I'm going back to 2023

First meme of the year  . . . first prediction of the year . . . and the first fuck up of the year. Nice to set off on the right foot for the New Year. (Yep, already broke my New Year Resolution as well  . . . but that was hours ago.)

Round 96: Smashing New Year's Darts Resolutions

Darts Thrown: January 26th 2020

Blog Written: February 15th 2020

Highest Score: 180

Lowest Score: 5

Sixties: 60

100+: 26

180s: 1

180s Missed: 3

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

New Year's Darts Resolutions (Updated)

• Hit two 180s in one day.
• Hit fifty 180s in 2020.
• Hit a high of 41 - as the lowest score - in a round.
• Hit 60 sixties in a round.
• Hit a 180 in a bar.
• Towards the end of the year, join a pub team and, naturally, go down in flames in ignominious defeat.

I'm now officially half way through my New Year's Darts Resolutions. I refer you to the documented evidence above to show that I've finally hit 60 sixties in one round. I guess the next goal is to hit 75 sixties but don't hold your breath on that one.

The song of the round? No rhyme or reason; I'm just another wannabe axe hero.

The Stone Roses - 'Love Spreads'

New Year's Darts Resolutions (Updated)

Second New Year's Darts Resolution achieved. 'To hit a 180 in a bar or pub'. 

It's the bar I go to when I'm doing laundry and/or picking up the kids from school. I threw for a 180 four times last night whilst the socks and undies were drying but I finally achieved it today, before picking up the kids. No one to witness it but that don't matter:

Only four more Darts Resolutions to go:

• Hit two 180s in one day.
• Hit fifty 180s in 2020.
• Hit a high of 41 - as the lowest score - in a round.
• Hit 60 sixties in a round.
• Hit a 180 in a bar.
• Towards the end of the year, join a pub team and, naturally, go down in flames in ignominious defeat.

P.S. That's my 9th 180 of 2020. I didn't hit my 9th 180 last year until the middle of July.

9/50

New Year's Darts Resolutions (Updated)

There's been a development:

• Hit two 180s in one day.
• Hit fifty 180s in 2020.
• Hit a high of 41 - as the lowest score - in a round.
• Hit 60 sixties in a round.
• Hit a 180 in a bar.
• Towards the end of the year, join a pub team and, naturally, go down in flames in ignominious defeat.

Popped up to Mid-Manhattan and, for me, paid over the odds for a proper set of darts. 90% Tungsten Original 26 Gram Dart. I guess I'm already seeing the results. For the first time ever, I've hit two 180s in one day, thus scoring through one of my New Year's Darts Resolutions. Only five more to go.

Took an age finding the place but it was worthwhile. They allowed me to practice with the darts before purchasing, and I was able to go with the heavier dart. (Previously, I've used the 21 Gram Dart.) These darts just feel more solid.

When I walked in there were these two preppy guys in their late 20s, also looking to buy some darts and we took turns trying out the different darts on a practice board which was a bit of a novelty 'cos it was one of the old boards with the narrower trebles. It took me a few throws to get used to both the board and the darts but I was doing okay. The owner then said a couple of times that my throwing was intimidating the other guys which, in retrospect, I thought was a bit dickish of him. I wasn't throwing that well. I think I'd just been playing longer than the two preppy guys. I don't know.

Oh well, onto the other resolutions. I fear a few of them will take a while.

And, yes, before you ask, I did rotate the board.

First New Year's Darts Resolution achieved. Hit two 180s in one day.

Only five more Darts Resolutions to go:

8/50

New Year's Darts Resolutions

A bit late with these but I'll post them anyway:

• Hit two 180s in one day.
• Hit fifty 180s in 2020.
• Hit a high of 41 - as the lowest score - in a round.
• Hit 60 sixties in a round.
• Hit a 180 in a bar.
• Towards the end of the year, join a pub team and, naturally, go down in flames in ignominious defeat.

Kidding myself on?

• Hit two 180s in one day? Two 180s in one day is doable. If anything, me getting my arse in gear and posting these darting resolutions is only because I've come pretty close already this year to hitting two in one day. It should happen at some point.
• Hit fifty 180s in 2020? It appears a big ask but I've already hit six this year, and if I keep it up I can do it. If I keep it up . . . 
• Hit a high of 41 - as the lowest score - in a round? Probably the hardest one of all the resolutions. I don't even think I've ever come close to doing this. Achieving this would be a greater indicator of me significantly improving as a dart player than a hundred 180s in a calendar year. 
• Hit 60 sixties in a round? I could maybe do it as a one off but I'd have to improve my game to come even close.
• Hit a 180 in a bar? I came close a couple of times last year when I was popping into my local 2/3 times a week. I haven't been practising as much in bars recently, so achieving this goal is purely contingent on me playing in bars more.
• Towards the end of the year, join a pub team . . . ? I'd have to hit some doubles first, but why not?

