Clearly I've failed Goal #16 about updating this blog once a month.
But it hasn't been all bad! I had a really awful semester trying to get my thesis done while fighting with my own inertia and dread of turning the monster in. That said, I got to cross off two goals (graduating and finishing my thesis) in May, and at some point (probably in April), I went to the career center for an appointment, so there goes another goal.
I've more or less kept up with cooking new things every month - I've been taking pictures to document my weird culinary experiments, but I don't want to post all of them and make this into a giant wall of text/photos. I learned to make french toast, roasted Brussels sprouts, homemade french fries and an egg casserole, among other things (including a few omelettes...I'm getting closer, Goal #76...).
I've been reading a bunch of books since school ended and am making progress on my reading list. I've also been out with friends a lot more to see movies, although off the top of my head, I can't remember if I hit the 'once a month' goal for that. Close enough. My piano pieces are coming closer to completion, although I haven't really started on the art stuff yet.
In June I traveled to Japan and Korea, so that took care of seeing somewhere new in Asia. Korea was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the food and new sights. That also means that I've been to one out of three previously unseen countries, so Goal #92 is in progress.
I've been getting out to new restaurants and coffee shops, albeit slowly, and I've started going out to the museums with a new friend on the free days at the beginning of each month. We saw the SF MOMA last month, and hopefully I will be going somewhere new this coming Tuesday.
I guess that's pretty much it - I'm making some progress, but I think I need to pick up the pace and concentrate a bit more. There are a few goals that I need to adjust, change, or just delete, and of course a few I never set, but I'll write about those when I figure out what to do with them.
Even if I don't end up completing all of these, I think I stand a good chance of hitting the majority, and that makes me feel a lot more motivated to continue. It's a good feeling to physically cross them off the list next to my desk, at least. :)
Until next time...
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
What I'm Working On...
I just finished playing the piano and found myself thinking that since, miracle upon miracles, I've actually started on a couple of these goals, crossed off one or two, and have fulfilled a few of the monthly ones already, I should wander over to my computer and make an update before school starts and I get really busy.
[Bertie]
Yesterday, Bertie and I went to the vet to get the booster shot for one of her vaccines, and while I was there, I had her claws trimmed and another dose of flea medication applied. That covers goals #85 and #86 (trim her nails once a month and get rid of her fleas). She had just a few fleas hanging on around her face (I think they were burrowing under her collar), so I took off her collar for a bit and hopefully that will finally take care of the last of them. Woop!
[Out and About]
I spent yesterday evening and this morning making lists of the museums in SF that I need to see, as well as of a bunch of places I want to go see in Northern CA. I think I have way more things to do than weekends, though, so we'll see....I might post the lists at some other point, in case anyone is interested (I don't want to make this entry gigantic).
[Piano]
As I mentioned, I've been practicing piano on and off (hopefully practice time won't get stomped by school). I've been revamping a couple of my old favorites: Schubert's Impromptu in G flat Major and some Chopin--Waltz in D flat Major (better known as the Minute Waltz) and Nocturne in E flat Major.
I've also been working on the first of the "5 new pieces of music" from goal #12, another Chopin, Nocturne in D flat Major. I'm hoping to do something from Mendelssohn's Songs without Words collection as well. I just ordered the book from Amazon but haven't decided which piece to do yet, though. Maybe Op19-1? While I'm on the subject, I guess I should just go ahead and make the list of what I'm thinking of doing now...
"5 New Pieces of Music"
(1)Chopin, Nocturne in D flat Major
(2) Mendelssohn
(3) Rachmaninoff Prelude in C-sharp Minor
(4) Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu
(5) ?
[Other Junk]
I also looked up volunteer opportunities at the Alameda County Community Food Bank, places to drop off the pile of old clothes that Laura and I have been accumulating, and have a goofy "just because" card ready to send off to someone who could use a smile. I've been watching the news on TV since I've been sitting around at home and worked a bit on donating at freerice (and realized that I don't know Eastern European geography at all in the process).
