New Year’s Resolutions for 2023

“Every sunset is an opportunity to reset. Every sunrise begins with new eyes.”

Richie Norton

“Every day is a fresh beginning; Every morn is the world made new.”

Sarah Chauncey Woolsey

Rich Geib’s 2023 New Year’s Resolutions

What should I do? Where to go? How to live?

  • Take to polishing Julia for her “final form” approach to adulthood. The books, the films, the conversations, the sports, the travel – help her to maximize her educational opportunities for enrichment as she begins to approach of 18-years of age.

  • STATUS: Success, as far as that goes. Julia pretty much controls the show, and that is good news. One more year and she is college-bound.

  • Find a nexus where I can speak Spanish more. Take your theoretical knowledge of the Spanish language and find a real world human application for their use face-to-face. You read all these books in Spanish? Why not have face-to-face conversations in Spanish, too? Make it so.

  • STATUS: Success, insofar as I continue to do the heavy lifting of immersing myself. But my parenting responsibilities make it hard to do much more. Huge amounts of reading and listening to real world Spanish, less speaking it in real life. I will not be immersed in parenting and work forever. I will have my turn.

  • Get one more year of coaching high school tennis under your belt. Suck it up and do it. There is good to be done in that role, discomfort notwithstanding. It won’t be forever. Take the long view to supplant short term pain.

  • STATUS: Success. Time to retire from that. I have some scars from this year of coaching, methinks.

  • Make smart choices for yourself and daughters this summer. Without spending a small fortune (like last summer), get some solid international travel and/or educational opportunities for daughters. This will take planning.

  • STATUS: Success. Had a vacation for nine days in Puerto Vallarta with Julia. But for complicated reasons that won’t be replicated next summer. What to do in July of 2023?

  • Buy a car. Julia needs your old car, and it is high time to upgrade. You would have done it earlier if the pandemic hadn’t disrupted the auto market. Do it. It won’t be pleasant, but much of adult life isn’t. So deal with it. Be driving a different car starting sometime in 2023.

  • STATUS: Well, I didn’t buy a car. I love not having a car payment, and cars are super-expensive in the current market, so we made do with two cars. But we did maneuver Julia into a licensed and insured driver who is in the driving lineup. That was success. Julia is capable and safe on the road. That took some work in 2023.

  • Continue with Taekwondo/Hapkido. Returning to the martial arts has filled a gap which existed previously in your life, Richard. Not so much the physical techniques or the sweaty workout, but for the ability to connect to a tradition of self-control, self-possession, and self-mastery which is far larger and much older than yourself. Try not to get injured so as to ensure long term study: you’re not twenty years old anymore.

  • STATUS: The bad: there is no way you can play high-level tennis AND do martial arts. Your body cannot handle it; that ship has sailed: you are too old. Deal with it. The good: in my own way, in my own fashion, I can continue to be a martial artist. Work with what is possible. 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF FULL-TIME PARENTING:
Daughter Julia in her first ever driving lesson on January 4, 2023 at 3:50 pm.

Here is the reading lineup at this time:

