Date: 11-8-2014

Due Date: 11-8-2015

The Resolution: I've registers all of my screenplays through the WGA and have official US Copyrights for two of them. The only problem is, there's nothing cool to say about these documents.

I've always wanted to be able to describe a creation of mine and finish the explanation with the words, "Patent Pending."

Sure I jokingly say it all the time, but who doesn't.

I hope by this time next year I'll be able to combine a few of the new trades I've learned to invent something patent worthy, or at least Patent Pending worthy.

Maybe this will be the year I finally figure out my Easy Cheese style cream cheese dispenser.

Result #312: I've Had A Few Ideas… But Still Have No Patent To Call My Own…

Update #1: The Conclusion…

Date: 11-8-2015

I was hoping to be much further along with way more successful resolutions when I set this goal to create and patent an invention. I was also hoping that I'd have a 3D printer and makeshift 3D scanner to help me with the prototype. I should’ve learned how to sew, sculpt, and design… I should also be further along in my electronics training and learning various other skills to combine in order to create the perfect first invention.

I was hoping a little too big.

I'm not discouraged though.

I think I can honestly say that now. I've been claiming to not be discouraged for the past few months now but feel like those claims were an attempt to fake it until I make it, as the kids say... or is it the old people that say that? I don't know, but I was faking my enthusiasm when my success to fail ratio started to fall.

They say that one strategy to achieve happiness is to set realistic goals. Being that I was unemployed, in the middle of a career change, with no money saved when I decided to start this resolution experiment, it was highly unlikely that I would be able to complete all these tasks especially with how many that cost money to complete. One of the fun things about manic delusions is, I genuinely thought I could actually figure out a way to pull all this off on time.

I've since come to grips with the fact that I was wrong.

I realized I was wrong some time ago but wasn't happy about it even if I said I was fine. I'd always planned on having a redemption option for the one or two tasks that I thought I would fail but when said failures started to stack up I was secretly discouraged.

Now I'm genuinely kind of happy that things are going the way that they are. Where it would have been awesome to pull off every one of these resolutions within a year, I now have projects to work on for the next couple of years.

This resolution is a perfect example of a task that will benefit from being back-burnered. Where I probably would have slapped together something stupid in a failed attempt to recreate the success of the pet rock, now that I'll have time to learn new skills to do it right.

I keep telling myself that I'm going to give myself ten years to find my online voice. I think I'm finally getting to the point where the reality of what this means is setting in. These are still the baby steps of the early years of my life as The Wicker Breaker, these are the years to learn from my failures as an amateur trying to turn pro.

The fact that I'm not going to give up is a good sign that I'm on the right track.

Who knows?