So despite the best plans to actually utilize this site that I keep paying for once a year, I've had more important things to do. Jack is doing fantastic, but the whole new parent that's working a full time job and trying to rebuild a house is very time-intensive as one might assume. All of that said though, I've been thinking about it intermittently again lately, and I'm still kind of drawn to the idea about making it more of a habit to do this thing, but how best to accomplish that is still a little elusive.
I think for now, I'm just going to use it to outline things that come to mind repeatedly so I can refer to them later. For now, I'll outline a rough set of goals for 2018...projects I want to undertake, things I want to learn how to do (which I'll probably try to share), etc.
First and foremost, that house has to get finished so we can move in. That is the top priority after making sure my wife and child are well supported. Until our living situation is sustainable in our own space, I can't really do any of the other things I want to in any real way. It's been a long road, but we've crossed the point where I'd be happy if it collapsed or burned down and paid the insurance. We've put too much work into making this turd a real house that doesn't suck, and we're quickly approaching the point where all that is left is reassembly that will move fairly quickly (demolition takes a lot longer unless your initial goal is to just carve it up like a pumpkin). Since the initial goal was to treat this more like excising a tumor and not stripping it like a bargain find to rebuild it in our own image, demolition was handled on an as-needed step-by-step basis. There were also major concerns over what we could take out in what order without compromising the structure...wouldn't want to collapse the roof on myself after all. We had to decide what changes to make while we had it stripped bare. We had to figure out if there was any hidden damage that had to be dealt with so we didn't have to rip all of this open again a year after we lived there. On top of that, many of the tasks required the strength of two people, so once you filter out mandatory overtime and childcare that's really slowed down the progress. All that said, we'll still getting close to the point where everything will be going back together...where all the steps will be forward...where nothing will have to be torn apart first so we can put it back together the correct way. That's pretty exciting.
Once the house is finished however, there's a long list of things I'll have to prioritize well to get any of them done. In no particular order, I want to make a video game, learn metalsmithing, learn woodworking, and start writing a book. That all sounds incredibly ambitious, but I think it's doable. There's actually a ton of time in a year, but efficient use of time is something most people aren't great at, myself included. Trying to fit all of that in will require getting better at time management. It helps that I'm learning as much as I can from the vast ocean of knowledge that is the internet. I've built up a fair amount of knowledge regarding metalsmithing and woodworking, I just need to get a space to work, some of the basic tools, and the materials to practice the practical side of things. As for the video game, I've been taking notes on games I'd like to design or play for years now, so working on learning how to build them in Unity is definitely an obtainable goal as long as I pick a reasonable game to build as a solo developer.
As for the book, it's a very specific book that I think is vastly important. My dad tells all sorts of stories about his life and my grandfather (who I never knew because he died the year I was born) and reflecting on my life, I don't remember most of his stories until he starts retelling them. The skills of retelling an oral history aren't in my skillset, so I wonder how I'll pass knowledge along to Jack. This gave me the idea to try and collect all of the major ideas, stories, and motivational thoughts that I want to help shape him and put them on paper and give it to him when he's a little older. That's not to say I won't still tell stories about my life, stories I can remember from my dad's life, and all of that on-the-fly dialog parents have been having with their kids since the dawn of humanity, but if I can find the stories I like the most and the stories he enjoys the most and put them to paper, he'll be able to remember them and pass them along to and kids he has later.
After all of that, if there's still time I want to get some of my old vehicles running and licensed so I can enjoy them. I've got two 70s motorcycles and an 80's Camaro that haven't seen any action in 15 years or more, and I kinda feel bad about that. The fact of the matter though was that I never enjoyed mechanics work enough to work on stuff outside, and I never had open garage space for myself, so it's been really hard to be motivated to actually fix any of this stuff. Once the house is done and my garage is empty again, I'll be a little more willing to tinker with this stuff.
All in all, it should make for an interesting 2018. If I end up deciding to film this stuff to try an build a bit of a YouTube channel or just to pass the knowledge along to Jack if he's interested when he's older, that could be fun as well.