Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Goals Update 1

It's already time for one of these updates. I've made decent progress on some of these goals already, and others I haven't even started. Oh well, plenty of time to get through them! Here goes:

1. Go back for my bachelor's degree. I've researched a few schools, and I'm trying to narrow it down to two or three to apply to. I'm actually leaning towards something that I can take online. They cost a bit more than my cheapest option, but I think it'd be worth it for the convenience. Especially as I don't know how long it will take me to finish, and I can't guarantee how long I'll be living here. I don't want to be stuck here indefinitely because of classes, and I also don't want to have to worry about transferring if I do decide to move.

2. Design and get my second tattoo. I've thought about this a little bit, but haven't come up with anything so far.

3. Photography, part 1. I'm never going to be ready to start Project 365 in just two days, so I'm leaning towards the first of February as a start date. I don't think I'm going to have any kind of theme. If anything, I may have short themes (a few days or a week) throughout the year. For the most part though, I think that it'll be challenging enough just to take pictures every day, without having to meet additional requirements. Still haven't decided where I'm going to post every day, but I have a little time to figure that out yet.

4. Photography, part 2. I've bookmarked half a dozen different sites that help you self-publish photo books. They aren't too terribly expensive either. I'm thinking of starting one for Ireland, and then maybe at the end of the year doing a smaller, cheaper one with the best pictures from my Project 365, if I'm happy with enough of the photos.

5. Photography, part 3. I haven't done much for this goal yet. I've looked into a few different external hard drives but I can't afford them yet. In the meantime though I can start organizing the photos I have, and start deleting the RAW files I don't need.

6. WriYe. Technically, I'm behind a bit on this one. I didn't get a chance to write much last week, especially while I was away for the weekend. But I'm making up for it this week. Plus, I'm sure that throughout the year I'll go back and forth a lot, between falling behind and getting ahead of where I should be. I'm not going to worry about word count a whole lot, especially this early in.

7. Submit writing. Bit early to do anything with this yet. I doubt I'll see any kind of substantial progress on this one for the first half of the year, though in the next month or so I'm going to start trying to polish up some stories and looking for places to send them to, and also for different workshops.

8. Write in journal at least once a week. I haven't even started this one yet. I can't find my stack of blank journals, and I don't want to buy a new one. I'm definitely going to dig them out this weekend and get started. I have a lot I want to write about!

9. New hobbies. For now I'm still coming up with ideas for things to try. I think yoga may be up first. I actually used to do yoga daily but that was years ago so I would like to give it another shot. Plus lately I've been too tired for my normal exercise routine, so it would help me be more active during the winter months!

10. Miniatures. I have a list of paints to buy, and I'm going to go through it again this weekend to finalize what all I need to get now. I'm also hopefully going to buy them this weekend, though they may have to wait until next Friday when I get paid again. Either way I'll be ready to properly start on these soon.

11. Save money. I put some money aside this paycheck. I'm hoping to hit the 2 months salary in savings in February or March. This shouldn't be any problem, especially if I put part of my tax return into savings too. Once I get to that point I'll figure out my next step.

12. I want to go see at least 12 different concerts/shows this year. Wicked was spectacular - so that's one down and eleven to go. I already have tickets to two others, and this blog reminded me to look into some more things coming up locally, so I can start worrying about tickets and scheduling with Danielle and Shannon. I know there are a number of things over the next few months coming to town that I'd love to see.

13. Donate to charity. This month was easy - I went with Yele. 100% of the donation goes directly to the Haiti earthquake fund and the relief operations there. So like I said, easy decision this time. Already donated earlier this evening. Next month I may actually get to research some different organizations and see what I'd be interested in supporting.

14. Read 30,000+ pages. So far I've read 1,779 pages. Not too bad for a couple of weeks. No nonfiction yet, so still have 12 books to go there. As for different types of books, I haven't finished any yet but I'm about halfway through something totally different for me, and enjoying it. I'll post more when I actually complete it.

