Resolutions(?)

I believe the world has twisted the notion of New Years resolutions into a dirty thing.  Almost always, we set ourselves up for disappointment and self-loathing by setting impossibly-high benchmarks.  That is why I am doing them differently.  For example, mine started yesterday, on the first of February.  Why make New Years resolutions so hastily?  It deserves rational thought.  That is why I spent the first month of the year milling over what I could realistically achieve.  I plan to make these resolutions last at least 11 months, when I can re-evaluate them.  Here are my goals (resolutions sound too strict), in no particular order:

1. Speak and/or write in Norwegian every day.
2. Read at least five books in Norwegian.
3. Submit at least five pieces of writing to literary journals, at least one of which is The New Yorker.
4. Release an album on vinyl.
5. Be happy about my body.
6. Write thirty pieces for Years For Beards.
7. Make significant efforts toward a novel.
8. Submit John Praw demos to at least five record labels.

Some notes are in order.

#1. This has been going for well over a month, though I might start a new blog in Norwegian to help work on my skills there even more.

#2. I am currently reading Den Gamle Mannen Og Havet by Hemmingway, as well as Hodejegerne and Karusellmusikk, both by Jo Nesbø – I started reading Vind I Auga by Jon Fosse, but poetry in Nynorsk is proving a bit too difficult for me at this point.

#3. I have already submitted one piece, with a second ready very soon.  If anyone would like to read either, feel free to message me.  I can not post it online, because some journals would consider it a form of publishing, thus ruining any opportunity to have them published elsewhere.

#4. This is the most difficult.  It depends 100% on money.  If I never have the money to afford it, it won’t happen.

#5. I feel it is wrong to just say “lose weight.”  I’ve never really felt fat, though at the moment (due largely to lifestyle here in Norway), I am not where I want to be.

#6. This is all about motivation.  Can I do it?  Do I want to?  Who knows.

#7. I have two or three ideas for a novel, but I need to focus on one.  We’ll see where I get with this.  It is something I want, though I feel it is wrong to put a deadline on it at this time.

#8. Almost ready for this.  I just need to wait for summer when I’ll be back in the states.