serenissima | Entries tagged with goals

Time to change my habits. I want to

journal again
walk daily again
declutter my room, especially my desk
read more books
purge the toys
purge the clothes and maybe shoes
look for items to purge among craft supplies & decor items
pray every morning
finish my crochet projects

I'm willing to let go of:
* homemade pomanders
* rearrange living room furniture
* assemble new bookcases for kids
* clean my own bathroom

I'm determined to do:
* Christmas cards
* put up the tree and decorate it
* gingerbread house — the kit is in the cupboard
* teacher gifts
* thorough vacuuming
* clean guest bathrooms

I'm not ready to give up on:
* a Christmas letter to include with the cards
* homemade ornaments of some kind — I have materials for wooden ones and maybe sock penguins
* purge (donate) toys, reorganize playroom
* launder dog bedding
* special Christmas dinner

Current Mood: anxious

Just read about this on Christian Science Monitor: DoOneNiceThing.com inspires do-gooders to keep it up

"Tenzer, a marketing professional, started with small gestures of kindness on Mondays, her own most difficult day. Friends soon suggested she post these activities on a website, and DoOneNiceThing.com was born."

Maybe this is something I can do. It doesn't say how significant the good deed has to be, just that you do one.

Current Mood: curious

I am responsible for my own happiness. It falls to me to provide myself with comfort and entertainment.

For entertainment, this year I will get out of the house more:

There's a gaming group that meets at least monthly, a half hour drive away. (Thank you Meetup.com.) Cost: nominal.
The aquarium society also meets monthly and is also within a half hour drive. Cost: $20/year.
There's a ski club that will be making bus trips to go skiing practically every weekend this winter. Cost: $65 a trip; not sure about equipment rental.
There's another Meetup group offering free cultural outings in the bustling megalopolis where I work. Cost: only gas & parking.

For comfort, this year I will make an extra effort to keep a clean apartment:

No more leaving dirty dishes in the sink for days at a time. I'll do at least a little dishwashing every evening that there is some to be done, even if I don't wash them all.
I will go through my mail as I get it and file anything that needs filing as I get it.
I will rid myself of accumulations of "useful items" such as glass jars, corrugated cardboard boxes, plastic containers from food and dry cleaners' wire hangers at least bi-monthly.
I will rip out the useful pages from my magazine, file them in a binder according to topic, and throw out the magazine once I'm done reading it.
I will spend at least half an hour every weekend picking up clutter.

That's a start. Let's see how that goes for a few weeks.

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Location: at work

Got into a weird mood on the drive home, possibly inspired in some way by the magazine I was reading ("Glamour") while riding in the carpool. I can't think of any other explanation.

I kind of want to cut loose and do something totally unexpected. At the same time, I want to be assured that everything turns out all right.

I want to author a children's picture book and have it published and widely distributed.

I want to live in another country for over a year -- one where English is not the native language.

I want to do something concrete, measureable, to save the world. More specifically, to save the planet.

Current Mood: indescribable

Trips I'd like to go on someday:

China. 'nuff said.
England. Ditto.
Tour some of the major U.S. national parks. When I was a child, my family traveled in California one summer and spent some time at Yosemite. I remember we went on a slow, carefully guided horseback ride. My father's horse farted during the ride. :)
I think maybe I should see Mt. Kilimanjaro, not out of a particular desire to visit Africa -- though I'm sure it'd be fascinating -- but because I understand that the famous snowcap may be melted away within my lifetime. For the same reason, maybe I should go visit a few glaciers.
Belarus and neighboring countries, especially for heritage reasons.
the Mediterranean area. "Istanbul not Constantinople..."
Alaska. In the summertime. :)

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: at work

What if I dropped everything and trained to be a naturalist, tromping through the woods all day?

This is 99% idle speculation.

Current Mood: bored

1. Go over this list. Check the statements that are true. If you check almost all of them, you are doing pretty well. The ones you left unchecked show where you could use some improvement. If you left several of them unchecked, you are in the wrong career; and you are reading the right book.
( Again, kind of long )

3. What work have you done in the past that was fulfilling in ways that are missing from your present career? Think back and notice what was it that made it so satisfying?

This is only my second full time job: I haven't worked much. In college, I did some tutoring that I enjoyed because I could see how I was contributing to someone else's understanding. Also, I felt confident in my knowledge of the material and my ability to communicate it. The web work I did as summer jobs was not fulfilling because nearly anyone could have substituted for me. It did not require any talent, just some widely available knowledge. I would have enjoyed those jobs more if I had some expertise and was using it. My previous full time job was somewhat less generic, but still consisted of a lot of mindless routine most of the time.

Current Mood: discontent

So I got this book called The Pathfinder by Nicholas Lore in hopes it would help me figure out what kind of job to look for, and it's got some exercises to write out. At this moment I don't feel like digging out a notebook and writing longhand.

