Sunday, February 28, 2010

Project 365, Week Three

I'm not doing a great job of keeping up with these posts, but at least I've been managing to keep up with the picture taking. I have all of the pictures through the end of February uploaded and ready to go, so I'll post week three now, and week four in a day or two. Hopefully then I'll be able to start posting these weekly, every Sunday or Monday.

Day 15 - Mom got me a new necklace. It's bendy! She bought it at a little gallery in Ligonier, and I really like it. You can make it into whatever you want, different necklaces and bracelets and whatnot. The only downside is that every time i wear it, I spend half my work day playing with it!


Day 16 - my latest Least I Could Do: Beginnings book came today!


Day 17 - I have a bit of an addiction to Twinings Christmas tea. The sad thing is, I've already gone through two boxes...


Day 18 - was watching a bit of the men's skating in the Olympics this night, and snapped this. Johnny Weir is a strange, strange man.


Day 19 - my mom bought me one of the jumbo monkeys from Woot! It makes monkey noises and everything. (Yes I am a big kid. Leave me alone.)


Day 20 - I keep my movie ticket stubs. Realized that I might go and see too many movies.


Day 21 - Another thing I think I buy/get too many of? Journals. These are just the ones I have that are easily accessible. I have probably three or four others, and I keep buying more because I find ones that I like. This wouldn't be such a problem if I actually wrote in them...


And there we have it for week three. I'll post the next batch sometime this week, before I leave for Providence. I'm hoping to get one other entry in between them, as I don't want to post nothing but photo blogs on here.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Goals Update 3

Little bit later than I wanted to be on this update, but work has been a madhouse with Cori leaving. We have a new person starting tomorrow, thankfully. I'm not really looking forward to it, but at least we'll have someone to help us out.

1. Go back for my bachelor's degree. The FAFSA is nearly finished, and I have 2 applications done. I'm going to look over them one last time in the next day or two and then get them in. I'm working on a third application, and that's probably going to be it. I'll do a little more research but it doesn't look like there is anywhere else I'm interested in that I can afford. Once I get those in and my transcripts over, I'll have to play the waiting game for a while. I'm going to get all of that done before I leave for DO.

2. Design and get my second tattoo. I've made some progress on this, though not much. I mostly have vague ideas right now, but it's better than nothing.

3. Photography, part 1. Project 365 is going okay. I can't wait until the weather is better so I can go out and get more interesting pictures, especially on the weekends. I think I'm going to start carrying my camera with me. I obviously can't take my Rebel everywhere, but I can take the Powershot at least. The pictures might not be as high of quality, but at least I'll have pictures.

4. Photography, part 2. I've found a few pictures from Ireland that I'm going to put into the book, and I've started a folder for more. I'm taking my time on this one so I'll probably just some up with a picture or two each update for now. Later in the year once I have more time and cash I'll spend more time on the format for the book.

5. Photography, part 3. I've been keeping my Project 365 pictures organized, but haven't gotten back to the rest of my backlog yet. I've also found a couple of different hard drive options, and I'm hoping to pick one of them up soon, if not both.

6. WriYe. After today I am officially caught up! I'm very excited by this (current count = 71,787 words). Now to work on getting ahead a little bit so I don't suffer too much when I skip writing for a few days for DO. I have overtime for the next two weeks though, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to write extra, but I'll try.

7. Submit writing. Nothing here for this update, as I've been busy with so many other things. Probably won't get to it before the next update either, but we'll see.

8. Write in journal at least once a week. I got my two times in since the last update. I've moved my journal so it's sitting on my nightstand now, just next to my bed. Hopefully seeing it all the time will make me remember to write more.

9. New hobbies. Doing yoga 2-3 times a week now, and alternating it with my other workouts. Going to start thinking of the next thing I'd like to try.

10. Miniatures. I ordered some paints (which should be here this week), and need to get another order in soon as I forgot a bunch. I'm not sure when I'll get started on them though. I'm hoping to at least start next weekend, otherwise it'll have to wait until after DO.

11. Save money. I have about 2.5 months salary in savings now, which I'm quite happy with. Still working on the new computer and then I'll worry about getting more money in savings. I probably won't be able to save much for a while, between DO and the Florida trip I'm planning, but I'll do what I can.

12. I want to go see at least 12 different concerts/shows this year. Red Herring, next week! Should start looking for some more things to go to in the next few months as the weather will finally start getting nicer!

13. Donate to charity. This month I went with charity: water, which I've been meaning to donate to for quite some time. This was going to be January's donation actually, so figured I would finally get it done now. Chris, go ahead and send me the info for yours as well I'll probably get to it later this year. :)

14. Read 30,000+ pages. So far I've read 5,448 pages, and I'm nearly through with a few other books, including one that's a genre I don't usually read. I've slowed down a little bit on this one it seems, but I'm still past where I need to be.

