interests that I plan on focusing on for the years to come.

Do you have any resolutions for the new year? Please comment below, I'd love to hear them!

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