New Year’s 2020: How’d I Do?

How did I do with last year’s goals? Who can really say?

… This blog. This blog can say.

1. How to own a condo or other residence.

Oy yoy yoy, the Toronto housing market. Husband deserves all the credit on this one–he really dug into the market and the finances, and he kept in touch with our realtor (thanks, Devon! Do recommend!*).

In February, we made the deal, and at the end of April, we closed. Now we are the proud owners of an excellent condo in a great building with helpful amenities. (Yeah… it’s super helpful to be able to go to the gym, swim, pick up something at the convenience store, etc. without going outside.)

2. Enough German to pass the A1-level exam.

The six recognized levels of German language competency start at A1 (most basic) and proceed up through A2, B1, B2, C1 until C2 (most advanced)  In January, after giving me their placement test, the Goethe-Institut Kanada suggested I was at the level to take the B.1.1 course.

So I guess I technically accomplished this before the start of the year? But taking the placement test in the first place was daunting, which has to count for something.

Anyway, in May, I took the A2 exam and managed to get complete fight-or-flight full-body fear and blow the spoken portion… except when I got the results back, I didn’t, somehow. So, yay?

3. How to finish another MG manuscript.

Oh boy.

This one has been like pulling teeth. I don’t know whether it’s because I’m trying out a new style; because I’ve built some pretty intense limitations into the plot; because I haven’t written something that’s not a revision in a while; or because this just isn’t the right story for me to tell right now. Still, I’ll keep plugging through until I at least get to the end of a draft. I’m about two-thirds done.

4. How to do at least one unassisted pull-up.

This didn’t look like it was going to go so well when I hurt my back during the last week of December 2018. I was unable to exercise my upper body at all for a month afterward. Then I promptly went back to exercising… and hurt it again.

Basically, I didn’t get back to pull-ups until late May. I started using a resistance band and concentrating on full range of motion, especially having my shoulders back. But every time I tried a pull-up without the resistance band, just to see how I was doing, I couldn’t budge off the ground. Honestly, it was disheartening!

However, on a whim at the end of June, I tried unassisted chin-ups (palms facing me) and was delighted to discover I could actually do a couple on my own. Whaaaaaaaaat???

By the middle of October, I could do about 5 chin-ups and 5 unassisted pull-ups, just not on the same day and with long rests in between each one. That’s where I’ve been since (on my best days, anyway), but I hope with more consistent practice, I can do better (see below).

5. How to play pick-up flag football.

Thanks, friends (and spouse, and sibling)! We had a fun little game of three-on-three at the park, and also I made “beer brats” (except not because I don’t eat pork) in the slow cooker. The flags I’d bought were excellent, and everyone seemed up for another go when the weather gets better.

6. Whether I can set up all the slideshows and lesson plans for my courses before the first class.

Well… sort of, anyway. For Winter 2019 term (Jan. 2019- April 2019), I finished all the stuff that didn’t depend on input from other people. The rest of it–access to a couple systems, student presentation-date sign-ups, re-working lesson plans when the available resources change–I had to settle for finishing ASAP.

Naturally, I did not follow this up with a similarly prepared Fall 2019 term. I’ll get the hang of doing it consistently someday.

7. How to do a squat with a loaded bar.

In 2018, I started off squatting with kettlebells and dumbbells. Then, in 2019, I took a step backwards (/actually forwards): I hired a trainer to show me proper form and started over with bodyweight squats. I am definitely way better at squats now than I was when I was self-taught.

By June, I was pushing myself to squat with an empty bar. It was tough at first, but I could still do it!

Finally, at the start of July, I did it: a couple sets with teeny-tiny 2.5lb plates on the bar. Hey, loaded with 5 lb is still loaded!

Now, at the end of the year, I’m actually squatting 80 lb, which is both not very much but also in important ways for me a lot! Hooray!

8. How to deadlift my body weight.

See number 4 for why this took me so dang long.

By the start of the year, I could already lift 100 lb+, but That Darn Back made it tough to stay the course. I added weight slowly, trying not to push myself too hard. By the start of October, I was 10 lb away, which is kind of nothing in deadlift-language, but I also had to stagger my gym schedule to accommodate work, so I did each particular lift less often. Finally, right at the end of October, I got it! It turns out, lifting heavy things that I didn’t think I could is encouraging and fun.

9. How to get better at engaging with land acknowledgement and other settler ethical responsibilities.

This is not a one-and-done kind of goal, so I’m not going to claim I “completed” it. I made progress. In general, I struggle to navigate inclusion when the material I’ve been hired to teach is very culturally and context-specific, with a nasty history of being forced on people through colonization. I’m still figuring out how to honour Indigenous practices and include Indigenous folks when the curriculum is about white, Western communication conventions and I am, after all, white-privileged and Western myself.

10. How to make Yorkshire puddings from scratch.

This turned out to be way less daunting than I’d worried, especially once I’d made a giant popover that has now become part of my weekly dinner rotation.

I know mine weren’t real Yorkshire puddings (not enough drippings), but neither were the ones I was buying from the store, so… *shrug* I’d like to get better at calibrating my oven temperature so they end up in the right shape though.

And now for something completely different mostly the same for 2020:

1. Enough German to pass the B1 level exam. I’ve improved a bunch since passing the A2, but I can’t make it down for in-person lessons, and online ones are $1000 (no, there isn’t an extra zero in there–yikes!).
2. Whether I can practice driving about once a week. I don’t have to drive much, since I’m lucky enough to be able to use public transit, walk, or sweet-talk my lovely spouse/family/friends into being my personal chauffeurs. (Thanks, guys!) However, my dislike of driving is becoming full-blown anxiety about it, and I don’t want to continue down the path of going far out of my way and inconveniencing others to avoid doing something within my physical and emotional skill set. I’m working with a counselor, and I’m going to be gentle with myself.
3. How to stop injuring myself at the gym. My back, my oblique — look, I know I have chronic pain and terrible joints, but my biggest problem is still my impatience (see last blog). I am gonna patience the heck out of the gym this year and stop destroying my body!
4. How to deadlift 200+ lb.  Why not? (No, don’t point back one entry!)
5. How to do 5 unassisted pull-ups in one rep. Right now, that’s how many assisted pull-ups I try to do in one rep. If I keep working at it, I bet I can stop relying on my resistance band.
6. How to squat 100+ lb. Like a boss!
7. How to rework a manuscript I love that hasn’t worked out. I was actually supposed to work on it this fall, but life had other plans. I have been working on it for a couple weeks at this point, and I’m… cautiously optimistic.
8. How to make hot lobster rolls. AKA, how to cook a lobster, since the rest is easy.
9. How to use a text expander, for real this time. I jumped the gun before. I wasn’t ready. But now… now I understand the true meaning of grading presentations. I’ve already bought Breevy and started setting up my library of “snippets.” Here’s to a new semester with less wrist and arm pain and WAY less panicked scrawling of notes/scrolling through my list of common comments when a presenter who was supposed to speak for five minutes finishes in under one.
10. How to finish a difficult MG manuscript. See above. *eyeroll emoji*

* Full disclosure, Devon is a friend of a friend whom we knew socially before hiring him, but the professional recommendation is my honest opinion.