Anyway, there were a couple of other things, but I'm planning on making some sort of summary post at the end of January, so I'll leave those for later. I feel like I'm off to a good start, but who knows how long it'll last....
Hope everyone is having a good month.
[Bertie]
Yesterday, Bertie and I went to the vet to get the booster shot for one of her vaccines, and while I was there, I had her claws trimmed and another dose of flea medication applied. That covers goals #85 and #86 (trim her nails once a month and get rid of her fleas). She had just a few fleas hanging on around her face (I think they were burrowing under her collar), so I took off her collar for a bit and hopefully that will finally take care of the last of them. Woop!
[Out and About]
I spent yesterday evening and this morning making lists of the museums in SF that I need to see, as well as of a bunch of places I want to go see in Northern CA. I think I have way more things to do than weekends, though, so we'll see....I might post the lists at some other point, in case anyone is interested (I don't want to make this entry gigantic).
[Piano]
As I mentioned, I've been practicing piano on and off (hopefully practice time won't get stomped by school). I've been revamping a couple of my old favorites: Schubert's Impromptu in G flat Major and some Chopin--Waltz in D flat Major (better known as the Minute Waltz) and Nocturne in E flat Major.
I've also been working on the first of the "5 new pieces of music" from goal #12, another Chopin, Nocturne in D flat Major. I'm hoping to do something from Mendelssohn's Songs without Words collection as well. I just ordered the book from Amazon but haven't decided which piece to do yet, though. Maybe Op19-1? While I'm on the subject, I guess I should just go ahead and make the list of what I'm thinking of doing now...
"5 New Pieces of Music"
(1)Chopin, Nocturne in D flat Major
(2) Mendelssohn
(3) Rachmaninoff Prelude in C-sharp Minor
(4) Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu
(5) ?
[Other Junk]
I also looked up volunteer opportunities at the Alameda County Community Food Bank, places to drop off the pile of old clothes that Laura and I have been accumulating, and have a goofy "just because" card ready to send off to someone who could use a smile. I've been watching the news on TV since I've been sitting around at home and worked a bit on donating at freerice (and realized that I don't know Eastern European geography at all in the process).
Anyway, there were a couple of other things, but I'm planning on making some sort of summary post at the end of January, so I'll leave those for later. I feel like I'm off to a good start, but who knows how long it'll last....
Hope everyone is having a good month.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
1: School/Professional/Finances
Okey dokey, let's take a look at the first category, which I probably should have just called "SRS BSNS" a la:
but oh well. Here it is again....
1. Write thesis
2. Finish MA
5. Get a job
21. Start saving for retirement
22. Take a stock market course or read a book about it and get more involved in your stocks
43. Keep track of finances better- make a detailed list of spending once a month
52. Pass Level 1 of the JLPT
63. Pay off as much of my student loan debt as possible (depending on job situation)
89. Go to a career counseling session
This category is kind of like my "big girl"/"time to grow up" category. I'll admit to having spent the last 4 or more years panicking about the future without actually doing anything about it. Just because I haven't figured out exactly what job I want to do yet doesn't mean I shouldn't have been browsing to see what's out there. As usual, however, I've put everything off until the last minute (I work better that way...or something). There are plenty of resources for job hunting, but I'm usually such a loner (=am really stubborn and have to do everything without help) that I haven't really consulted them, which I realize is rather stupid of me. Thus the "go to career counseling session" goal.
The same goes for my thesis...I've spent the last year and a half having it on a panicky loop in the back of my head without just pressing forward and seeing where it goes. Luckily I've ended up in some really random courses and hanging around with some fantastic people who have really shaped my grad school experience and helped me move toward a more defined goal. So what if I do it all this semester....it'll just be like one really huge final paper (that I characteristically left until the last minute to do).
