Date: 4-28-2014

Due Date: 4-28-2015

Resolution: Now that I work at a drug store I spend a lot of time in the vitamin and supplement section. It seems that there is a gummy or a Skittle like or a chocolate square versions of every supplement you can think of.

A lot of these supplements look pretty tasty. The other day I found myself foolishly wondering if I could live on these treats. In my ill-informed mind, I figure that this would be a healthy experiment (at least somewhat.)

Date: 4-29-2014

Due Date: 4-29-2015

Resolution: As the month winds down it's getting harder to figure out what I want to do to continue the April Fools themed resolutions. My go-to site is AsSeenOnTV.com to see what kind of nonsense they have to offer.

As I've been scrolling through the site to find foolish products to test I've found a few that I'm kind of interested in just owning. Being that the highest level of enthusiasm these products invoke in me is, "That might be neat," I don't think they are worthy enough for individual challenges. That's why I'm going to lump them together into one foolish investment.

Date: 4-30-2014

Due Date: 4-30-2015

Resolution: In my most foolish resolution to date, within the next year I will pay Facebook $5 a day to promote my The Wicker Breaker Facebook page. I've dabbled in it and have found that yes you will end up getting more likes, but it doesn't seem to lead to more traffic to the actual website I am promoting.

I've also noticed that even if you pay it just means that your page is somehow promoted. You don't see any boost in the "people who have seen this post," ratio.

I've also experimented with paying to promote individual posts which did lead to a crazy boost in the noted "people who have seen this post," count but did not add any significant amount of visits to the link that I paid to promote.

Because of this, I will choose one link a week to pay $5 to promote to see what happens.

Based on my dabblings this whole paying Facebook to promote your page is the most foolish of any of my April Fools themed resolutions so far.

As always, I'll keep you posted.

Date: 5-1-2014

Due Date: 5-1-2015

Resolution: I figure how can I learn more about the world around me when I don't understand what everyone is saying. Granted there's no way I'll be able to learn every language on the planet, but I can attempt to learn one of the few universal languages.

By this time next year, I hope to be able to do at least these three things.

1. Be able to sign the alphabet without referring to a chart.

2. Tell the tale of Everyone Poops (I receive a copy of the guide to sign language version of the book when I was working at Children's Hospital.)

3. Be able to perform this scene from National Lampoons Vacation.

I hope to learn more than just these three tasks, but this is will be my start.

Date: 5-2-2014

Due Date: 5-2-2015

Resolution: I know coffee a day kid probably isn't the best way to refer to these children in need but as a person who is open to my own flaws, using them as inspiration in my writing I'm hoping to find a quirky kid open to sharing their honest outlook on life to create an amazing story.

I figure this would be fair and rather than receive a monthly update as to how great their life is because of my twenty-five bucks a month, I request story ideas and set deadlines so that at this time next year I can produce the short film they create and give them any of the profit, which since it's a short film will probably be zero, but they'll at least end up with a story that they created to share with the world.

Date: 5-3-2014

Due Date: 5-3-2015

Resolution: Before I had Amazon Prime I used to end up buying a lot of three to five-dollar tools to boost my purchase amount to $25 to receive free shipping. I stumbled upon this little device that stamps braille into money during one of my searches.

Unfortunately, it's not Prime eligible so it didn't count toward the free shipping offer and therefore sat in my shopping cart for years until… finally… I decided to buy one and turn it into a resolution.

And here we are today.

For the next year I braille all the money that I briefly own. I'm also going to talk to my boss and see if I can come in early once a week to stamp all the money at work as well.

As always, I'll keep you posted.

Date: 5-4-2014

Due Date: 5-4-2015

Resolution: Most of the time I just ignore it but recently I've become fascinated with the words my phone auto-suggests as I write texts or emails. The other day I was playing around and sending myself entire sentences made up of one word that I chose followed by words chosen by my phone.

Date: 5-5-2014

Due Date: 5-5-2015

Resolution: Notice I didn't say all, but I do plan to get rid of most of my worldly possession and start mostly anew. 

Date: 5-6-2014

Due Date: 5-6-2015

Resolution: Before I got this day job, I spent about a year and a half as a social drunk. I would drink once or twice a week if that. Then I landed the job and started to suffer from sleep anxiety and insomnia and started drinking daily again.

