My New Year’s Resolutions are usually the normal ones. You know, exercise more, lose 10 pounds, blah blah blah. Since I’m eating marshmallows straight from a bag while writing this (only because I already ate all the cookies, obviously), I’m going to go ahead and rule the healthy ones out for 2014. So I’ve drafted Ash to help me come up with Ash & Fern’s 14 Geek Resolutions for 2014. Wish us luck!!
Me first:
1) I will FINALLY get Netflix. It’s getting embarrassing. Someone who watches as much TV as I do should never have to say “no I haven’t seen that, I don’t have Netflix.” So for the record, no, I haven’t seen Orange is the New Black or the new season of Arrested Development. But I will. As soon as Ash shows me how to use it.
2) I will find and read a new series. I’ve been in a bit of a rut the past few years. I haven’t been reading a ton, but when I have, I’ve gone back and forth between A Song of Ice and Fire and various Tolkien binges. I really need to expand my literary adventures. A friend has suggested The Kingkiller Chronicle, but I’m definitely open to more suggestions, so have at it in the comments!
3) I will get Ash to watch Battlestar Galactica. I finally got her to watch Firefly this year, and she loved it (well so far, she has somehow turned the shortest lived show ever into a 3 month ordeal). I realize this should be one of her resolutions, but I’m not sure she really understands the importance of this for both our friendship and her overall awesomeness.
4) I will finally finish a costume for DragonCon. Every year I have bright ideas. And every year my Con buddy Kristina shows up with awesome costumes and I wear shorts and a t-shirt every day while pieces of my abandoned dreams hang out in my suitcase. This cannot stand. I have a plan for a Spartacus costume that basically involves buying some red fabric and finding a bow and arrow. Surely I can pull that off in the next 8 months. Come on Fern.
5) I will give horror movies another chance. I’ve avoided them for years, prompted by the terrible decision to see The Exorcism of Emily Rose during college kept me up until after 3am every day for MONTHS. My grades suffered a little that semester for obvious reasons. I’m not so afraid of chainsaw killers or guys in masks, I took a karate class once after I bought a Groupon and I’m pretty confident I can defend myself against any run-of-the-mill serial killer. But you start talking possession, demons, etc. and I get freaked out fast. Yikes. But seriously, I’m almost 30, and I know I’m missing out on some great movies. So here’s to another few months of sleepless nights.
Alright Ash, your turn:
6) I will watch ALL of the Oscar Best Picture Nominations. Every year I get close and then I regret not seeing The Artist and of course, it wins. So this year I will finally see all the ones nominated, even if it’s after the awards.
7) I will read an adult book series. Not that kind of adult book series…get your head out of the gutter. Just one that was written at the intelligence level of adults. With both my husband and I working in middle schools, too often we get caught up in the newest young adult crazes. Don’t get me wrong, I love Hunger Games as much as the next person, and I’m super excited to get going on the copy of Maze Runner that’s sitting on my nightstand, but it would be nice to read something that is a bit more challenging in the intellectual sense.
8) I will learn to count cards. I don’t know if this is technically geeky seeing that doing it is illegal, but I figure it all has to do with math, so it should count. I really don’t plan on ever using this skill in Vegas; I really just want to say that I know how to. I figure I’m mathematically inclined enough, why not sit down and take the time to figure it out.
9) I will finish a TV series of something (besides Firefly). Let’s face it, Fern is the television person in this relationship. I am not. I have so many TV series that I get into for a while and then I get busy and am so behind I never get to find out what happens. This leads to me consistently having to avoid social media the morning after big episodes. No, do NOT talk about what Jax and Gemma did to Clay last night. No, I do not want to know how Ted finally met the mother because I’m still on the season where he just broke up with Zoe. Don’t even start to talk to me about how much you love Matt Smith as the Doctor because I’m still in the David Tennant seasons. So this is the year I will finally finish one of these series, even if I have to give up a clean house and graded papers for it. My husband and students will understand. After all, this is about setting goals and sticking to them!
10) I will use more technology in my life. Now let me explain, I am NOT like Fern on this one. I understand technology. I couldn’t code anything per se, but I can operate most machinery and can even fix simple to moderate problems with my computer, phone, and appliances. I was the friend who always ended up hooking up all my friend’s desktop computers in college because they couldn’t figure it out. So my lack of use has nothing to do with lack of knowledge. For whatever reason, I just don’t take the time to set up and use basic apps and websites that would really make my life ten times easier, especially for my job. So this year, it’s going to happen. I’m letting computers do my mundane work and giving myself some more free time. I’m going to need it to catch up on all this television!
Finally, we are a duo, so we will face these last few together:
11) We will successfully get the US Men’s National Team through the Group of Death and into the knockout stage of the World Cup. This will not be easy, partially because we won’t actually be playing in the games. Also because our group suuuuuucks. But it can be done, and we will be there to help. Also, if we have any additional powers while there, we will attempt to keep Fern from being incinerated by the Sun. This is obviously secondary, but also important.
12) We will be more entertaining on Twitter. We already are hilarious (at least to ourselves) the few times a week we actually tweet, so all we need to do is increase the exposure you have to our brilliant, witty retorts to everything. We’re hoping this will also include some live tweeting during the Oscars, our trip to Brazil, random days of drinking, and any other event that seems appropriate. So help us out on this one and reply to keep the geeky conversation going! (And be sure to follow @adonnell5 and @fernmays or we’ll just be tweeting each other. We do enough of that already!)
13) We will get to know you a little better and bring you the posts you want to read and reply to. Obviously, you guys are needed for this one as well. Respond, comment, email, tweet…whatever it takes to get your opinion to us. We want to bring you stuff that will entertain you but that requires a bit of information and feedback. Give it to us, we promise we won’t bite!
And finally…
14) We will keep having an amazing time writing Ash & Fern. This has already been so much fun for us, and we look forward to an awesome 2014 and beyond!