So, I guess that the "graduate" and "get a job" goals are pretty clear, and really, I don't have much choice in the matter. The same goes for some of the financial ones, like paying off my loans. The money issue has been part of the stress of going to grad school and I'd like to get on my own two feet and pay off my debt as soon as I can. I do keep a rough running total of my spending in my head, but I think it might help me more to keep a really detailed summary and set stricter limits for myself (especially since my parents got me software to do exactly that, and I've just gotten lazy about using it........whoops).
Retirement savings and the stock market are things that I know I should have started already, but again, in typical fashion, I've put them off (probably until some unforeseen emergency/other event makes me do them), so I'd like to give myself a little kick in the ass and get going on them. I have some mutual funds but I've been really uninvolved in them, and I'd like to change that. Of course, these two goals sort of depend on me having a source of income, but hopefully that will work itself out. ;p
The JLPT goal doesn't quite fit with the others, but it seemed to go in this category better than any of the others (except maybe Personal?). The JLPT is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test used to evaluate non-native speakers of Japanese. There are four levels, with 1 being the hardest and 4 the easiest. I took Level 2 in December, but I hadn't studied at all because of time constraints, and I feel like I could've done a lot better. Who knows if the JLPT score will be relevant to future jobs or not...this one is more on here for me to prove to myself that I can pass the toughest level.
Japanese has been the hardest language I've studied (along with French, Spanish, German and Arabic) and I've constantly hit plateaus and struggled to get anywhere with it. It is incredibly frustrating to still not be able to say exactly what I want to say 5 years later. I don't know what it is about this language that has been so hard for me--language learning has always come pretty easily for me and it's something I've always enjoyed. I guess my innate stubborness won't let me rest until I've gotten to a level of Japanese that I'm satisfied with. ;p
Anyway, that's it for the first category. That was probably way more than anyone wanted to read about it, too.....
but oh well. Here it is again....
1. Write thesis
2. Finish MA
5. Get a job
21. Start saving for retirement
22. Take a stock market course or read a book about it and get more involved in your stocks
43. Keep track of finances better- make a detailed list of spending once a month
52. Pass Level 1 of the JLPT
63. Pay off as much of my student loan debt as possible (depending on job situation)
89. Go to a career counseling session
This category is kind of like my "big girl"/"time to grow up" category. I'll admit to having spent the last 4 or more years panicking about the future without actually doing anything about it. Just because I haven't figured out exactly what job I want to do yet doesn't mean I shouldn't have been browsing to see what's out there. As usual, however, I've put everything off until the last minute (I work better that way...or something). There are plenty of resources for job hunting, but I'm usually such a loner (=am really stubborn and have to do everything without help) that I haven't really consulted them, which I realize is rather stupid of me. Thus the "go to career counseling session" goal.
The same goes for my thesis...I've spent the last year and a half having it on a panicky loop in the back of my head without just pressing forward and seeing where it goes. Luckily I've ended up in some really random courses and hanging around with some fantastic people who have really shaped my grad school experience and helped me move toward a more defined goal. So what if I do it all this semester....it'll just be like one really huge final paper (that I characteristically left until the last minute to do).
So, I guess that the "graduate" and "get a job" goals are pretty clear, and really, I don't have much choice in the matter. The same goes for some of the financial ones, like paying off my loans. The money issue has been part of the stress of going to grad school and I'd like to get on my own two feet and pay off my debt as soon as I can. I do keep a rough running total of my spending in my head, but I think it might help me more to keep a really detailed summary and set stricter limits for myself (especially since my parents got me software to do exactly that, and I've just gotten lazy about using it........whoops).
Retirement savings and the stock market are things that I know I should have started already, but again, in typical fashion, I've put them off (probably until some unforeseen emergency/other event makes me do them), so I'd like to give myself a little kick in the ass and get going on them. I have some mutual funds but I've been really uninvolved in them, and I'd like to change that. Of course, these two goals sort of depend on me having a source of income, but hopefully that will work itself out. ;p
The JLPT goal doesn't quite fit with the others, but it seemed to go in this category better than any of the others (except maybe Personal?). The JLPT is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test used to evaluate non-native speakers of Japanese. There are four levels, with 1 being the hardest and 4 the easiest. I took Level 2 in December, but I hadn't studied at all because of time constraints, and I feel like I could've done a lot better. Who knows if the JLPT score will be relevant to future jobs or not...this one is more on here for me to prove to myself that I can pass the toughest level.
