My New Year's Resolutions: 2022 Edition!

Another new year has begun, and so I figured I'd make another batch of New Year's Resolutions to help me stay focused on my collecting goals for 2022!  

1.  Barry Larkin Collection

My Larkin collection is still one of the pride and joys of my card collection and I have no plans to stop collecting cards of Barry quite yet.  As it stands now, I've posted a total of 855 Barry Larkin cards to my blog.  I've got plenty of other Larkin cards scanned and ready to go so let's set my goal for 2022 to write at least 50 more Barry Larkin posts (putting me at a total of at least 905 by the end of this year).

2.  Trading

I was mad crazy with TCDB trades in 2021 but I also spent a lot of time uploading a ton of trade bait to the site.  Unfortunately for me, I don't have nearly as much additional trade bait to upload this year so I don't expect to break the 200 total trades mark but I will shoot for a slightly more modest 100 trades in 2022.

3.  The Want List

By the time 2021 ended, my want list was down to 64 total sets.  This year, I want my want list to have no more than 60 sets on it when 2022 comes to a close.  While a net gain of "only -4" might seem low, most of what remains on my want list is a combination of short prints, variations, insert sets, relics, or original A&G cards from the 1800s...none of which are particularly easy to acquire!  I'm going to give myself bonus points if I can complete any of the following sets:

• 2018 Topps Gypsy Queen:  Base:  301, 303, 306, 307, 318
• 2015 Upper Deck Dinosaurs:  Predator of the Seas:  2, 3, 15
• 2013 Topps Allen & Ginter: Wonders of the World Cabinet Boxloaders:  WOW-1, 20
• 2013 Topps Archives: Gallery of Heroes: MT
• 2010 Allen & Ginter:  Celestial Stars:  CS 4, 5
• 2009 Upper Deck Goudey:  Base: 220, 224
• 2007 Topps Allen & Ginter's:  Snakes:  S1. Arizona Coral Snake

All of the above sets are nearly completed and I'd love to be able to knock at least a couple of them off of my want list for good in 2022.

4.  The Great Reorganization

I've had this as a resolution for the past several years but I haven't done a great job of actually detailing what the resolution entails.  I'm going to try to break this one down into specific goals for 2022:

1. I want to get the rest of my unsorted Barry Larkin cards sorted, scanned, and put into my binders.
2. I want to update TCDB with my full Barry Larkin collection.
3. I want to update TCDB with my full complete set collection.
4. I want to update TCDB with the remaining trade bait that I still have sitting around.
5. I want to get my card table cleaned off, even if only for a day or two!

If I can manage even half of the above goals, honestly, that'd be a huge breakthrough in terms of me actually getting my collection back under some sort of control and organization!

5.  My LEGO Blog

I'm not giving up on my LEGO blog yet.  Last year, I set an overly ambitious goal of writing 50 posts which I failed miserably so let's cut the goal back down to 36 posts (an average of three per month) and see if I can manage that in 2022.

6.  Reading

I know that reading is good for me but it's hard to find the time (and ambition) to read much these days.  As such, let's set the goal at a much more modest six books for the year.

7.  Disc Golf

I think I've mentioned it on the blog once or twice already, but I recently got hooked on playing disc golf.  I'm not any good yet but I'm hoping to make serious gains in the sport for 2022.  Specifically, let's shoot for the following:

Consistently throw off the tee pad 300 feet (in the direction I want the disc to go, of course).

Break par on the course that I play most often (the one closest to my work)

Play on at least three new disc golf courses (this is tricky since I live in an area without many courses within 100 miles of me).

8.  Woodworking

I have two things that I definitely want to work on this year in terms of woodworking.  First, I want to make my son another Christmas ornament.  I've made him one ornament for each of the past three Christmas's and I'd like to continue the tradition for another year.  Second, I want to build myself a new Strawberry cage for my garden.  Without a proper cage around my plants, the birds and squirrels get all of the strawberries before I can even pick them...so this one's a must if I'm going to have any fresh strawberry shortcake this summer!

9.  LEGO Robotics

For my final goal of the year, I still hope to teach LEGO Robotics and while the course keeps getting pushed back due to covid restrictions, I'd like to at least learn the new Spike software/programming during 2022, whether I actually end up teaching the course or not.  Of course, if I do teach the course then this goal will be easy since I'll have to learn everything but I'd like to learn it regardless.  

That does it for this year's goals.  Last year, I did quite well with most of my goals so I can only hope that I'll be able to come close to replicating that success in 2022.  

Now it's your turn, do you have any specific resolutions you hope to complete this year?  I'd love to hear about them!