Goals Update 3

Time for another goal update, I suppose. Two weeks seems to be a good time frame for these.

1. Finish my degree. Still working on it. I'm determined not to drop anything, despite how far behind I am. By the next time I update these goals though I should be entirely caught up, with the possible exception of a few small writing assignments.

2. Continue my education. Mom has to check if I can get any discounts on tuition for her school. Other than that everything in this area is out. Pitt doesn't have my program, SVC is too expensive, Cal and IUP are too far away unless I want to take only one course at a time, which would take forever. If I end up living and working closer to Pittsburgh there are a number of other schools I could attend, so I'm considering that.

3. Finish my Nano novel. Wrote a few pages. It's not much, but it's more than I've done since November. At least I've started again.

4. Nano 2008. Far too busy to even think of this one at the moment.

5. Play the flute and piano. Mom hasn't gotten back to me on the keyboard. I hope she does soon. I could buy myself a new one in a few months if I had to, but I'd rather use the perfectly good one I have at her house. Haven't played my flute at all. I still need to find or buy some sheet music.

6. Write every day. I'm doing a lot of writing for classes, does that count? Yeah, I didn't think so. Other than the little bit I've worked on Nano though, and updating this, I haven't written. Not too worried about it with the couple of weeks I've had. I'll get better with it as I catch up in classes and have more time.

7. Update this blog, etc. I've been updating this a lot, but that's about it. I wrote in my journal once, but this blog is the only thing I've made time for regularly. Good enough for me considering how much I have to do.

8. Let other people read my writing. I let a friend read a few bits of my Nano novel, finally. And Shel asked me if she could read when I'm done. Since I said yes, I'll have no choice. She'll just bug me until I hand it to her. ^_^

9. Exercise three days a week (for now). I'm not sure I am cleared to do that yet. My doctors told me "a couple of weeks" of no exercise, which would have been through yesterday. I'll pick my exercise program back up next week. I'm actually looking forward to it; I'm tired of the forced inactivity. It makes me feel too lethargic.

10. Read at least 52 books. I think I'm already at twelve for this month? I can't remember off the top of my head how many I had in January but I'm at 24 for the year so far. I've been spending so much time recuperating in bed that I've read a lot. I'm thinking of upping the number for this goal, but I'm not sure to what. I'll decide by my next update.

11. Take some trips. I'll know about DO next week. No one has mentioned Otakon, still. I'll have to talk to the people who were going and see if they are even interested anymore. But, there is a good possibility I'm going to get to go to Ireland for a week or two right after I graduate. I've been discussing it with my family a lot lately, and they seem to be leaning towards getting me a plane ticket for a graduation gift. Since I have a place to stay, it could work. I'm going to submit an application for a passport in the next month.

12. Learn languages. Listened to a couple of the Japanese podcasts and learned a few basic words. That's all I've had time for.

13. Physical therapy for my hand. Forgot about it entirely the first week after surgery, but picked it up again the past 5-6 days. I'm starting to get annoyed with it and wish it would just work, but I'll stick with it.

14. Time management. This is going alright, I suppose. I'm slowly getting through work, so I must be doing something right. I've a long way to go yet, but at least I've improved.

15. Hurray, new goal! I don't know how much time I can actually devote to this, so it's kind of vague. I have loads of books, movies, and games just lying around, that I've never gotten around to. I never finish anything. So the goal is two parts really. First, buy even less than I do now. I should save my money, and there's no point in buying a lot of new stuff when I have so much to get through. Buying the occasional game or replacing some old books is one thing, but no more buying just because I have some money or feel like it.

Second, start actually using some of my spare time to finish whatever I can. Books, games, DVDs...anything else I've missed. I'm not getting any more specific than that; I can't really say "I'm going to finish X number of movies" or whatever, but I can work on finishing what I have, and what I've borrowed from people. Then I won't feel so silly buying a game or movie, because I won't have dozens (or hundreds, if we're talking books) at home that I've never touched.

This entry took me entirely too long to do, but I was busy doing work, and I couldn't get that last goal to sound right (it still doesn't, but it's better than it was). I did get a lot done though, and I'm hoping to get more finished before I go to bed. There's a club show tomorrow night in Pittsburgh I would like to go to, if I have enough done to justify taking the entire night off. So, back to work!