In early January I think I was working somewhat consciously on these my goals but lost my way a bit after that. I want to get back on track and part of that is taking stock and seeing what I've accomplished over the past several months. I haven't done a progress report since October!
So let's see where I'm at:
1. Sewing: No serious sewing skills acquired yet. My sister bought me some books from Christmas and I thought they looked pretty helpful. But I got overwhelmed pretty quickly. It's always hard when you have to buy a bunch of stuff before you can get started too. I'm biding my time trying to find some time when my mother and I are not getting on each others' nerves too much when I can ask her to help me out.
2&3: New job and habitations: I haven't done much with this. I was/am thinking about moving out before getting a new job. I think having my own space could do a lot for me mental-health-wise and might also encourage me to get a handle of my life and the job search more seriously. A short term lease might also light the fire of finding a new job and new location more seriously. But I am still mulling this over.
I also just got a promotion and pay raise at my job, so I am looking for something really excellent and in-line with my long-term career interests before I leave my current position. Part of goal #2 is making the most of my current job too I think, so I'm trying to think of ways to accomplish admirable and quality things there too.
4. Writing: Not making much progress. I kind of have to get my act together on this if I want to have something by August. I was talking with some friend in early January about writing and they were a bit inspiring. Also I am starting to get over the extreme self-critic in me and am getting more comfortable with just writing something bad or silly. You have to have somewhere to start from before you can go places!
So actually last week I started working on something that I have formulated a little more than usual. The premise and story are pretty ridiculous and romance-novelly but it is something.
But I haven't been working on it that consistently and it is more of a long-form thing. I would like to find something short I can reasonably see myself finishing.
5. Still can't iron.
6. L.A. vacation: I DID THIS! #6 is officially done! At the eleventh hour I decided to go to L.A. for New Years. My parents helped me with the airfare some for Christmas! It was a little chilly in L.A. and I unfortunately got a cold which made me a little miserable for a few days but I also am really really glad and feel really blessed that I got to hang out with some of my favorite friends, although it made me miss them a lot more after I went home!
I got to go see the Rose Parade floats which was a good experience and seeing pretty flowers in winter was actual a little therapeutic! I also went to see a traveling exhibit on Cleopatra and ancient Alexandria which I enjoyed a lot!
And I didn't spend as much money as I had planned!
7 & 8: Photography & Photoshop: no progress
9. Exercising: I have actually made a lot of progress here! A friend of mine and I decided to do this challenge where we had to walk or run at least a mile everyday between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was such a small amount of exercise I felt pathetic if I couldn't do it. So I did! and then I kept going!
I already had the the habit of walking/jogging every evening for about a month so I decided not to stop. I went from walking 1-1.5 miles to walking/jogging 1-1.5 miles to jogging 1.5miles to jogging 2 miles to running 2 miles at a faster pace to now doing 2-3 miles at a faster pace.
I'm now thinking about doing some more dynamic stretch and strengthening exercises, and maybe trying to more consciously lose some weight although I still have my stash of candy for stress-eating that I'm a little unwilling to relinquish.
But if I can keep the jogging up and improve my diet a little, I think I will be able to consider this accomplished!
10, 11, 12: Writing routine, budgeting, improve blog: no progress. I haven't been thinking about this much. I guess this is a good reminder. I'm having trouble thinking of a way to trick myself into a writing routine. I think I have to find something really easy like I did with jogging.
As for improving the blog, I don't think basically abandoning it for 2 months really counts as improvement.
13 & 14: Poems and Music: I just realized the other day that I haven't remember these at all for the past several months!
15. Read: I got British comedian David Mitchell's memoir, Back Story, right before Christmas and I just finished it last week. It was very funny and had some very nice, sentimental parts too.
I have found my copy of Survival of the Prettiest so I'd like to tackle that next. I also have two audio-courses to listen to: one on Alexis de Tocqueville and the other on classic works of fantasy literature. I've made more progress on the second one (8 lectures so far!). I also have actually read a few magazine and newspaper articles.
16. Journal of cool things: I have collected a lot of stuff to put in this to record what I've done over the year but I still haven't put this together or written anything! I really have to plan a weekend to get started on this or it will be too late.
17. Dating: Has not been a issue for me lately. Feeling good about this generally! I think that is progress.
18 & 19. Collaborative project & make a film: This sounds lame, but I pretty much blame winter for this stagnating. Although, I guess this is a good time to brainstorm so that once it warms up I'll have something more real to pursue.
20/21. Newsletter/photo albums: on the back burner still. Still experiencing a little tension with my mother over this so have been encouraging myself to put it off. Maybe if I ever begin to learn photoshop one of my first self-assignments can be to make a silly newsletter about myself.
22. Travel more: Again I think winter has impacted this somewhat, plus I just went to California. But hopefully I'll be going to NYC again soon. (I was going to go this weekend for the Athena Film Festival before the big snow storm!) I still would like to go to Ann Arbor to visit one of my friends. I guess we should start working on a mutually convenient time!
23. Creative organization: Still haven't figured this out. I've had some ideas but nothing much has really worked so far.
24. Hair: This is another big accomplishment! I DID THIS! I was avoiding getting my hair cut because I couldn't decided what to do, but it got to a point where I really really needed it cut. It was getting unmanagable and damaged. So I just made myself make an appointment and with a vague idea of what I wanted I sort of threw myself on the mercy of my hair dresser.
The big decision was to go shorter. I think I finally figured out I still don't want to deal with long hair anymore.
Luckily the hair cut was a HUGE success. I love my new hair cut and it is really easy to manage but I still feel like I can style it a couple of easy ways. Everyone likes it. It goes well with all my winter hats. And I like it! I had a morning off so I actually did it on a Friday morning before work and all but sang with joy as I left the hairdresser and drove to work because I was so pleased with how it turned out!
So in summary: Since October I have accomplished #6 and #24, and possibly #9!
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