Naturally I'll let the blog know if and when I achieve any of these resolutions.

That 2018 Facebook New Year Resolution in Full

I just know that 613 of the links will be saved George Takei videos from 2013. It's what's holding me back.

Happy New Year . . .

. . . . to my three remaining readers. You know who you are:

2013 will mean more Simenon, more obscure Swedish films and a mite more politics.

Those 2012 New Year Resolutions In Full

Drink more water.

Finish that Eggers book.

On the to do list . . .

New Year's resolutions for the new decade?

Still working on my list from 2006.

Or, rather, I'm still working up to working on my list from 2006. It's a slow process and takes a lot of due consideration.

However, I know one thing about that list: I'm sure I'll learn Spanish before I ever finish that Dave Eggers book. (Daft thing is, is that living in our new neighbourhood I might be better off learning Russian or Hebrew instead.)

I will add one addendum to that wish list that can be acted upon right away. I undertake to get back to publicising the current issue of the Socialist Standard on the blog. I know I've been better in recent months but I really was slacking earlier on last year. Not good. Must do better.

Those 2008 New Year Resolutions In Full

What he said.

Do I Even Know How To Read? Do You Even Know Me?

Nothing like a broadsheet reading poll to show one up to be the poorly read dolt that you've always suspected yourself to be.

It's not enough that I don't 'get' the subtle nuances of the handful of books that I have read, it now transpires that there are 48 must-read lost classics out there that I've not even heard of, never mind read.

Snappy Kat can probably guess the one book out of the fifty from that Observer's Forgotten Fifty that I've actually read, and I will put my hand up to having actually heard of 'The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin' by David Nobbs, but I fall into the category of people who thought that the book was a novelisation of the sitcom, and not the other way round.

The fact that none of the fifty "celebrated"* writers feel fit to mention Gordon Legge's 'The Shoe' or Edward Gaitens' 'The Dance of the Apprentices' seems to confirm my long held suspicion that both books are lost classics only within the realm of my ever-diminishing brain.

*Of course they are 'celebrated'. Any time I see Will Self's name in the paper, I do a Mexican Wave in his honour. I'm sure you're the same.

Those 2006 New Year Resolutions In Full

- Exercise more. Walking to the local Pizzeria doesn't actually suffice as a fitness regime.

- Read more fiction (recommendations please), rather than studying my sitemeter. (Which is in many ways a fiction of sorts.)

- Not be so cynical when watching Oprah with Kara.

- Learn how to make Cornish Pasties. I miss them, and the Cornish Pasty Industry misses me. Profits were down 17% this last financial year as a consequence of my moving to America, and I understand that my name is mud in certain rural parts of the West Country.

- Trying not to laugh out loud when spotting hipsters in New York. Of course, leg warmers are coming back in fashion.

Get excited about important stuff in real life, rather than nearly fainting with giddiness, like I did a few months back, when encountering two Sparts outside Brooklyn College.

- Finish that Dave Eggers book: Firstly, because it is witty, insightful and life affirming. Secondly, because otherwise Kara will beat me to death with aforementioned paperback if I don't. (What could be more "life affirming"?)

- Stop using wikipedia as a quick link in blog posts, without first reading what the actual wikipedia entry says. (See previous resolution.)

- Stop saying: "That show actually originated in Britain." Firstly, because it can ge grating to the listener when they hear it for the four hundredth time; and, secondly, because the show is invariably crap - see here for more details. It doesn't put British TV in the best possible light.

- Actually submit a book review to the Socialist Standard. (That noise you can hear in the background is not a tree failing in a deserted forest, but the collective jaws of the Socialist Standard Editorial Committee falling on the floor.)

- Learn Spanish so I can properly enjoy Channel 974 on the TV. I think I'm missing out.

- Stop being so cheesy. I sound like a James Blunt record at times, and that is not a nice thing to say about oneself. This can be cured with my ongoing rediscovery of the genius that is Luke Haines. The bloke makes Cathal Coughlan sound like a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.

- Ensure that I'm properly stocked with the essentials for the event of this coming year.

- Oh, aye, and do my bit to smash global capitalism. (I'm contractually obliged to tag that one on at the end of my resolutions list.)