I know a lot of you may say, "Why not just give up drinking altogether." I don't think abstinence is the answer to control. As I said in my stop smoking resolution I don't quit anything that I enjoy, I just stop doing it for a while. I feel this allows me to step off the wagon whenever I want and step back on when I'm ready, rather than fall off the wagon and end up feeling lost and hopeless.

I want to keep my options open. I like drinking with my friends, and since I don't have moral issues with drinking socially (or drinking in general) I don't want to set myself up for failure by banning myself from a treat that I can tend to over-enjoy, because of this I'm only giving up drinking alone.

Date: 5-7-2014

Due Date: 5-7-2015

Resolution: I’ve always been horrible at saving money. As with most things I'm horrible at, if I create a game or challenge I'm pretty good at achieving my goals. A few years ago I started playing with a savings technique and ended up saving quite a bit of money.

What I did was, at the end of each day I would go to my online checking account and transfer however much money into savings that it would take to make my checking account divisible by $5. This meant I was saving $.01 to $4.99 a day. As I said, it worked pretty well so I figured I'd give it another shot and make a resolution out of it.

Date: 5-8-2014

Due Date: 5-8-2015

Resolution: As I pointed out in the Hollywood Cookie Diet resolution, I'm one of these people that skips breakfast in exchange for several minutes more sleep. Every article I've read, whether dealing with diet or overall health, says that skipping breakfast is a bad idea.

From here on out I will start my day the right way with a nice healthy breakfast, even if it does mean waking up a few minutes earlier.

Date: 5-9-2014

Due Date: 5-9-2015

Resolution: They say having something to take care of can lead to a happier life. I'm not fully sure who "they" are but I think I first heard it in the movie 28 Days with Sandra Bullock. I tried it several years ago when I bought a maintained a pretty well-stocked aquarium. I loved those fish. I spoiled them with blood worms and other yummy non-fish flake meals.

I went home to visit my family for the holidays and returned to a tank filled with dead fish. I guess one of my roommates accidentally kicked the power chord out of the wall and didn't notice. I haven't owned another living thing since.

I think it's time to give pet ownership another shot. I could really use something to take care of and care about even if it is just a bunch of bugs.

Date: 5-10-2014

Due Date: 5-10-2015

Resolution: I moved to the Greenwood area of Seattle, WA about three or four years ago. Even though I barely leave my apartment I love the concept of this neighborhood. It has a small-town vibe within the big city, there's a bit of a nightlife, but it's not a trendy area so the bars don't get too over-crowded with a-holes. Most importantly, everything I need is within walking distance.

Unfortunately, I'm a bit of an agoraphobe so I've managed to avoid all the mom and pop establishments that make the neighborhood interesting to me. I don't go shopping unless I know exactly what I want. I prefer to go to the bigger stores so I can run in, grab what I want and rush home where it's nice and safe.

I want to change this aspect of my life.

Since I started doing my walking alphabet game I've spotted many local stores that I've been meaning to check out. I'm finally caught up with my finances to where I can potentially afford to buy merchandise from said local stores and will start doing so.

From this point on I will spend money at a local non-chain establishment at least once a paycheck in order to support the community. Whether I venture into a restaurant, visit the crazy squirrel thrift store, or get a tattoo from the new tattoo parlor I will be sure to share my findings here at TheWickerBreaker.com.

Date: 5-11-2015

Due Date: 5-11-2015

Resolution: When I was a kid I used to love to watch the New Year's Marathon of The Twilight Zone. I mainly remember the popular episodes that have become staples in pop culture references, along with a couple of my own favorite moments.

I'm not fully sure when it happened but my answer to the question, "What type of stories do you write?" has evolved from offensive comedies to Twilight Zone-style Sci-Fi/Drama. Though I have fond memories of watching the show, I wouldn't say that it inspired this evolution. It's just the easiest example to explain my style.

Being that I barely remember any given episode I'm intrigued to see just how influential the show actually is to my writing style. I've made the proclamation that "I'm going to watch ALL The Twilight Zones," several times in my life. I think I've gotten through most of the first season at least twice.

Now that have this blog to hold me accountable to such proclamations I can say with confidence that this will be the year that I watch all The Twilight Zones.

Not only will I watch the original series, but I will try to track down the 1985 revival, the 2002 revival, and Twilight Zone: The Movie. Granted I'll have to wait until my boycott of reboots and remakes is over to watch the revivals, but this will happen.

