Hello there… General Kenobi.
Right, I’ll be honest, I usually do this well in advance but I forgot and so here I am at 11pm writing some resolution. Outside a load of knobs are already letting off fireworks, blowing their pyrotechnic load early so to speak, but Harris (son) is asleep, Poppy (dog) isn’t too stressed and Me and Lou (partner) have just nailed a family size trifle. What I’m saying is I’ve still got time.
For new readers this is how it works. Each year I evaluate the previous year’s resolutions (click here for 2024’s post) and the make some more. Yep, not that revolutionary, but it’s turned into a well over a decade long tradition for me now. So strap in.
Resolutions 2024
- Finish and then tour “The House On The Road Where I Live” (working title) to at least 5 venues. For anyone working in a venue who reads this and thinks “yes” – then probably May or June, 50/50 split on £5 tickets. Failed – To be fair I’ve nearly finished writing the fucking thing – it’s now called “We’re not getting a Dog” and is, I think, good. I’ll tour it next year. Truth be told I’ve struggled with this show more than the last two.
- Remount the truth show I made in 2017 and never really progressed. For anyone working in a venue who reads this and thinks “yes” – then probably September, 50/50 split on £5 tickets. I’m consistent. Failed – Look I’m probably never going to do it again so just watch it by clicking here right?
- Plant an allotment and sort the back garden. My secret love is gardening – I love it – it’s relaxing, calming and infuriating all at once. It’s also never done. I want a proper veg patch this year, I want to reseed the lawn with clover, and I want to sort the borders and drainage so that it doesn’t look like the Somme in November. Failed – So I did sort more of the garden, I planed Verbena that grew 8ft tall, and added a pond, and got a frog from nowhere, and seeded with clover…. But the clover died and I didn’t get to do the veg patch.
- Get insanely good at PowerBi. Such a geeky one. I’ve been a Powerbi and Tableau fan for ages and am currently doing a training course in PowerBi. Basically I want to make something that makes consultancies, the RSC and the NT jealous. Actually jealous. Then give it away for free. Because why the fuck not. YES! So I think I’ve done this – I’ve got quite good at PowerBi – at least in Arts Marketing circles. I also talked at a conference broadly about it.
- Work for a theatre for free for a day. I’ve had this one before – essentially volunteer my time and skills. It comes with conditions – I’m looking to volunteer with a professional venue, must be a charity, and must not have ghosted me or mildly pissed me off creatively in the last 3 years (sorry Scarborough/Leeds). YES! I did this with a producing venue that took me 5 hours to drive to – and I actually did 3 days of my time – but it was a treat and I loved it. They didn’t use any of it, but hey, you can only lead a horse to water…
- Assemble a Lego collection for my son. This is for my son. Not me. My son. But I want him to have a creative toy, that inspires, and is creative. I had loads of Lego. It’s the timeless toy. I’m going to make a collection for him, then, when he’s ready, he can tell me it’s boring and demand a PS6. He’s only 10 weeks though, so I’ve time. Failed – In fairness he’s just too young. My sister has also promised Duplo which is far more age appropriate.
- Cycle to Southport – when it’s warm. I’m no fool. Failed – But I did cycle to a lovely coffee shop with Mark and eat the best sandwich ever (thank you Garden Social).
Okay…. So a fairly mixed year with 2/7….
Resolutions 2025
- Finish and tour “We’re Not Getting A Dog” – It’s my new show and it’ll be good. And if there’s any venues reading this – you can have a co-producing credit if you e-mail me, book in a date and essentially adopt me and the show, and it’ll cost you nothing.
- Work for a theatre for free (again) – I really enjoyed it – so I will see if any venue would like me for 8 hours to help (probably with marketing let’s face it). I enjoyed it last time and it’d be good to see if I’d enjoy it again.
- Swim 50km in 1 year – I get sad sometimes, and anxious, and swimming helps. So I’m going to try and do it again. 50km is 2000 lengths of my local pool. Not all in one go mind. And I’m a fairly poor and slow swimmer. But I’m also eye candy for the over 70s so it’s a service for me and for the community.
- Do 24 stand up gigs – I know this isn’t a lot, but I’ve enjoyed gigging again – I’d like to get better again, but I’m also conscious of my time. This time it won’t be music or storytelling, it’ll be stand-up with a heavy dose of compering skill in there too.
- Record a song – I used to play piano loads more than I do currently am. I can’t really sing, but fuck it, why not.
- Udemy Courses – I did a PowerBi course which was great on Udemy – online focused learning. I’d like to do some more – specifically Adobe Illustrator, Google Ads, A notation software Muse Score and a sound creation pack one too…
- Start the next show “Diary Of A Neurotic New Dad” or “1000 Ways To Say Hello” – Simple as that.
- Make a change professionally – I’m not sure to do what, where or how, but it might be time.
As always if you want to help or chat about any of these then bob me a line.
Cheers and have a great new year!
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