Japanese has been the hardest language I've studied (along with French, Spanish, German and Arabic) and I've constantly hit plateaus and struggled to get anywhere with it. It is incredibly frustrating to still not be able to say exactly what I want to say 5 years later. I don't know what it is about this language that has been so hard for me--language learning has always come pretty easily for me and it's something I've always enjoyed. I guess my innate stubborness won't let me rest until I've gotten to a level of Japanese that I'm satisfied with. ;p
Anyway, that's it for the first category. That was probably way more than anyone wanted to read about it, too.....
Saturday, January 2, 2010
The Project
I was staring at my list of New Year's resolutions from last year, and instead of making another one and forgetting about it for the rest of 2010, I thought, "Hey, maybe I'll do something different this time..."
Yup, I've jumped on the 1001 Day Project bandwagon. I'm sure a lot of you have already seen it all over the place, but for those who haven't, the project is pretty simple to describe: set 101 tasks for yourself and complete them in 1001 days. (Head over to the Day Zero website for more info.)
I don't know if I'll be able to finish this or not. I'm about to start my last semester of grad school and I don't know for sure what the future holds. I'm a chronic procrastinator and also usually end up giving up on things like this. I guess what I'm saying is that the likelihood of me finishing this is slim, but I'd like to give it a try regardless. It can't hurt to at least set out some goals, right? I'm hoping this will be an opportunity for some growth (as cliche as that sounds...), as well as an opportunity to break some of my old bad habits and learn some new things.
I've made up most of a list already, with a couple of blank spaces (93-101) for things that may come up later, and of course the goals will have to be flexible, as I'm pretty sure things will change or seem different once I get to work. I've sorted the list into categories, and, if I have the time and patience to do so, I'll cover each of the categories in separate posts and talk about why I've put certain items on my list.
I decided to start it yesterday (Jan 1st, 2010) because it's an easy date to remember and because this list is replacing my usual list of resolutions. Since I'm sort of jumping into this without much planning, I'm not sure if I'll be able to start the "once a month" things this month, or if I'll have to kick those off in February. At any rate, that start date means that I should be finished on Friday, September 28, 2012.
So, without further ado, the list (hopefully I didn't miss anything while I was reorganizing the list):
Yup, I've jumped on the 1001 Day Project bandwagon. I'm sure a lot of you have already seen it all over the place, but for those who haven't, the project is pretty simple to describe: set 101 tasks for yourself and complete them in 1001 days. (Head over to the Day Zero website for more info.)
I don't know if I'll be able to finish this or not. I'm about to start my last semester of grad school and I don't know for sure what the future holds. I'm a chronic procrastinator and also usually end up giving up on things like this. I guess what I'm saying is that the likelihood of me finishing this is slim, but I'd like to give it a try regardless. It can't hurt to at least set out some goals, right? I'm hoping this will be an opportunity for some growth (as cliche as that sounds...), as well as an opportunity to break some of my old bad habits and learn some new things.
I've made up most of a list already, with a couple of blank spaces (93-101) for things that may come up later, and of course the goals will have to be flexible, as I'm pretty sure things will change or seem different once I get to work. I've sorted the list into categories, and, if I have the time and patience to do so, I'll cover each of the categories in separate posts and talk about why I've put certain items on my list.
I decided to start it yesterday (Jan 1st, 2010) because it's an easy date to remember and because this list is replacing my usual list of resolutions. Since I'm sort of jumping into this without much planning, I'm not sure if I'll be able to start the "once a month" things this month, or if I'll have to kick those off in February. At any rate, that start date means that I should be finished on Friday, September 28, 2012.