15. Write 52 new blogs. This is four...and I need to get started on this one. My list of blogs to write is taped to the wall above my desk and keeps growing, so I need to start actually writing them. I am going to try and get one or two done in the next couple of weeks. I'll be working overtime and then going away for DO though, so if I don't get to them it's fine, and I'll crack down on them once I get home.

16. Music goal. I'm making a mini-goal for this one over the next two weeks - I want to actually listen to three of the albums I've already downloaded. I've been listening to different songs here and there but haven't really sat and listened to the albums straight through. Time to turn BSG and my podcasts off at work for a while and get through some of my "new music" playlist.

17. Watch 100 different movies. Slowed down on this considerably - I only watched two, which brings me up to 31. I've spent more time on games and shows, and recently the Olympics, so that leaves no time for movies. I'm still way ahead to complete this by the end of the year though,

18. Learn more in general. Haven't finished any of my nonfiction books yet, but I'm nearly done with a photography book, and also about halfway through Snoop, which I'm really enjoying so far. I'm hoping to be done with both of these before the next update.

Still happy with my progress so far. I know I probably won't get much done over the next few weeks, so we'll see when I update next!

Project 365, Week Two

I'm almost through three weeks now actually, but haven't had the chance to post everything yet. So here are the pictures from the second week...

Day 8 - only those of you who have read through book 6 (I think) of the Dark Tower series will appreciate this, but while reading the book I got to the part about the scrimshaw (I think? It's been a while) turtle. And then I found this on a shelf...that I had just cleaned the day before. I swear that it wasn't there before, and I'd never seen it anywhere in this house before, even though I've lived here for years. Anyway it's become a good luck charm of sorts, and I always have it with me when I'm writing. (Yes, I am aware that it's probably weird to have something that freakishly appeared out of nowhere while I was reading a Stephen King novel as a good luck charm, but it works!)


Day 9 - the best wine ever.


Day 10 - Icicles on my front porch.


Day 11 - What would Lulu do?!? (Only Doug and Danielle would even understand this...)


Day 12 - I thought the way the ice froze on the flag was kind of funny.


Day 13 - Nook! That's the best I could do that day, as I was far too occupied playing with it and downloading new books.


Day 14 - Happy Valentine's Day! Not much time for a proper picture.


Week three coming soon hopefully! This entire thing has been much more difficult than I originally thought, but I'm doing alright so far, I think. I've learned to accept that I can't go out and do something really cool every day, and I'm not going to even get *good* pictures every day, and I'm alright with that. I'll just keep plugging away at it and do the best I can. I think as time passes it'll become easier and easier to take better pictures, and I look forward to going back through everything in a few months, and at the end of the year.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Project 365, Week One

Okay, so I think I've decided what I'm going to do for Project 365. I don't see the point in taking all of these pictures just to keep them to myself. I signed into Flickr, but then realized that you had to pay a yearly subscription fee or you had a 100mb limit. Considering my photos are all at least 4mb that's just not going to work.

So...I'm going to post the pictures on Twitpic, probably daily or so, and then compile a week's worth at a time in an entry on here.


So here we go. Started on February 1st. Here's day 1 - got new jewelry from Cori!


Day 2 - my cool calendar from the Chinese restaurant haha

Day 3 - Not a lot of thought put into this one...too busy playing the game!


Day 4 - thought this was fun with the reflections in the glass.


Day 5 - let the blizzard begin!


Day 6 - looking out my window.


Day 7 - I've decided to reorganize all of my books. Here's a pic of the biggest bookcase (I have 5...). I took pictures of all of them if anyone really wants to see them, as well as the random piles of books I have lying around (can see one pile in the far left of this one):


Right now I'm just taking pictures of whatever pops into my head. I also have a few ideas for future days - and a few fun camera filters I'm going to buy and play around with later in the year. Looking forward to it, and here's hoping I don't fail too early in!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Goals Update 2

Bit late on this update, but I ran out of time over the weekend. I'll be busy this weekend too, so I guess I need to get this in now. Apologies in advance if parts are incoherent - I'm typing this and playing White Knight Chronicles at the same time....

1. Go back for my bachelor's degree. I have the FAFSA about halfway finished, and I've also started applications for a couple of different schools. I need to pick probably three schools for sure that I'm going to apply to, and get my applications in. I might consider another school or two, but I have to think if I really want to apply to even more schools and get stuck with more application fees. I'm aiming to be done with all the paperwork by the end of this month, whatever I decide.

2. Design and get my second tattoo. Haven't put much thought into this one honestly.

3. Photography, part 1. I started Project 365 on Monday. So far I've taken pictures every day but I still have nowhere to post them. I'm not sure if I'm going to post anywhere. I might figure something out and then post my backlog from the beginning, or I might just keep them to myself. Haven't decided yet...

