Goals update 1

Right, so I'm a bit behind getting the goal updates up, but I've been insanely busy lately. Here goes...

1. Read 75 of my own books that I've never read before. I haven't finished any yet as I was getting through library books, but I'm nearly done with a bunch now. I'll have at least a few to add in the next update.

2. Watch all of the movies I've owned and never watched. Been making good progress here. I'm trying to finish the Bond movies first, and I only have two or three left of the set.

3. Complete 12 video games. Working my way through Bioshock on PS3 and the second Phoenix Wright game on my DS.

4. Travel. Philly was this weekend, and I had a blast as usual. I just got approval Friday for time off for Ireland, and so I bought my plane ticket on Saturday. Next week I have to go get my passport photo and get that application in. DO is still up in the air. I was waiting for Ireland to be worked out before I even tried for more time off at work. I'll see if I can do anything over the next week or two, though I'm not getting my hopes up too much.

5. Continue to learn Japanese. I just ordered some software and a couple of books off of Amazon, so those should be here in the next few days. I'm to the point with this goal that I need to actually put some money into it. I'd love to get the Rosetta Stone software but it's just SO expensive.

6. Cooking. I've saved about 20 recipes on allrecipes.com, and I'm going to pick one or two to try over the few weeks.

7. Finish one of my Nano novels. I've worked on 2008's novel a few times. I've worked on the one from 2007 once as well. Not sure which I'll end up finishing first. For now I'm just writing whichever I'm in the mood for.

8. Write every day. I'm failing miserably with this one. I need to start setting aside a certain time each day for writing, so I get used to it. I work out, shower, and eat as soon as I'm home from work, so I'm thinking about writing for 15 minutes as soon as I'm done with dinner. If I have more time I'll write more, but this way I'll get something in, at least. I'll try that for the next update, and see how it goes.

9. Let other people read my writing. If I manage to start writing daily I'll have more for people to read, and parts of my novels are coming together nicely so I will probably let a few people read those fairly soon.

10. Finish my associates' degree. My classes are going better than they were. I aced the 10 papers I had to write for my capstone course, and made it through the first of my four tax exams. Guess I'll just keep plugging away on this one.

11. Continuing education. I have a list of schools I could go to, but haven't been able to get specific information on classes yet. So next I'm going to see which classes I would still need to take and how much each school would cost me overall. Have to do this by mid-March at the latest, as if I want to apply anywhere I need to do that asap.

12. Clean out my stuff, and get organized. Working through my closets, but haven't gotten very far yet. I'm going to see if I can get one of the two finished over this weekend.

13. New wardrobe. I bought a dress that I love, even though I have no idea when I am going to have the chance to wear it, haha. And of course I have no shoes that go with it so I'll have to find some. I won't be buying those or anything else for a while though. I want to get my closets cleaned out completely and figure out what I really need and have the space for, before I start spending a lot of money.

14. Exercise 3 hours per week. I'm already ahead on this one. The past two weeks I've done either 5 or 6 hours. I've been coming home from work nearly every day and working out for an hour. If I continue to do this week for the next couple of updates I will probably cross this goal off the list.

15. Save money, and learn to manage my money wisely. I've transferred more money into my savings a few times. Unfortunately, I can't enroll in my 401k through work until April, so for now I'll just have to keep saving normally. I haven't been buying much either, so I'm happy with how this is going so far.

16. Eat healthy. This one is going well so far also. I'm still working on candy and soda for a few more updates, as those will probably be the most difficult to cut back on and stick with in the long run.

17. Photography. Looking into buying a digital SLR camera, as I posted about recently. Right now I'm leaning towards either the Canon 40D or the Canon Rebel XSi. I will probably decide on one and buy it as soon as I've filed my taxes and have my return. I'll also start going out for pictures once the weather is a bit nicer, regardless of if I get the SLR soon or use my current camera.

Whew. Overall, I'm happy with how most of these are going at this point. I'm past where I wanted to be on a few of them. However, I do really need to concentrate on some of the others, especially researching schools to transfer to. I'm going to spend a good bit of time on that and writing daily. By the next update I'll have hopefully made some noticeable progress with those two.