Date: 5-12-2014

Due Date: 5-12-2015

Resolution: Anyone who has seen The Karate Kid knows that Bonsai sculpting is a surefire way to achieve inner peace... at least I think it was The Karate Kid... it doesn't matter. I heard somewhere that growing and sculpting Bonsai trees is beneficial to one's mental health.

Since the major goal of 365 Days of Resolution is to find inner peace in this mental head of mine, I will give it a shot and grow a Bonsai Tree from seed and sculpt it to my liking using tiny scissors.

Date: 5-13-2014

Due Date: 5-13-2015

Resolution: This is another mission I started years ago only to lose track of my progress after taking a bit of a break. I figure now that I'm all caught up on the dart monkey game resolution and am waiting for a new release, I need a new game to play in moments of procrastination.

There are 1,000,000 levels to Freecell so I doubt that I'll be able to get to them all within a year, but I'm interested in seeing just how far I can get. I'll record my progress as a part of my The Daily Breaker list.

Date: 5-14-2014

Due Date: 5-14-2015

Resolution: About 15 years ago a group of friends chipped in to buy me a gift certificate to try one of these Sensory Deprivation Tanks for my birthday. At the time I was far too afraid of being trapped with my own thoughts to give it a try. I've been obsessed with the concept ever since.

This will be the year that I finally give it a shot.

Knowing myself the way I do, I know for sure the first time I'll be too uncomfortable to fully appreciate the experience. I'll have no idea what to do with my hands, whether to cross my arms and rest them on my chest or just let them float.

My natural instincts will be to cross my arms and rest my hands on my chest, but then I'll think, "I don't know. I'm sensing my own touch maybe I should let them float." Then I'll let my arms float for a while and feel stupid, as if I'm just recreating what I imagine is supposed to be a relaxing pose.

My thoughts will go back and forth on the issue and the next thing I'll know, my time is up and I didn't experience a thing.

Being that I'm so confident that this is how the first visit will play out I'm going to aim for four visits to make sure that I experience sensory deprivation to the fullest.

Date: 5-15-2014

Due Date: 5-15-2015

Resolution: I would say that I'm horrible at public speaking, but truth be told, I'm horrible at speaking in general. If you know me you may disagree. You may have heard me joking and telling stories with ease, but if you put me in front of a stranger or talk to me about something serious you'll see that I'm a mess.

Unless I'm comfortable and having fun I tend to stammer, mix up words, and just freeze up. As I fight to get the words out I notice every micro facial tic of the audience. Whether or not my interpretations of these facial tics are accurate, I notice them and they destroy my confidence.

I really need to work on this as I feel that, even if it is just in my head, my inability to speak with confidence is a major factor as to what's holding me back from reaching my full potential.

Hopefully, this Toastmasters thing will help me get over this hurdle.

Date: 5-16-2014

Due Date: 5-16-2015

Resolution: Back in the day, before ATM cards were debit cards, when I had to make trips to the ATM machine to take out cash to make my purchases, I used to pay for everything with bills and throw my change into a change jar.

Using this savings technique I would end up with a couple of hundred bucks every few months. They also didn't have Coinstar yet so a lot of procrastination went into rolling up these coins to turn them in, which led to more savings.

When I first moved into my apartment I bought these four decanters to pay homage to this savings technique that helped get me through my late teens and early twenties. Unfortunately, I still live paycheck to paycheck. Every time I managed to stockpile coins, desperation inevitably strikes and I'd have to cash in.

Now that I have this day job and am not working freelance, I'm supposed to be more financially secure. To test this security I will first see how long it takes to fill these decanters with coins and then see how long I can keep them full.

Date: 5-17-2014

Due Date: 5-17-2015

Resolution: Up until last night, I had no idea that lacrosse socks were even a thing. As I was writing my success update for my Strutz Arch Support resolution I went to the internet to see if socks with built-in insoles already existed.

My search for insole socks led me nowhere. Then I searched for padded socks. That's when padded lacrosse socks started to pop up in the results. These were some fun looking socks and they're padded to boot!

I then did a search for lacrosse socks and decided this was going to be my thing.

And here we are.

By this time next year, I will replace all my boring regular unpadded socks with spiffy padded lacrosse socks.