2011: A Year in Review

I just want to take a quick moment to evaluate my logging efforts in 2011 and compare them to the efforts of 2010.

2010 was a bad year for my logging standards. I beat 56 video games, but purchased 52, for a net progress of only 4. I watched 99 DVDs (movies or TV seasons) but acquired 129, for a terrible -30 overall mark. And I read 57 books while getting 39 new ones for a total progress in that field of 18. All in all, 212 items were logged, but 220 were purchased or received as gifts, and my year-end progress mark was -8, which of course isn't progress at all.

2011 was a much lower-key year. There were fewer loggings, but there were far fewer acquisitions, and thus, progress was actually made. I only beat 28 video games, which is exactly half as many as I beat in 2010, but I also only bought 17 - one third as many - for a better video game progress mark of 11. I'm still a long way off, as 61 games remain, but it'll take me six years to beat them all at my 2011 rate as opposed to fifteen years at my 2010 rate. I watched 95 DVDs (or Blu-rays) and only added 61 new ones, eliminating a net sum of 34 from my backlog. There are 29 remaining, so once more it seems feasible that I can wrap those up for good as long as I'm disciplined with my purchases. And I read 32 books in 2011 while adding 21 new ones for a total progress of 11, which admittedly was less than last year's 18. There are 27 books left in my backlog, so I'm still likely two years away from total book completion considering my pacing these past two years. Ultimately, 155 loggings minus 99 acquisitions left a progress mark of 56 on the year, and while I'm still not very "close" to actually completing my goal of complete backlog annihilation, but 56 steps forward is a hell of a lot more impressive than 8 steps backward.

Going forward, in 2012 and beyond, I need to up my video gaming game if I'm ever going to get serious about beating all 61 of those things. That needs to be my primary area of focus this year, and I don't want to set a specific goal because it's silly to do so, but I think if I could beat 50 games this year (say, one a week) without buying more than 20 or so, that's great progress. I also think I can improve on my book-reading. Watching movies and TV shows is easy enough, and rarely requires much investment; I'm not too concerned about the pace on that front. And of course, all three categories of my backlog would benefit, along with my wallet, from me making as few purchases of new items as I can stand to make. Ultimately, 2011 was better than 2010 for logging purposes, but I know I can do even better. Here's looking forward to a solid 2012 campaign.

Would anybody else like to weigh in?