New Year’s Resolution 2025

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

Seneca

“Celebrate endings—for they precede new beginnings.”

Jonathan Huie

Rich Geib’s 2025 New Year’s Resolutions

What should I do? Where to go? How to live?

  • Find my USTA tennis “new normal.”
    • Mentor younger players new to higher levels of play is the point of 2025. Be open to losing while competing, and thereby manage your current NTRP ranking. Go “27 wins” and “13 losses” in 2025.
      • Enjoy the tennis and camaraderie. Do not focus overly much on winning by itself: you have more important goals.
      • STATUS: Success, more or less.
  • Take care of a bunch of minor medical issues.
    • Skin tag, colonoscopy, blood work; maybe PT for sports. Just get long put-off stuff done.
      • You are paying so much for health insurance. Why not use it? Don’t be that idiot that never goes to the doctor.
      • STATUS: Success, more or less.
  • Build on Graphic Editing, Now Move to Video Editing.
    • You bought and got good again with Paint Shop Pro. Now get a Pinnacle video editing software from Corel and get brushed up on that, too.
      • You used to all this plenty before you had kids. Now that your kids are on the way out, bring these tools back into your life. They can be useful and creative, if time consuming.
      • STATUS: Moderate success. Could have done more. Can do more moving forward.
  • Continue to Find That Sweet Spot for Workouts.
    • Your doctor said, “Cross training is the key to remaining uninjured as you age.” So keep up the tennis, pool, gym, and road bike workouts. Not too much with any one sport, but always be doing one of them: taken all together, this is a lot.
      • And remember to selectively employ full rest days. Rest is golden. Rest is recovery.
        • Sometimes less is more. Usually it is. Experience tells you this, Richard.
        • Nobody questions your discipline in working out. But how about your wisdom in listening to your body in your workouts?
          • Your body is always communicating to you. Are you listening, Richard?
    • Also remember to perform regularly your kata and heavy bag work in the garage, in addition to dry fire practice.
      • It can be a little boring, but it is important.
      • STATUS: In progress, as always. Some success, but only some.
  • Clean All Your Media and Have Files Organized
    • You let things go over the past few years and have gigabytes on your phone over several years. Get it all backed up and organized.
    • STATUS: Success! Tedious, but done.

Here is the reading lineup at this time:

  1. “El Colonel No Tiene Le Escriba” por Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    • DID READ
  2. “I Cheerfully Refuse,” by Leif Enger
    • DID READ
  3. “Our Fight: A Memoir,” by Ronda Rousey
    • DID READ
  4. “Ficciones,” por Jorge Luis Borges
    • DID READ
  5. “Gangster Hunters,” by John Oller
    • DID READ
  6. “Los Vientos de Guerra,” por Herman Wouk
    • DID READ
  7. “Las Edades de Lulu,” por Almudena Grandes
    • DID READ
  8. “Fast Girl: A Life Spent Running from Madness,” by Suzy Favor Hamilton
    • DID READ
  9. The Book of Sheen: A Memoir,” by Charlie Sheen
    • DID READ
  10. “Cheaper by the Dozen,” by Frank B. Gilbreth, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
    • DID READ
  11. “All Over But the Shoutin,’” by Rick Bragg
    • DID READ
  12. “Mating in Captivity: Reconciling the Erotic & the Domestic,” by Esther Perel
    • DID READ
  13. “The Virtues of Aging,” by Jimmy Carter
    • DID READ
  14. “Come As You Are,” by Emily Nagoski
    • DID READ
  15. “The Right to Privacy,” by Samuel D. Warren and Louis D. Brandeis
    • DID READ
  16. “How to Retire and Not Die: The 3 Ps That Will Keep You Young,” by Gary Sirak, Max Sirak
    • DID READ
  17. “Champion Mindset: Coach Yourself to Win at Life,” by Patrick Mouratoglou
    • DID READ
  18. “Comfort in Darkness: The Invisible Power of Jiu Jitsu,” by Rickson Gracie, Peter Maguire
    • DID READ
  19. “The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements,” by Eric Hoffer
    • DID READ
  20. “Brothers,” by Alex van Halen
    • DID READ
  21. “Por Quién Doblan Las Campanas,” por Ernest Hemingway
    • DID READ
  22. “Blazing Eye Sees All: Love Has Won, False Prophets, and the Fever Dream of the American New Age,” by Leah Sottile
    • DID READ
  23. “Lethal Prey: A Prey Novel, Book 35,” by John Sandford
    • DID READ
  24. “How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale,” by Jenna Jameson 
    • DID READ
  25. “Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance,” by Laura Delano
    • DID READ
  26. L.A.’s Last Street Cop: Surviving Hollywood Freaks, the Aryan Brotherhood, and the L.A.P.D.’s Homicidal Vendetta Against Me,” by Al Moreno
    • DID READ
  27. “Our Biggest Fight: Reclaiming Liberty, Humanity, and Dignity in the Digital Age,” by Frank H. McCourt Jr., Michael J. Casey
    • DID READ
  28. “From Under the Truck: A Memoir,” by Josh Brolin
    • DID READ
  29. “Shot in the Heart,” by Mikal Gilmore
    • DID READ
  30. “Whore of New York: A Confession,” by Liara Rou
    • DID READ
  31. “Life After Power: Seven Presidents and Their Search for Purpose Beyond the White House,” by Jared Cohen
    • DID READ
  32. “Pídeme Lo Que Quieras,” por Megan Maxwell
    • DID READ
  33. “The Mindful Warrior: Martial Arts as a Path to Mental Well-being,” by Michael Jones
    • DID READ
  34. “Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil’s Deal Paperback,” by Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neil
    • DID READ
  35. “Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away,” by Annie Duke
    • DID READ
  36. “Tú No Matarás,” por Julia Navarro
    • DID READ
  37. “The Autobiography of a Yogi,” by Yogananda Paramahansa
    • DID READ
  38. “Mi Nombre es Emilia del Valle,” por Isabel Allende
    • DID READ
  39. “Want: Sexual Fantasies by Anonymous, by Gillian Anderson
    • DID READ
  40. “America First: Roosevelt vs. Lindbergh in the Shadow of War,” by H. W. Brands
    • DID READ
  41. “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power,” by Shoshana Zuboff
    • DID READ
  42. “Finding Tess: A Mother’s Search for Answers in a Dopesick America,” by Beth Macy
    • DID READ
  43. “How 1954 Changed History,” by Michael Flamm
    • DID READ
  44. “Say Everything,” by Ione Skye
    • DID READ
  45. “Zen Body-Being: An Enlightened Approach to Physical Skill, Grace, and Power,” by Peter Ralston, Laura Ralston
    • DID READ
  46. “In My Skin: A Memoir of Addiction,” by Kate Holden
    • DID READ
  47. “The Stoic’s Guide to a Peaceful Life: A Modern Approach to Embracing Stoicism for Mental Resilience, Emotional Control, and Personal Change, Even if You’re a Beginner,” by Jordan T. Beckett
    • DID READ
  48. “The Las Vegas Madam: The Escorts, the Clients, the Truth,” by Jami Rodman
    • DID READ
  49. The Guns of John Moses Browning: The Remarkable Story of the Inventor Whose Firearms Changed the World,” by Nathan Gorenstein
    • DID READ
  50. “Healthy to 100: How Strong Social Ties Lead to Long Lives,” by Ken Stern
    • DID READ
  51. “Counter Ambush: The Science Of Training For The Unexpected Defensive Shooting,” by Rob Pincus
    • DID READ
  52. “The Four Spent the Day Together,” by Chris Kraus
    • DID READ
  53. “The Boys of Biloxi,” by John Grisham
    • DID READ

Watch the following movies —

  • “The Order”
    • DID WATCH
  • “Life After Fighting”
    • DID WATCH
  • “Judgement at Nuremberg”
    • DID WATCH
  • “The Girlfriend Experience”
    • DID WATCH
  • “Anora”
    • DID WATCH
  • “Gladiator II”
    • DID WATCH
  • “One Battle After Another”
    • DID WATCH
  • “My So Called Life”
    • DID WATCH
  • “Task”
    • DID WATCH
  • “Landman, Season One”
    • DID WATCH
  • “A House of Dynamite”
    • DID WATCH