So, without further ado, the list (hopefully I didn't miss anything while I was reorganizing the list):
School/Professional/Finances
1. Write thesis
2. Finish MA
5. Get a job
21. Start saving for retirement
22. Take a stock market course or read a book about it and get more involved in your stocks
43. Keep track of finances better- make a detailed list of spending once a month
52. Pass Level 1 of the JLPT
63. Pay off as much of my student loan debt as possible (depending on job situation)
89. Go to a career counseling session
Social
8. Write a letter to someone at least once a month
36. Call my brothers at least once a month
15. Update lj/blog/whatever at least once a month (eng & jap)
16. Keep a separate journal about this project and update at least once a month
44. Write to host family 5 times
66. Send a "just because" card to someone once a month
70. [Private]
Creativity and Crafting
9. Finish writing Jacques' story
12. Learn 5 new pieces of music
17. Project 365 (photograph a day for a year)
18. Draw or paint a self-portrait
23. Make a scrapbook or finish the picture book from Aunt Lisa
28. Read entire manual for camera and use all of its functions at least once
30. Finish all the cross stitch kits you have
31. Finish the latchhook you started like 10 years ago
32. Make a quilt
42. Learn how to develop film
58. Learn to make your own soap
91. Finish at least 10 paintings or drawings
90. Learn to make candles
Reading, Movies, and Games, oh my!
13. Read 200 books not related to thesis
14. Read 10 books in Japanese
20. Play all of your un-played video games
59. See a new movie once a month
90. Watch all of the movies I own that I haven't seen yet
91. Actually read the self-help/personal development books that have been recommended to you over the years
Getting Out and About
7. A-Z Travel List
25. See all of the major museums you haven't seen in SF
40. Go to the ballet or opera once a year
45.
46. Ride a segway
47. Ride the zipcars with Laura
55. Go somewhere new in
56. Go horseback riding
57. Go swimming in the ocean
60. Go somewhere new once a month
67. Go to a wine/beer tasting
73. Eat at 30 new restaurants
74. Go out stargazing or moon viewing
80. Go do something by myself 10 times
83. Go camping at least twice
92. Visit 3 countries I've never been to before
Giving
3. Volunteer once a month
26. Go through clothes and donate the ones you don't wear anymore
62. Donate blood at least once
82. Donate 100,000 grains of rice at freerice.com
Health
4. Do 100 sit-ups a day for a month
11. Run a 5K without stopping or run a 10K
34. Take a yoga class
35. Finish the Couch to 5K program
48. Get back to 125 lbs
64. Take a dance class of some sort
Personal
10. [Private]
19. Get palm read
38. Make a list of 100 things that make me happy
49. Start (and keep up with) the picture of yourself per day account for at least a month (flickaday.com, I think)
72. Write a letter to myself to open when this is finished.
75. Write a list of things I need to improve about myself
84. Retake the personality test
88. [Private]
Cleaning/Organization :(
27. Clean out inbox in all email accounts
29. Backup both computers once a month
54. Organize all of the music on my computer
61. Keep room/desk clean for two weeks straight
77. Sell the old textbooks I don't need
78. Get rid of the ridiculous reams of old notes that I'm not going to read again
87. Clean the house once a month
Miscellaneous
6. Cook something new once a month
24. Learn to ski/snowboard
33. Write a will? / consolidate lists of passwords and give to someone
37. Spend 10 minutes a day reading the news
39. Watch a sunrise and sunset
41. Go to an archery range again
50. Learn how to do a French braid
51. Learn how to do a new style of eye makeup
53. Do a crossword or Sudoku once a week
65. Upgrade my desktop
68. Learn how to make 10 drinks
69. Use all of the kitchen gadgets you have at least once
71. Have another professional portrait of me and Mom done
76. Learn how to make a damn good omelette
79. Wake up before 8am everyday for two weeks
81. Paint nails once a month
85. Get rid of Bertie's fleas
86. Trim Bertie's nails once a month
So, wish me luck. This will have to get updated at least once a month, but will hopefully get done more often. We'll see how it goes....
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