For the past several weeks I've been really off-track regarding my
lofty goals. Upon reflecting, I see I've actually made some progress on stuff I hadn't really been before, but I also think I've made negative-progress on a few things, so all around I've got mixed feelings and am not patting myself on the back. [
September's progress report here.]
1. Sewing: No sewing has been happening.
2. Job: This is a big one, and I actually have made some progress so in that regard, that's a pretty big thumbs up for me. I applied to a job. It was sort of a whirlwind application process because I had only two days to get it in before the deadline. It was really scary. But I also feel really proud of myself for doing it and I feel ready to tackle the next one! I even remember thinking to myself: "I should do one of these every week!" Of course, if they want me to interview, it's going to be another terrible spiral of self-doubt, worry, and anxiety!
Someone also sent me another posting that I may or may not apply to. Still deciding if I'm interested in the company and the type of work. But it might be good to keep my head in the game.
I've also been really productive at work recently which has made me feel super proud and eager to develop some new projects or tackle some big tasks I haven't got around to yet!
3. Move out: Kinda contingent on #2. So not expecting much progress here right now anyway.
4. Writing: One of my reverse progress areas! I haven't been writing at all really. I don't know what happened! Work? Laziness? the blues? television? probably a mixture of both. Gotta snap out of it!
5. I still can't iron!
6. California vacation: I've been talking a lot of talk about this, so in my head this is happening. Haven't done any planning yet though. Definitely almost settled on a New-Year's week time period though. Unfortunately, my boss just arbitrarily mandated that I had to use all my comp time before December ends, which is lame, because I wanted to save some of my (6! yeah working overtime and all weekend!) days off for January.
7. Photography: Thinking about my qualifications for the job I applied for got me freaked out so I'm trying to dive back into my distant technical knowledge about photography. I got out some of my old books and have experimented with my dad's Nikon a little. I plan on doing this at least a few times a week until I get better at it. I'd also like to get my hands on a DSLR and see what it's like. Right now I've only really been using HD/SD cameras.
There is also still some stuff I want to review regarding compression and storage for my interview prep.
Most the pictures I took so far turned out pretty terrible. This is the only remotely good one in my opinion:
8. Learn Photoshop etc. or similar: I've been checking out the library website (yay! working for a university!) and there is a media center that has a bunch of these programs for students, staff and faculty to use. I'm going to email them tomorrow to see what types of tutorial options are available and see if I can come by once or twice a week after work to teach myself stuff.
9. Exercise: My other major area of negative progress! I totally fell of the bandwagon. I've barely been exercising once a week, I've made it to three time a week a couple times, but haven't gotten back up to four times yet. The thing that knocked me off my groove was I hurt my ankle (dancing at the Florence concert! so worth it!) and had to stay off it for 4-5 days. I just haven't gotten back into a routine since that! Also, been eating junk food again, not hydrating, and forgetting to take my vitamens! Noooooo! Get back on track girl!!!
10-11. Tra la la la!
12. Improve blog: I think it's pretty obvious from how much I've been posting over the last few weeks where I stand with this one.
13. Poems: This one fell off the radar a little. But I've managed to write two (see
here and
here). I really should try to get more done though. I also read two of my poems at a poetry reading at my library. It's a pretty low-stakes setting (mostly older women) but it's a little intimidating because I'm the only one under 50 there most of the time and they aren't really very chatty. I was hoping that we'd actually discuss poetry and exchange tips on writing processes, but not so much. I almost chickened out, but then remembered that I'm supposed to be "doing more stuff" so I got it together, and the whole experience was pretty anti-climactic.
14. Play more music: Slow progress on this one. Played twice this month. Learning a Muse song, which is kinda fun!
15. Read: Finished
On The Road. I was going to tackle
Survival of the Prettiest next but I can't find my copy. I also might count reading books on filmmaking/photography if I end up spending a lot of time on them.
16. Journal of cool life events: Still failing at this. And I keep adding to the backlog! Went to an art exhibit at the university art museum and heard Gina Davis speak about gender in the media!
17. Dating Drama: Have still remained faithfully chickening out of doing anything actively in this regard. However, I did/am having a bit of a problem with an friend-now-admirer whose attentions are not reciprocated. I feel bad because I've had to deal with this particular brand of awkwardness so much that my gut reaction is to get really annoyed and disdainful, which is really unfair, so I overcompensate the other way by being way too nice, which is stupid for everyone concerned. But generally, I think I'm handling it fine and there is no excessive drama (yet).
18/19. Collaborative film? Sorta started working on this but then got lazy and dropped it. Hopefully I'll pick it back up soon.
20/21. Newsletter/photo albums: on the back burner.
22. Travel? I've got all those days off that I've got to use so I'm planning a few things for next month. But probably my second biggest achievement so far this month has been that I actually went to NYC and traveled around to several places by subway BY MYSELF. People who know me, know I'm really nervous about traveling places on my own! Getting lost in unfamiliar territory, especially somewhere intimidating and far away (where no one can come pick me up in 20 mins) sounds pretty darn terrible to me. But I proved to myself that I can ride the subway from Manhattan to Queens to Brooklyn to Manhattan by myself and the world won't end! It sounds ridiculous, but it's been a really empowering experience for me!
P.S. I wasn't even deterred when my train to NYC actually hit a car that was on the tracks. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt and it didn't really effect the passengers too much expect that we had to evacuate the train and climb over the tracks to a rescue train like we were in some disaster movie.
23. Creative organization: another tra la la la
24. Hair: still mucho indecision! I'm so torn between going with something shorter and with more attitude and going long again, which I'm used to!