15. Write 52 new blogs. Well, this makes two, lol. I have a number of ideas I'm toying with, plus I will probably start updating more with book reviews and progress with my miniatures.

16. Music goal. Nothing here yet. Seriously people, start sending me music ideas! It's hard for me to find music from artists I don't know without specific recommendations, though I'll have to start poking around for my own ideas too.

17. Watch 100 different movies. I'm through 13 movies already, so I'm off to a good start! Plus about half of them are ones I'd never seen, so I'm also doing well there.

18. Learn more in general. I haven't managed to figure out this goal yet. This weekend, I'm going to come up with some topics, and also hopefully get started (any suggestions are welcome - I'm interested in most things, and I'm sure there are a ton of subjects out there I'd never think of on my own). By next update I should be started on this one and have a much better idea of what I'm doing with it.

Not too shabby for being two weeks into the year. I made at least some progress on nearly all of my goals, so I'm quite happy with that.

2 comments:

Niall said...

First my iphone doesn't send the comment properly, then firefox crashes. BAH. Anyway...

1. It's the accountancy degree, yeah? You seem to be a sucker for lots of work hehe :P <3

2. Any ideas at all? I can suggest a large pic of me doing a thumbs up for a tattoo for your back XD Kind of like Steve-O on Jackass haha

3. The Project 365 thing takes a lot of commitment. Don't do what I've done and let pics pile up on you :G

4. I think an Ireland photobook would be cool. It'd be quite a personal thing and will be a constant source of memories ^_^

5. It's just a case of checking out the sales for an external HDD. I got one for £25 last year, and that was 160gb external Philips drive.

6. How much do you have to write for WriYe? Was it 500k? That's a lot! Good luck to you x

7. I still want to read some of your writing :)

8. You want to be different by actually having a physical journal rather than a blog. Cooool :)

9. PASS :G

10. Don't forget i'll help you out with painting and miniatures :) I'll be painting with my friend over the next few weeks, and he wants to try some new techniques which I could pass on to you? x

11. Saving money is something I fail at :G

12. Wat are you planning on seeing this year?

13. The Haitian earthquake was a horrible event :( I'm gonna be donating when I get paid. And on the charity thing...my friend has signed me up for the London-Southend bike ride again :G

14. If I read 300 pages in a year then it's an achievement ¬_¬

15. I like reading your blogs, so I will always welcome more :)

16. I'll be having a dig around for new bands and I'll suggest some to you x

17. I think 100 movies would be a decent target to hit. Normally I end up watching certain films 3 or 4 times each year, maybe more, so I can understand why a goal like this is good :)

18. If you want to learn about the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians or even modern political and war history, then I can help *geek*


<33333

Denise said...

1. Yeah. Depends on where I go what it'll actually be called. And it's not that I'm a sucker for work. It's that I want to get a better job and school's necessary for that.

2. Not yet. And NO. XD

3. Yeah you're doing pretty badly on that lol.

4. That's the plan!

5. I can find sales easily enough, but picking up two 1TB drives is still a decent chunk of change regardless.

6. Yep, 500k. Already behind. :D

7. We'll see.

8. It's not being different. I've done it for years. And I don't like to get too personal online.

10. Yes, of course.

11. Learn too or you'll never get to visit!

12. So far have tickets to Gaelic Storm and Holst's The Planets in March. Other possibilities are Cirque EOS, Muse, The Pirates of Penzance, Guys & Dolls, Stomp, and Sweeney Todd, plus any bands that come to town!

15. You'd better at least read The Way of Shadows! And you'll hopefully wanna read the next ones after that. >_>

16. Excellent, thanks!

17. Yeah movies only count the first time I see them. I can rewatch all I want but they won't help toward the goal. Otherwise I'd just watch the same ten movies, ten times each!

18. Okay...help how? Book recommendations?