New goals for 2009

I'm a bit behind on getting these up, but between my computer dying and getting sick, I just haven't had the time to finish. Just like in 2008, I'll probably edit these as I go, and add or subtract goals throughout the year.

Without further ado, my new goal list for 2009:

1. I'm not setting an overall goal for how many books I read. Instead, my goal this year is to get through at least 75 books that I own but have never read. It'll be a bit of a challenge considering the number of books I borrow from friends and the library, but I need to start getting through my own books.

2. Another goal dealing with getting through some of my stuff...I'll have quite a few of these this year, because it's something I'm really bad at. I want to watch all of the movies I own and have never watched. I'm only counting what I had as of January 1st in order to make the goal measurable.

3. Video games. I haven't completed the majority of my games, I always play partway through and then start something else. This year I want to work on finishing some. I'm going to say 12, as I figure one per month is actually attainable.

4. Travel. Yeah, I did this one last year, but planning a few trips well in advance got me out of the house and doing shit, so it's back. First off is a trip to Philly for Christian's 21st next month. DO is a month after that, though due to work issues I'm not positive I can go. Then in July I'm going to go visit Jade in Ireland for about a week. I may try for another weekend trip or two if I can come up with any ideas.

5. Continue to learn Japanese. Specifically, I want to get to level 3 on the Japanese proficiency test. I don't know if I'd actually be able to take the test, as it's not offered everywhere, but I know what the guidelines are so it gives me something concrete to work toward.

6. Cooking. I can already cook fairly well, but I'd really like to learn more. My goal for this will be to learn to cook twelve different meals and six new types of desserts. I have no idea where those numbers came from but they seem doable.

7. Finish one of my Nano novels. Doesn't matter which one, I just want the first draft of one of them 100% done.

8. Write every day. This is also a goal from last year, but I didn't quite manage it. I wrote a lot more than I would have normally though. This year I wan to build on that and try to get up to writing every day.

9. Let other people read my writing. Another from last year, and self-explanatory. This is another goal I made some progress with last year, but I'd like to make even more this year. Hopefully if I can finish one of my Nano drafts, I can pass it to a few people to read.

10. Finish my associates' degree. This has been postponed so many times because of either health or money issues, but no more. I have two classes left, and I am going to work my ass off to get through them and finish in May.

11. Continuing education. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this for sure, so the first part of the goal is to research the schools I could go to for my Bachelor's degree, and see what classes I would need and how much it would cost. I'd like to get through that much by mid-February.

12. Clean out my stuff, and get organized. This is a carry over from last year, but I need to finish it. First up is my closets. I could honestly probably get rid of about half of my clothes, lol. Same goes for shoes.

13. New wardrobe. I need more clothes that I actually wear, especially for work. It's been a long time since I bought anything aside from the bare minimum that I needed. As soon as I get my closets cleared out a bit, I'm going to start filling them again with stuff that I really want. This will probably take all year because I can't spend a lot of money at once, but I figure I have to start somewhere with it.

14. Exercising. I did well with this for the first half of 2008, but then started working full-time. I want to get back into regular exercise. I'm going to start with Zumba, three hours a week, and build up from there.

15. Save money, and learn to manage my money wisely. I'll probably make this a bit more specific once I start paying insurance and see how much I actually bring home a paycheck. However, I want to set up my 401k and put money into that on a regular basis. I also want to save some money from every paycheck I bring home, and continue to pay a bit extra on my car every month. I do pretty well with these things now, but I want to make a real effort to build up my savings and stop buying stuff just because I have the money lying around.

16. Eat healthy. Self-explanatory. I've already been making an effort on this one the past couple of months. I'm not going on any specific diet, I just want to eat less junk food and more healthy food like fruits. I've cut out candy for the most part, the next thing I'm going to cut back on is soda.

17. Photography. I've always been interested in photography, and I'm going to spend a lot more time on it this year. I'm going to start going out at least a couple times a month to take pictures, and I might take a class in the fall, especially if I don't continue with my accounting degree right away.

18. Nano 2009. Another self-explanatory one. I want to participate and win for the fourth time this year. I'm mentioning this goal now, but it won't be brought up again until October or so.

Wow, this list is long...hopefully I can get through at least some of the goals this year! I've already been working on them for a couple of weeks, so the first update will be up soon. And since this entry is finally done, I can actually get back to regular blogs too...