Happy Late Anniversary to Myself

What! I apparently missed my one year anniversary of blogging on June 14. Happy late anniversary to myself. In celebration I thought I would revisit some of the past year, but after starting to do so I realized it was only making me sad and I'd rather focus on 12 things I want to accomplish/do in this next year. Here's the list I came up with:

1. Start a real career. Not a lame job to pay the bills, but an honest to goodness real job.


2. Focus on positive things. I know this sounds very general, but it's not really. Lately I've been falling into a bit of a thought trap. Too many critical, unhappy thoughts. I've decided that I will think the absolute best of people no matter what. It'll be hard, but I'll be happier and people will enjoy my company more. This also includes not dwelling on past things and thinking about what I can do to move on or make the situation better.


3. Write thank you notes to share my gratitude. I feel like I have a good start on this one. I try to get thank you notes out and always show gratitude, but sometimes I get lazy about it and I can do a better job.


4. Write 2 songs that I'm really proud of. Guitar, piano, harmonica... Doesn't matter, but I think it'd be nice to be able to say "I wrote that" when people fall in love with my wonderful future songs.


5. Make and keep a budget. We're talking a serious financial system that would even make Banker Chic proud. Not just checking online every other day.

6. Sort out my religious thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. This one is sure to take a long time and hard work, but I've been treading water for far too long in my beliefs.

7. Enhance my relationships with family members. Not that they're that terrible right now, but I've always been closer to the female members and I should put more effort into all of them.

8. Bike a century (100 miles), run a 10k (this is far for a wussy runner like myself), and do several triathlons.




9. Give up refined sugar and caffeine permanently. Let the withdrawals begin.





10. Become more honest. I had an interesting conversation with Scrabble Boy tonight that really made me think about the whole concept of honesty in general. I've been unknowingly operating under the philosophy that sometimes lying is necessary when feelings are involved. And I still think that is sometimes it is necessary, but that those times are far and few between. I'm going to try to be brutally honest with myself and just plain honest with others.



11. Read one new classic a month. I tend towards contemporary literature although I have typically enjoyed classics in the past. Here's me broadening my horizons.





12. Develop my artistic talents. I used to be a photography major, but after I switched I stopped taking my "real" camera with me everywhere looking for good photo ops. I'd also like to learn how to draw more accurately and quickly, especially faces.




They're not easy goals and I won't be able to tackle them all at once, but I think with some hard work and determination I can succeed. woohoo! here's to year #2!