New Year’s Resolutions for 2022

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.”
Michael Altshuler

“A new heart for a new year, always!”
Charles Dickens

Rich Geib’s 2022 New Year’s Resolutions

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

Travel South of the Border

Put in some solid time in Latin America in 2022; do some serious research, have a plan, and make it happen. In the future you could spend even longer periods overseas. So continue to polish up the Spanish for use in full-time immersion. Take a manageable bite-sized taste this summer, so you might make a glutton of yourself later. This is for yourself, and for your family.

STATUS: Success! You spent a good chunk of time in Costa Rica and in the Caribbean. But this was merely the prelude for longer such travelling in the future. You took a taste that you might become a glutton later.

Have family meetings once every couple of weeks

Make an official venue whereby the girls can have a voice in family affairs. Encourage daughters to voice their concerns and/or wishes, even if the answer is “no.” (Note: say “yes” absolutely as much as you can.)

STATUS: Failure. But maybe this year?

Tennis Sustainability

After the solid conditioning gains acquired during the pandemic, you got bumped up to 5.0 NTRP tennis level (before you eventually appealed down way back down to 4.5) and make a qualitative leap in your tennis game. But now that we are busy again, and you have limited time, try and keep the fitness and competition gains. Don’t let your level slip, as much as possible. Keep your tennis-specific fitness strong: keep the quads, hip abductors, and core strong. Stay good in the pool, as always, and the right shoulder should be good-to-go. But get back on your bike when the days lengthen and there is more sunlight in spring and summer.
STATUS: Success. But finding the sweet spot between too much exercise and not enough exercise is always going to be a tricky business as you age. Listen to your body!

Do USTA “capstone” tennis league with Roger.

Play some real 5.0 league matches and see if you really are a 5.0 player. Or not. Up to a certain point, the score does not lie. We shall see what we see.
STATUS: Did not happen.

Get on Your Road-bike, at least Semi-Routinely

John spoke verily when he claimed that it would be a tragedy to spend so much money to live in coastal California if I did not regularly ride along the beach and foothills of Ventura County. So true! So get your road bike refurbished for spring, and get out along the ocean semi-regularly. You are always in a better mood after two hour’s biking north to Carpinteria and back.
- Find the time to do this, Richard. During the pandemic you had the time. Now that you are busy, try and carve out the time. Remember if you don’t make the time, it won’t happen. There is a reason you almost stopped biking when you had children. You should be able to finesse the time to get good bike rides 15 years later when they are older and more independent.

STATUS: Success. But it is hard to do in the winter because the sun sets so early.

Attend The Ojai Tennis Tournament This April

You have missed it these past two years because of COVID, and that has been sad. Make sure and attend it this year — with your high school tennis team, hopefully. Enjoy the tournament as much as you can.

STATUS: Success. After so many Covid-related cancellations, The Ojai is back.

Don’t Try to Get COVID, But Don’t Exactly Go Out of Your Way NOT to Get COVID

It appears everyone is going to get COVID-19 sooner or later, so have all your vaccinations and booster shots on board so then when you do get the virus mostly likely you won’t get terribly sick. And then after you have a mild case of COVID in 2022 you will have natural antibodies for defense and will be good well into 2023 for the next variant(s).

STATUS: Success! I got COVID, like everyone else. I recovered, got the antibodies, and moved on. COVID has not affected the quality of my life since they stopped the lockdowns.

Get Julia to Read Through AP History Textbook

And some good US History movies, along with others in junior year. Set the stage for similar story with world history for sophomore year.

STATUS: A minor success. We could have done much more, but I pick my fights with 15-year old daughter.

Get Julia the Cadillac Treatment Well into Her Sophomore Year

Feed your oldest daughter in after school debriefings, with specific tutoring in Spanish, English, and history. Drive her to all her practices. Coach Julia’s high school tennis team and all the time and energy that entails. Read and discuss literature with her. Give her the “Cadillac treatment.” High school will go fast for Julia; you can help make a real difference. Put in the time and energy. You have done a solid job for the past 15 years, and the finish line of her upbringing approaches; don’t falter now. Be as patient as the sphinx with adolescent Julia when she is in a querulous mood. Remember: slow but steady wins the race.
- Elizabeth will be in high school, too, in 2.5 years. Give her the same sort of attention while she is in high school and then it will be time to retire and start the next stage of your life.

STATUS: Success. Or at least as much success as you can have with an often surly 15-year old girl. “Steady as she goes, Captain. Steady as she goes.” Continue this way.