  1. “The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure,” by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff
    • DID READ
  2. “The Empire of the Sun,” by J. G. Ballard
    • DID READ
  3. “The Hard Parts: A Memoir of Courage and Triumph,” by Oksana Masters and Cassidy Randall
    • DID READ
  4. “Heat 2: A Novel,” by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner
    • DID READ
  5. “Death with Interruptions,” by José Saramago
    • DID READ
  6. “Bronze Age Mindset,” by Bronze Age Pervert
    • DID READ
  7. “The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland,” by Jim DeFede
    • DID READ
  8. “The Kindness of Women,” by J.G. Ballard
    • DID READ
  9. “Deadly Force: Understanding Your Right to Self-Defense, 2nd Edition,” by Massad Ayoob
    • DID READ
  10. “The Forgotten Girls: A Memoir of Friendship and Lost Promise in Rural America,” by Monica Potts
    • DID READ
  11. “Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism,” by Amanda Montell
    • DID READ
  12. “The Right Call: What Sports Teach Us About Leadership, Excellence, and Decision-Making,” by Sally Jenkins
    • DID READ
  13. “What Looks Like Bravery: An Epic Journey Through Loss to Love,” by Laurel Braitman
    • DID READ
  14. “This Man’s Army: A Soldier’s Story from the Front Lines of the War on Terrorism,” by Andrew Exxum
    • DID READ
  15. “The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss,” by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt
    • DID READ
  16. “The Unplugged Alpha: The No Bullsh*t Guide To Winning With Women & Life,” by Richard Cooper
    • DID READ
  17. “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien
    • DID READ
  18. “The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography,” by Sidney Poitier
    • DID READ
  19. “Retirement Stepping Stones: Find Meaning, Live with Purpose, and Leave a Legacy,” by Tony Hixon
    • DID READ
  20. “The Man Without a Face,” by Isabelle Holland
    • DID READ
  21. “Women We Buried, Women We Burned: A Memoir,” by Rachel Louise Snyder
    • DID READ
  22. “Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic,” by Sam Quinones
    • DID READ
  23. “The Few: The American ‘Knights of the Air’ Who Risked Everything to Save Britain in the Summer of 1940,” by Alex Kershaw
    • DID READ
  24. “The Courage to Be Disliked: How to Free Yourself, Change Your Life, and Achieve Real Happiness,” by Ichiro Kishimi, Fumitake Koga
    • DID READ
  25. “Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime and Obsession,” by Rachel Monroe
    • DID READ
  26. “Three Budo Masters,” by John Stevens
    • DID READ
  27. “The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success,” by Kevin Dutton
    • DID READ
  28. “Patton: Genius for War, A Genius for War,” by Carlo D’Este
    • DID READ
  29. “Not Caring What Other People Think Is A Superpower: Insights From a Heavyweight Boxer Insights From a Heavyweight Boxer,” by Ed Lattimore
    • DID READ
  30. “The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How,” by Daniel Coyle
    • DID READ
  31. “I’ve Got Your Back,” by Brad Gilbert
    • DID READ
  32. “The Least of Us,” by Sam Quinones
    • DID READ
  33. “How To Retire With Enough Money: And How to Know What Enough Is,” by Teresa Ghilarducci
    • DID READ
  34. “Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere,” by Maria Bamford
    • DID READ
  35. “The Warrior Poet Way: A Guide to Living Free and Dying Well,” by John Lovell
    • DID READ
  36. “Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier,” by Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey
    • DID READ
  37. “On Street Fighting: Lessons Learned in a Violent Subculture,” by J.D. Bradley
    • DID READ
  38. “Zen Jiu Jitsu: Over 40,” by Oliver Staark
    • DID READ
  39. “All That Is Bitter and Sweet: A Memoir,” by Ashley Judd
    • DID READ
  40. “What the Dead Know: Learning About Life as a New York City Death Investigator,” by Barbara Butcher
    • DID READ
  41. “The Problem with Everything: My Journey Through the New Culture Wars,” by Meghan Daum
    • DID READ
  42. “The Book of Ayn: A Novel,” by Lexi Freiman
    • DID READ
  43. “Tell Me Everything: A Memoir,” by Minka Kelly
    • DID READ
  44. “The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life’s Final Moments,” by Hadley Vlahos
    • DID READ
  45. “The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance,” by Josh Waitzkin
    • DID READ
  46. “Traditions: Essays on the Japanese Martial Arts and Ways,” by Dave Lowry
    • DID READ
  47. “Patria,” por Fernando Aramburu Irigoyen
    • DID READ
  48. “La Pasión Según Carmela,” por Marcos Aguinis
    • DID READ
  49. “The Black Eco,” by Michael Connelly (El Eco Negro) *
    • DID READ
  50. “The Lincoln Lawyer,” by Michael Connelly (El Inocente) *
    • DID READ
  51. “Black Ice,” by Michael Connelly (Hielo Negro) *
    • DID READ
  52. “The Brass Verdict,” by Michael Connelly (El Veredicto) *
    • DID READ
  53. “The Reversal” by Michael Connelly (La Revocación) *
    • DID READ
  54. “Blood Work, by Michael Connelly (Deuda de Sangre) *
    • DID READ
  55. “Black Dahlia,” by James Ellroy (La Dalia Negra) *
    • DID READ
  56. “The Big Nowhere”, by James Ellroy (El Gran Desierto) *
    • DID READ
  57. “The Fifth Witness,” by Michael Connelly (El Quinto Testigo) *
    • DID READ

*I read the full books in English first then in Spanish. (These crime thrillers are manageable for me in Spanish. It takes awhile to read both books. Hence, I might read fewer books this year than usual.)

Watch the following movies —

  1. “Tár”
    • DID WATCH
  2. “The Last of Us, Season One” (with older daughter)
    • DID WATCH
  3. “The Lincoln Lawyer, Season One and Two” (with younger daughter)
    • DID WATCH
  4. “Kobra Kai, Seasons One Through Five” (with younger daughter)
    • DID WATCH
  5. “Friday Night Lights, Seasons One Through Four” (with younger daughter)
    • DID WATCH
  6. “The Holdovers”
    • DID WATCH