It’s a new year and even though there’s always a wave of anti-resolution-making in the air around this time, I am going to make a few. 12, in fact. Because I like to use arbitrary demarcations of time as ways to kickstart changes in my life. Last year it was packing up my stuff, leaving New York City, and traveling around the country (did I mention that here? I should probably write a post. *marks that as a resolution*). Now to decide what it will be this year.

2016 Resolution #1: Communicating More With My Peeps

One of the best things about the past year has been spending time hanging out with and talking to fabulous and wonderful people I usually only see at conventions. And, in some cases, I haven’t seen them at conventions at all due to life stuff. I enjoyed reconnecting with my friends a great deal, but I can’t be in every city every month, still. Damn you, teleporter technology Apple is clearly keeping from us.

One way of keeping up with folks that I’ve found useful over the past two years is Google Hangout group chats. On Hangouts you can instant message one person or several people. If you create a group chat, you can even name the room the way we used to on AOL or ICQ back in the day. Google will save that group of people as a chat entity even if you close the window.

I’ve been part of an ongoing group chat for over a year now and love it. We pop in to talk to each other whenever someone is around, and if everyone else is busy that’s just fine. Anyone can initiate a video call, though no one is obligated to answer it. Having a pre-existing group also makes it easier to reach out to people when I want to talk. I know I’m not disturbing them, and they know they don’t have to answer me right away, just when they see the message and have time to respond.

I want more of this in my life! So over the next few weeks I’m going to start setting up group hangouts and seeing if people are down with it. If you wanna start one with me and we’re already friends on G+ or GMail, all you have to do is add me + one other person to get it going. You can add more people later.

I have a few other communication ideas (including more snail mail!) that I’ll implement throughout the year. The exact medium isn’t as important as being more in touch with people I love. We can’t all always be in the same city or at every convention, so let’s make use of this lovely SFnal technology!