Firearms Training

With Mike at the Angeles range two weeks ago you were by far the best shooter in your class. Stay good with your marksmanship skills by constant dry-fire practice, with monthly visits to the range and quarterly paid professional training. Remember: shooting is a perishable skill. Don’t let what you have nourished up “perish” through inattention. Be strong in the fundamentals through intentional practice and regular repetition.

Double Tap:
Two rounds in a 1/2 inch spread.

Here is the reading lineup at this time:

“Good Cop,” by Maureen Dowd
- DID READ
“The Essence of Karate,” by Gichin Funakoshi
- DID READ
“Sheryl Crow: Words + Music,” by Sheryl Crow
- DID READ
“Alanis Morissette: Words + Music,” by Alanis Morissette
- DID READ
“Platero y Yo,” por Juan Ramón Jiménez
- DID READ
“Lo Que No Borró El Desierto,” por Diana Lopez Zuleta
- DID READ
“Como Agua Para Cholocate,” por Laura Esquivel
- DID READ
“Heridas Abiertas,” por Gillian Flynn
- DID READ
“Eco de Las Mentiras,” por Ian Rankin
- DID READ
“El Libro de la Alegría: Alcanza la Felicidad Duradera En un Mundo En Cambio Constante,” by Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Abrams.
- DID READ
“A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles
- DID READ
“Del Amor y Otros Demonios,” por Gabriel García Márquez
- DID READ
“Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional,” by Isaac Fitzgerald
- DID READ
“La Pasión Según Carmela,” por Marcos Aguinis
- DID READ
“Artemis,” by Andy Weir
- DID READ
“American Gun: A History of the U.S. in Ten Firearms,” by Chris Kyle
- DID READ
“Gringo Viejo,” por Carlos Fuentes
- DID READ
“Detective Malasuerte,” por Hilario Pena
- DID READ
“Cuentos de La Selva,” por Horacio Quiroga
- DID READ
“Zen in the Martial Arts,” by Joe Hyams
- DID READ
“Project Hail Mary,” by Andy Weir
- DID READ
“Unmasked: My Life Solving America’s Cold Cases,” by Paul Holes
- DID READ
“El Silencio de los Corderos,” por Thomas Harris
- DID READ
“We Need to Talk About Kevin: A Novel,” by Lionel Shriver
- DID READ
“Living with a Wild God: A Nonbeliever’s Search for the Truth About Everything,” by Barbara Ehrenreich
- DID READ
“Breathe: A Life in Flow,” by Rickson Gracie,” Peter Maguire
- DID READ
“Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing (and Adults Are Missing),” by Emily Weinstein and Carrie James
- DID READ
“Fight for the Forgotten: How a Mixed Martial Artist Stopped Fighting for Himself and Started Fighting for Others,” by Loretta Hunt and Justin Wren
- DID READ
“Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It,” by Richard V. Reeves
- DID READ
“A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Doe,” by Alex Gillis
- DID READ
“La Muerte de Artemio Cruz,” por Carlos Fuentes
- DID READ
“Scars and Stripes: An Unapologetically American Story of Fighting the Taliban, UFC Warriors, and Myself,” by Tim Kennedy and Nick Palmisciano
- DID READ
“A Bittersweet Season: Caring for Our Aging Parents – And Ourselves,” by Jane Gross
- DID READ
“Ya Nadie Llora Por Mí,” por Sergio Ramírez
- DID READ
“Fight Like a Physicist: The Incredible Science Behind Martial Arts,” by Jason Thalken
- DID READ
“Gangster Warlords: Drug Dollars. Killing Fields, and the New Politics of Latin America,” by Ioan Grillo
- DID READ
“Los Días Robados,” por Guido Lombardi
- DID READ
“On the Warrior’s Path, Second Edition: Philosophy, Fighting, and Martial Arts Mythology,” by Daniele Bolelli
- DID READ
“Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption,” by Stepen King
- DID READ
“The Count of Monte Cristo,” by Victor Hugo
- DID READ

Watch the following movies —

“The Power of the Dog”
- DID WATCH
“Gifted”
- DID WATCH
“The Lives of Others”
- DID WATCH
“The Tender Bar”
- DID WATCH
“Top Gun: Maverick”
- DID WATCH
“Let Him Go”
- DID WATCH
“The New World”
- DID WATCH
“The Unforgivable”
- DID WATCH
“Badlands”
- DID WATCH
“In The Heart of The Sea”
- DID WATCH
“Mass”
- DID WATCH