---
title: My Wants for 2019
date:  2018-12-19
tags:  life
tldr:  It's about time I got some things rolling
---

It could be argued that you do not (should not) need to wait for a new year to
begin just to follow new goals and dreams. However, a new year symbolizes
rebirth and new beginnings. A chance to begin anew…and so on. With that said,
here is a list of things I want to accomplish in the new year.



## Learning

iOS development has always been something on my "yeah, at some point" mental
list but in the past week I realized that I need to learn it to create a client
for my social network. I purchased some courses from Ray Wenderlich's site[1]
eons ago and am *just now* going through it. That reminds me, I have *plenty*
of courses purchased from Udemy that I have not revisited (8 of them involve
Blender and/or using Blender with Unity)…I will get back to them, at some
point.



## Product Launches

I had an epiphany a couple weeks ago regarding online products and services.
When you distill them to the basics, *what people are paying for/getting is
access to an API wrapped in a UI*.

This gave me the sudden realization that a majority of my planned products
(projects really) have suffered from me getting stuck on the UI. A friend
called it "analysis paralysis" and that sums it up *perfectly*. I came into the
tech space via web design and development, so I am trained to think of the UI
first and foremost. However, as the back-end developer as well I have to
adjust my thinking to prioritize the functionality over how pretty something
looks/feels. This may sound like a no-brainer to you, dear reader, but when you
are inside your own head it is not so obvious. The functionality informs the
UI/UX and vice-versa, it's a balance.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of just SOME of my languished projects I would
love to turn into products:

- web browser
- domain portfolio management tool
- web app deployer
- analytics service
- operating system
- process management for servers
- content-management system
- IMAP server proxy and client
- social network
- eCommerce platform
- lifestyle brand

Some of these are already in active progress and I think it is totally possible
to achieve 90% of this list by next year's end.



## Music

I used to produce music and rap over my own beats and it gave me another outlet
to express myself. Retro/futuristic/jazzy beats and (I thought) dope rhymes,
haha! A number of factors contributed to the demise of that particular
activity, least of which was starting a family. In my pre-family days I could
have complete silence and uninterrupted workflow for hours. That simply does
not exist for me now.

I *think* I could get back to creating music in many small spurts of time. What
a luxury, time is.



## Video

I upgrade my iPhone every year and the camera gets better year over year.
Additionally, I have a couple ideas for short films so I should be taking full
advantage of this fantastically capable device. I have a Vimeo account for a
*reason*. Yeesh.



## And…

As usual, I just want to become a better version of myself and hopefully not
deal with much strife on the way. Parenting is hard, relationships are hard,
LIFE is hard. My quest to make things a bit easier, continues. 🕸



---

[1]: https://store.raywenderlich.com