( This is rather long. )

Current Mood: thoughtful

breimh asked the other day, "If you could do any one activity, or see any one thing, what would it be and why?" And I thought, I'll have a hard time picking just one thing. The question reminded me of a website I ran across recently called 43 Things, which launched at the beginning of this year.

The idea is you make yourself a to-do list of things you want to accomplish, maximum of 43 items, and you can look up other people who have the same items on their to-do list. The site is sponsored by Amazon, and while I like Amazon and I think its various personalized features are really cool, I'm not ready to give them so much more personal information. Besides, why stop at 43? What if you have more?

Anyway, I put together a list. I tried to categorize, but I did not prioritize -- the big things and the little things, the things I want a lot and the things I kind of would like, are jumbled together.

( 48 things, and I'm sure I can think of more )

Current Mood: cold

This post is incomplete, just some notes for later.

( things )

Current Mood: thoughtful

If I had a little more free time, I would
- install my scanner
- make sure there were no dirty dishes at the end of every day
- take walks
- be more adventurous in cooking
- email or call my relatives on a regular basis

If I had a little more disposable income, I would
- go get my ears double pierced (again -- the holes in both sides closed up)
- eat at a restaurant maybe every week or two
- buy a fish tank

If I had a little more time and money, I would
- buy new CDs every few months
- make beaded jewelry

If I had a lot more free time, I would
- crochet a blanket for my brother
- read books regularly

If I had a lot more disposable income, I would
- take a vacation that includes a few nights in a hotel room
- go skiing a few times a winter

If I had a lot more time and money, I would
- get a cat
- take lots of lessons: pottery, photography, Chinese, etc.
- join a gym
- probably volunteer somewhere

Of course there's more, but those are the things that come to mind right now.

Current Mood: thoughtful

Welcome to 2005, everyone.

I've been with my parents for the holidays all last week. I slept late in the mornings, hung out with my brother a little, and visited a couple old family friends. I learned one crochet stitch -- I brought materials with me, hoping that my mother could teach me, but not having crocheted in 30 years, she had forgotten how and bought me an instructional booklet instead, which worked for me.

I was planning to do that year-in-review meme like I did last year, but I don't really feel like it. Instead, here's a list of traits of the kind of person I want to be, in no particular order. Some may already apply.

joyful
smart
healthy
physically fit
sexy
organized
creative
religious
strong

generous
loving
sensitive
sincere
brave
friendly
social
well-informed

Welcome to 2004. I'm wondering how long it will take me before seeing and writing 2004 stops feeling weird.

Things I'd like to do this year:

Volunteer work, e.g. teach English, or possibly gardening, animal care, or tutoring.
Take dance lessons.
Bring my lunch to work more often than not.
Slim down to the point where tummy bulge is indiscernable in regular clothes (as opposed to loose sweaters). Hopefully to do this by summer solstice and remain that way for the rest of the year.
Embark on a career path, by change of job or by taking classes or both.
Handcrafts: resume beadwork, or learn to knit or sew. I can start by hemming those trousers that have been sitting around, and reattaching buttons. :p
Make a new friend in the area.
See a musical or a play.
Learn to roller blade. I figured out how to go and how to turn, it's the stopping part that I haven't got yet. <:)
Be able to climb four flights of stairs without getting out of breath.
More creative writing.
Resume drawing.

Current Mood: optimistic

I don't make resolutions: the word implies to me that they're no good after they've been broken once. But I do have some goals for the new year. Every day I'd like to
- Drink at least three water bottles' worth of beverage.
- Read at least half a chapter of A+ certification text.
- Walk for half an hour.
- Get rid of one item of mess from my room.
I'd like to eat less meat, and to write a little every weekend.

I've enjoyed these past several days: the short work weeks have seemed almost like a vacation. It's been nice having my brother home, too. We'll probably put away the Christmas tree this weekend. Dad returned the George Foreman grill I gave him & Mom for Christmas. He's afraid the high heat of grilling would form carcinogens in his food. I'm disappointed, but since I returned the pendant he & Mom got me and my brother exchanged a book they got him for CDs, I can't blame him.

A new girl started work Monday, and I was assigned to train her, not that there was much for me to explain. Most of the stuff you need to know is just dozens little bits of information for what to do in this or that infrequent situation, which I had to pick up over time. Thursday I'll try to pass along everything else I haven't told her yet.

( About the _Two Towers_ movie )

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29

My Life Flows On

...in endless song...

Happy New Year

Relinquish

Repairing the world, one good thing a week

Pursuit of Happiness: Mental Well-Being

Life dreams

Travel dreams

the wild

Pathfinder Inquiry 2: How Well Does Your Present Career Fit?

Pathfinder Inquiry 1: Career Fantasies

Things.

things: draft

If I had a little more

Happy New Year

Goals

Welcome, 2003

Profile

February 2024

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