resolutions

I'm not a fan of making resolutions, because somewhere as early as March I usually abandon them, letting the associated guilt consume me. I don't like feeling guilty. This year however, I'm going to give making resolutions a try, and hopefully achievable, by keeping things relatively simple:

• More art. I have been neglecting my artwork for far too long, and this has been making me feel bad. You would not believe how many pieces are lying about my apartment in various states of incompletion. 
• More sketching. I used to consider myself a 'compulsive sketcher' (this is claimed in my profile), but have barely produced anything of note in the past two years.
• Revamp my website. I honestly cannot remember the last time I added anything new to it— this is naturally tied to the previous two resolutions.
• More gym. Bodies do strange things in their thirties.
• More reading. A resolution which never works, but at this point, even reading two books this year would put me ahead of previous years. I find this sad, as I used to be an avid reader. Can I blame this on the internet?
• Improve my Portuguese. This cannot be difficult as I can barely complete a sentence— anything would be an improvement! I would really love to be able to hold a complete conversation with Pedro's parents. 
• More blogging. 
• More owls. I really, really want to learn more about owls.

So here's a start at least at tackling the first resolution: I've put several hours of 2014 into finishing my ink portrait of the Nepali man which I abandoned at some point last year. His moustache is now complete, and his nose is almost there. The problem with pointillism is that you work for hours and hours and see little progress, making it easy to get discouraged. Wish me luck!

I hope you all have a harika new year, and that 2014 is full of love, happiness and health. May you meet all of your resolutions!