S'more Goal Things

Well, I started taking some pictures of my hometown! :) I walk home from school and generally seem to carry my camera around a lot. I have to go through all my pictures, but so far, I think I have ten photos put together. So that's a start! I'm trying to brainstorm some more pictures to take. I definitely want to go to the university nearby and take some pictures, as well as more from around my school, downtown, midtown, and the area I like to call "uptown" (though nobody really ever calls it that).

I also want to add these goals to my list - I want 50 goals! It's such a nice number, but I'm afraid that once I have 50, I won't want to add any more. :P Oh, and I know I've donated waaaaay more than 100 grains of rice through playing FreeRice (www.freerice.com), but I've only donated 100 since I started counting. So yeah. And a bunch of these are stolen from other people...eheheh.

Also, for the books - these are books I started reading for a school assignment and never finished, instead using SparkNotes or class discussions to get the information I needed. So far, this has only been The House of the Seven Gables by Nathanial Hawthorne (I found it boring and unapproachable, so I gave up 30 pages in) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (I loved this book, just got lazy 30 pages from the end - this one should be a fun reread). I want to let my guilty conscience rest by seriously reading them and then writing my thoughts on the book down somewhere, be it here, my journal, or somewhere else.

As for the states one...well, my home is the USA, but the USA is so diverse! I want to be able to experience all of it at some time. I want to also make a collection of photos to prove I'd been in each state! Haha, what is it with me and photos recently? (Unfortunately, this means I'll have to revisit a BUNCH of states! I only have a few states' photos on my computer right now...I've been to many, many states, but I didn't take that many pictures, so all I have are pictures from California, Utah, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.)

TRAVEL:

- Visit every state in the USA, and have photographic evidence of each state (state photos compiled: 4/50)

HEALTH/PERSONAL:

- Actually read the books I said I would finish for school but never did, and then write some sort of follow-up (books read: 0/2, mini-reports written: 0/2)

IMPRESSION:

- Donate 1,000,000 grains of rice through FreeRice (grains donated: 100/1,000,000)

- Pay for a stranger's meal anonymously.

CRAZY:

- Show up at an airport with money, passport, and a luggage bag, and take the first flight I can.

Quantification and Progress: January Has Ended!

Alright, so since it is now February 1...I figure I might as well revisit my "resolutions" for the Big/Fun/SCARY 2008 we are now 1/12 through. That's about 8.33%. It feels like it should be more. (Grr.)

Anyway, I was going to look at my goals and see how I've been doing - but then I realized that a lot of these goals are things I want to become habitual. And that's not really measurable...so I'm going to add some quantification stuff for each of 'em that roughly gives me the amount of stuff I want for the whole year.

So here are my ten goals for the year, along with new added numbery things for some of them, as well as my progress on all of 'em:

(Key:

Not started

In progress

Completed)

1. Two novel drafts - 0/2 - I have started a novel draft (Dreamland) and am about 5k words into it, and have been planning a second and third novel.
2. Script Frenzy '08 - Screnzy is still two months away, so I haven't done much for this except vaguely think about a possible screenplay idea. :)
3. Regular exercising (twice a week) - 0/100 workouts - Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to go to the gym...thanks to finals and school!
4. Regular journaling (seven pages per week) - So far, I've either met or surpassed my quota for each calendar week. Since this is an all-or-nothing goal, I've been meeting it.
5. Regular creative writing (one piece per week) - 1/50 pieces, 1/12 accompanying images - I started out okay, but then sort of fell out of the writing groove...I need to write more short things! But I WILL do some this month, I promise!
6. One contest + one submission - So far, I've done neither, but I'd like to have the submission out of the way either this month or next month.
7. More socializing - 3/40 events - I actually had a huge scheduling conflict this month! I had to turn down one event to go to another. :) So far, I've gotten together with friends three times outside of school, which is meeting my three-per-month, and am going to something tomorrow, so that's good. Yup yup.
8. "Progress" - Unfortunately, this is still an abstract goal, and my name is still not known. I've gotten depressed over this, and I had a chance (sort of) to talk or something, but I didn't take it. I might sort of give up/put this on hold until a new person comes along. I don't like to think about it, really. :(
9. More studying/earlier start on homework/"good grades" - Again, I really don't know how to measure this one. Last week was good - I was on top of my work (more or less) and actually got a fair amount of sleep (though not an amazing amount). We haven't taken any tests yet this semester, but finals were horrible. Not entirely my fault on that, though.
10. Summer job - Well, I was super on top of the interview (I was early to plan it, early to take it!), and am basically guaranteed a job there. :) I just have to wait to hear what my position is, and then go through the rest of the process to get it (like...work permit, fingerprinting, planning, yadda yadda). The next phase will be when I am doing the job and taking advantage of it to the fullest!

Not started - 5

In progress - 5

Completed - 0

And that's my progress for January! :D I hope to maybe add one more goal to the "in progress" category during either this month or March, the mostly being Script Frenzy if it turns out I can use it for my English final project (in which case I'd get started and do the whole writing process, including prewriting stuff). Or maybe I'll get a submission to the literary magazine in my school done. Hmm. I wonder? Well, it'll be exciting to see where I am at the end of the month in any case! (At least I'm on track to get my "5/10 completed" goal for the end of the year...kinda sorta.)

:)