I’ve been studying philosophy at Ca’ Foscari for about a year and half now, devoting most of my spare time to wonderful and wonderfully difficult books, and enjoying every part of this journey. There is still a lot of ground to cover because I see many gaps to fill and thoughts to process, but there is one thing that I am sure of: it’s going to be the journey of a lifetime.

I’ve not been so deeply fascinated and involved with something in a long while. Ask my wife and she is going to tell you that perhaps my love for cinema can match this passion for philosophy. I could agree, but cinema has not really been on my side lately. Beside few exceptions, 2020 will not be remembered for the films or the directors that inspired me to write.

The last days of 2020 were dedicated to planning new year’s resolutions. To be perfectly honest, I am not a great fan of new year’s resolutions. Most of the time I forget about them in a couple of months. To circumvent my poor will, I decided to keep the resolutions simple, small, and practical. This is what I wrote down on my Bujo:

  • More books and less films
  • More philosophy and less fiction
  • Running

The first two are easy to adopt side by side. I watched way too many forgettable films last year, leaving the couch with the horrible feeling of time wasted. I do not want to repeat that. If there isn’t a film to watch, I want to turn off the TV, forget about my Blu-ray collection, and grab the book next to me.

As for the kind of book to pick up, I want to avoid contemporary fiction. There is nothing wrong with contemporary fiction, of course, but most of the contemporary books I read in 2020 proved to be little more than decent entertainment. There is so much to read, and it’s not just philosophy. I want more classics on my bedside table, and I want to read more from authors I love. Consider it a sabbatical. I intend to come back to contemporary fiction next year.

Finally, running. Let’s just say I stopped for no good reason and I am waiting for my contact lens to start again. As simple as this resolution looks, it’s also the most necessary one. Between work and studies the time I spend at my desk has become unhealthy, and I know how fresh air and exercise make me feel.

For all the good things in this planning, I see a couple of drawbacks here. If I manage to stick to these resolutions, computing is going to play a different role in my life. I will still be in front of my Emacs five days a week, but that’s about it. Whereas this means less tinkering and less githubbing, it also means less writing for my blogs. Nevertheless, for the sake of my priorities, I am willing to sacrifice writing just as I am willing to put cinema aside.

Happy new year.