At the end of 2012 I set myself a goal instead of a resolution; Make my life 20% more awesome. Sure, it’s not technically quantifiable that way, but that was the idea. A fixed resolution is stupid and bound to break. Turning your life into a statistic like, “20% more awesome” isn’t really doable, but in general if I could make my life approximately one fifth better than it was then I would have achieved my goal.

I wanted to look back now and see if I accomplished my goal and what to do in the new year, starting with my original goals.

I will lose weight

This was a goal which I did absolutely nothing towards for half of the year. Late in July I finally decided to try out a diet. Normally they seem too permanently-limiting and people drop them constantly. I’m someone fairly time-poor and money-poor, as well as forgetful and easily distracted. This meant I needed to find something fitting. My mum suggested the 5:2 diet. I decided to try it out as it preys on my laziness, poverty and forgetfulness.

I eat normally for five days (as normally as I already did) and then fast for the other two, consuming a small amount of calories. The main thing I needed to know going into this diet was whether or not coffee would be allowed. It would, although this has meant switching to black coffee for fasting days. I’ve missed three fasting days since late July. I weighed myself in September (late compared to the diet, but I was scared of the scales), I was seventeen stone. As of last week I’m sixteen stone exactly. That’s pretty awesome, and it’s a start, it’s not something I’m dropping any time soon.

I will be more sociable, hopefully arranging some kind of event, no matter how small, each month

Gah, I’ve had to look back through my calendar for this. Almost every month is accounted for.

There were a handful of film nights, with Sharknado and Detention as highs. House of Wax was a low point, especially as the moment Paris Hilton was murdered skipped on the DVD.

I attended the screening of a film I was an extra in; Darkest Day. You can see my feet, a few seconds of me as a zombie and varied zombie sounds.

I had the flu in February, confirming that no, I hadn’t had proper flu before, and cancelling my plans to go to the Guardian Gamesblog 2012 Awards. A damn shame, as they’re great people. Although I was well enough to attend the London Super Comic Con later in the same month.

There must have been about three Rock Band parties round at mine, not including small gatherings of people to rock out. A pair of my closest friends were married, so there was the groom’s stag night and the wedding itself.

I met The League of Evil Boardgamers, was crucified on my 33rd birthday and went to a few Bookmachine social events around Brighton.

Sure, a lot of the events I went to this year involved writing or gaming in some capacity, but it’s still a start.

I will find a better job

Ah, the big one. I hated my old job, even though I loved the people I was working with. In January I was phoned by Sophie at the Brighton branch of Hays Recruitment. She wanted to know if I still wanted to find a job and I explained that my goal was to get a new job in the first six months of the year. Within three months I had an interview and a new job. I left the bank just before Good Friday and started my new job after Easter Monday, a resurrection into a new form.

This has been the largest change in my life. Although I am no longer one of the smartest people in the room, I’m in an interesting and challenging job. I’m paid more, which turned out to be a big factor when I took in the scope of my money problems, and is weird as I’ve gone from the private to the public sector. My former workplace had no promotion, no way forward, and now there are challenges, but there’s also hope. I no longer commute, I no longer move rich people’s money around on their whims, but I actually do things which occasionally help people. A couple of times things have felt really rewarding as I’ve done good-aligned actions.

I will have my comic and webcomic published

It’s not all been positive though.

Sadly, my partnership with Simeon Aston and Metal Made Flesh ended at the start of 2013. It’s a shame, but Simeon has published his comic and he is a spectacular artist. I urge you all to read it.

My webcomic is on its way. I found an artist in Mike Armstrong, who has met the challenge of my horrible imagination and one-upped it each time. His art has been spectacular and his own web-design skills have provided a website which you can visit with three strips as placeholders until the comic starts. You can find it at www.explosionhigh.com.

Explosion High! Isn’t ready yet, but for good reasons. Mike has had an eventful year with a wedding and the birth of his daughter, Genevieve. Hopefully in the new year we’ll be able to get this show on the road.

I will start dating again

Yeah… This hasn’t happened yet.

I will be more than the attic-dwelling hermit that 2012’s version of me was

See the above sociability thing. I’ve spent more time out and about, with a multitude of writing groups now supplementing my attic-dwelling tendencies. I have also written a thing about the boneless, faceless man living in our attic.

I might get a top hat

I do not have a top hat. Thanks to the Jesus party I do have an abundance of Jesus wigs.

Any other business

I’m massively phobic of needles, ever since my tumour years. My new workplace were offering free flu jabs and I found myself ranting about my fear. Then I realised something, I was trying to validate an irrational fear. I was shaking at the concept of it. I took a step back, realised exactly what was going on and that from that reaction alone I had to get a flu jab. Stupid logical brain.

Even though I didn’t have an appointment I turned up during my lunch break, waited and had my flu jab. It pinched… “it pinched” is what everyone says. It hurt, not too much, not as much as when I stapled my thumb in Junior school, but it still hurt a little. I walked back to my desk so I could write a little, banging into doors unintentionally as an absent-minded Dyspraxic is wont to do. Then when I sat down I realised that the one door collision I noticed at the time hurt more than the injection.

It’s a good frame of reference, and it’s a good start.

I copy-edited a novel and have it almost ready to send to agents. All I need to do is draft a synopsis which doesn’t make me hate everything. I had a massive re-imagining of a previous book that I’ve written and it’s blossomed into something which will hopefully be eight novellas, several short stories and varied pieces of ‘augmented reality’ content.

At the same time as I was dropped from Metal Made Flesh, the editor of D+Pad Magazine left his role. I wondered if the magazine may stop and I’d be neither a comic person or a games journalist. Fortunately the wonderful Chris Braithwaite and Dave Stuart stepped into place and not only is my role there intact, but I attended my first PR event, I took part in a few collaborative articles and Google Hangouts as we dissected the state of the industry.

So was I 20% more awesome this year?

Yes. I reckon I was. I conquered a few, got a new job and have a lot of writing projects either advanced or nearing publication. I’ve lost some weight and am feeling far less of a hermit.

And will 2014 be 20% more awesome?

Yes. The goal is the same, although the priorities have changed. Not just that, but if my life is one-fifth better now than it was before, then it’ll be harder to improve that much again.

I will continue to lose weight. 5:2 has been working, and I still walk a little, but more walking and some exercise for a man with a bad back will be needed to keep this going.

I will date. Even if it’s a disaster, especially if it’s a disaster. It’s all stimulus, it’s all learning, it’s all stories in the making.

I will get SOMETHING published. It might be Play Dead either through an agent, publisher or self-published if it comes to it. It might be Lightning which has a tentative release date of May 2014 if I can edit Episode One and get the AR content made. It might be Explosion High! if we can find a status quo which will allow Mike and I to make strips regularly.

I will learn to cook, at least a little better than I can currently. I’m too used to the “Mr Sad Single Bastard’s Meals For One” so I need to do more than that.

I will get better with my money. My crippling financial negligence during my bank years kept me safe from the knowledge of how badly I was doing. I’m almost on the road to recovery with everything, and I need to get used to not having a panic attack when a bill turns up.

I will socialise as much if not more than I was before. I love writing more than anything else in the world, but I can’t neglect the rest of life because of it.

I will get a top hat, and maybe a tricorn hat. Because hats are awesome and I’m losing my hair.