4. Photography, part 2. Decided for sure on the site I'm going to use to make a photography book, and figured out some pricing. I have two sizes of books I am debating between, but probably won't pick one until I start sorting through photos and see what I have. Once I get some of the pictures figured out it'll be easier to decide what layout and size I need to go with.

5. Photography, part 3. I've started organizing my massive amount of pictures and folders. It's going to be a long process I think, but once I finally get through it, it should be easy enough to maintain. Once I get everything sorted I can go through the RAW files. I'm still researching hard drives as well. I'm going to come up with a few different options, and then keep an eye out for good deals on any of them.

6. WriYe. I've been hitting at least 1400 words per day, which is my minimum to hit 500,000 in a year. Most days I go at least a little bit over, so I'm slowly catching up. I'm only a few thousand words behind right now, so it's no big deal to me. I'll make it up eventually.

7. Submit writing. I've started editing some of my stories a bit, but not much work put into this goal yet. I really do need to start looking into where I can submit things, and see if any workshops are being held locally.

8. Write in journal at least once a week. I fail miserably at this one! I have found all of my journals and I know which I'll be writing in, I just need to make the time to do it. I will absolutely write at least twice before my next update.

9. New hobbies. Have done yoga a few times now - there are a number of different programs on demand through my cable. I had a few yoga DVDs that are at my mom's house somewhere. I need to head out and find them, or else buy some new ones. I will more than likely continue with this and start alternating between yoga and Zumba. I'm really enjoying it so far and am glad I got back into it.

10. Miniatures. I'm going to order the paints sometime this week. I'm hoping to have them by the end of next week, so that I can get started next weekend. I won't have time before then to work on anything, so that would be perfect. Between now and then I will have to look up some info on different painting techniques and figure out what to try. (Niall, links??? >_>)

11. Save money. I got my attendance bonus with my last paycheck, and dumped some more money into savings. My tax refund is due in next week, and I'm going to put a fair bit of it into savings as well, which should put me well over two months salary set aside. I'm quite happy with my progress on this - I was hoping to hit two months in March and it's only the beginning of February. I'm not sure what my next step will be. I need a new computer, so I'll probably start putting about half what I normally would into savings, and the rest into a new computer fund. The end goal is to get 3-4 months salary into my savings account, but it's going to take time - most paychecks I can't put that much into savings, the attendance bonus and tax refund were just special occurrences.

12. I want to go see at least 12 different concerts/shows this year. Haven't been to anything since Wicked, but I have a murder mystery coming up at the end of this month, and then Gaelic Storm and Holst in March. :)

13. Donate to charity. It's the beginning of February, which means it's time to find a new charity to donate to. I have a few ideas in mind, so I'll make my decision in the next couple of weeks. I also need to start thinking of more causes I'd be interested in, as otherwise I'm going to run out of ideas in a few months.

14. Read 30,000+ pages. In the month of January, I read 12 books for a total of 3758 pages. In reality though I'm probably closer to 5000 pages - I'm partway through another 5 or 6 books but I won't count those pages until I actually finish. One book was a type I'd never really read before, and I really enjoyed it (11 still to go for that part of the goal). Will probably post a review later.

15. Write 52 new blogs. This is only three, but I do have a list now of about a dozen different entries to write whenever I have the time and feel like writing them. I think I'm also going to start posting some reviews of books, games, shows, etc.

16. Music goal. I still have to listen to most of the music, but I've downloaded about 10 different artists now. Still welcoming more suggestions - I need at least 10 more artists to complete my goal, and I'm probably going to keep adding more even once I cross this one off the list.

17. Watch 100 different movies. Made it through 29 so far. I'm trying to get ahead on this goal early, because I know that I'm going to slow down a lot after the first couple months of the year. So far I'm happy with my progress.

18. Learn more in general. I've decided to combine this with the reading goal I had earlier for nonfiction books. I was thinking about it a few days ago, and I don't want to overwhelm myself with stuff to do. I still have all of my old hobbies, plus work, school (soon enough), and spending time with friends. I don't want to cram what time I have left so full with stuff. I'm going to end up getting bored and finding these goals to be a chore in that case, and that's not what I want. So instead of researching different topics, and reading at least 12 nonfiction books, I'm combining the two to reading at least 12 nonfiction books - each one about a different topic that I'm interested in learning more about. I'll more than likely end up looking up more things on my own but I'm not going to make that a requirement - I'd rather do it because I feel like it.

Right, I don't think that was too horribly incoherent, but who knows. I'm not going to worry about it. It's midnight and somehow I just lost the last four hours of my life to that damned game! At any rate I'm happy how most of these are going so far, and hopefully I'll continue to see this much progress!