Ugh. My goals. It isn't pretty. Here is my progress so far. (I like grading myself.)
- Cook more!
Since the chili two weeks ago, I steamed some brussel sprouts. Once. It's so hard for me to cook because I honestly do not like anything I make myself. It's always so bland, sometimes it's not even edible. -1
- Continue learning.
Well, I signed up for an LSAT course which starts on April 13. I'm planning on taking the June LSAT, work on my law school application over the summer and apply to law school in the fall for the 2010-2011 school year. I'm giving myself some major pointage for this. +5
- Finish your upholstery project
Nope. Not a stitch. No attempts. I completely forgot about this goal! -2
- Buy a ukulele and learn how to play it.
Also not done. But I fear that the ukulele is blowing up and becoming a little cliche. 0
- Do laundry more than once every three or four weeks.
Ha! I did laundry this weekend. The last time I did laundry was three weeks ago. I still have that HUGE pile of dry cleaning in my closet. -2
- Spend less cha-ching.
Hmm. Well, I bought $1300 plane tickets last week and just spent $1000+ for the LSAT course, so my net worth is about -$2000. (I have some money saved, but I've also got student loanz, yo!) I think both purchases were necessary but I can't really gauge if I spent money in moderation over the last four weeks. 0
- Do something physical.
Now that it's springtime I walk to and from BART. That's one mile each way. It's not a lot of walking, and I do it as a leisurely pace (although leisurely for me is sort of brisk)--not a whole lot of proper exercise. What I had in mind was going on hikes or buying a new bike (I got rid of my former bike when I moved) and riding around on the weekends. -1
FINAL SCORE: -1
I really have no excuse for not getting out during the weekends. I live in a beautiful place with lots of walking trails. That's the goal I'm going to focus on next. I'll follow that up with laundry and spending less cha-ching.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
i feel we may be losing sight...
...of those goals that we laid out over a month ago.
So, Totes, a recap.
on february 11th, I said I wanted to focus on:
creativity + productivity
abolishing the snooze button
being healthy + glowing + awake
conquering my apparent fear of housework
being reliable + available
getting a job that i love
nourishing my relationships + collaborating
becoming debt-free
continuing my education
on february 11th, you said you wanted to:
- Cook more!
- Continue learning.
- Finish your upholstery project
- Buy a ukulele and learn how to play it.
- Do laundry more than once every three or four weeks.
- Spend less cha-ching.
- Do something physical.
How are we doing?
Well, I guess I'll go first...
I am having a hard time getting over to my studio as often as I would like to. Really, I only make it in about once a week. I am using a planner now, though--as of last week! I am going to pencil in all the things I hope to do along with all the things I am supposed to do--like, hey! pay my parking tickets on time to avoid an extra 30 bucks! whaddyaknow!
hmmm, before I move on I want to speak more about my planner. I think I may fall in love with it. It's a teeny 3-ring binder that holds half-sheets of paper. Bought it at Staples a long time ago for work but discovered it was useless for the purpose I had in mind. Now I have outfitted it with little tabs for sections--month-at-a-glance, weekly planner, financial planning (used to be on paper scraps), project ideas, and project planning. And other shit too, like notes and whatnot. DIY Planner inspired me but they have ugly layouts so I had to make my own in InDesign. Plus it was one of the things I was supposed to get according to One Year :)
...and moving on...
Oh my god "abolish the snooze button"! No progress on that one. If anything I have been having more trouble with waking up. Andy lays between me and the alarm clock. It goes off, he slaps the snooze button for me! I don't even have to roll over or get my arms out & cold or anything! This is not working. Either I need to switch places with him or move the clock or something. I need to see the damn time before the snooze button is hit. Or else I have no concept of what time it is and am very happy to continue laying in bed/in ignorance. Going to do something about this tonight. Tally ho!
healthy + glowing + awake. I have not exercised in eons... Although I did shovel a very long driveway clear of a foot and a half of snow on Sunday! With Andy's help. I did at least 50% of the work though! And I was realllllly happy that my back could take it. It didn't even hurt yesterday or today! Which is awesome because I could really feel it getting weak on Saturday when we were helping Andy's mom move her quilt shop. I was caught between wanting to be as helpful as possible and not wanting to relive that week of bedrest I was subjected to last June. That sucked. The other thing I need to do is get my health insurance application filled out. Gotta find that old policy number.
housework. making progress. One Year is helping.
reliable + available. I haven't flaked out on anyone. I've been on-time to work an unusual amount of times recently. I've communicated with my mom a bit more regularly.
getting a job i love... well, I am finding ways to love my job. I am also dreaming about working on a farm, or as a ranchhand, or a photographer, or a book-reader! Know of any job openings for a book-reader? 'Cause I shore do love readin' dem books.
relationships. I've been seeing friends and family. I could do more though. Write some letters. Make some phone calls. See my sister more often.
collaborations. I haven't taken a single step on developing this. There is one guy I should call who offered to take me on a sports photo shoot.
Debt-free! Working on it. Like I said, so close I can almost see the day.
Continuing my education. Recently, I've read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell and half of After Photography by Fred Ritchin. I highly recommend the former and would like to chat about its pros and cons if you decide to check it out. The latter is pretty heavy. Mentally. Still need to wrap my head around it. On the other side of the spectrum, I have not looked into grad school at all. I don't know where to start. I'm not particulary interested in committing four more years to UCSC although I loved my time there. And I'm not particularly interested in moving away. What to do, what to do. I suppose browsing is my first step.
I can't begin to list more goals or wishes until I get through some of these... too much for my brain!
And, what about you? What obstacles are you up against? What have you been up to that you are pleased with?
ps I like calling you Totes 'cause it's like Toots.
So, Totes, a recap.
on february 11th, I said I wanted to focus on:
creativity + productivity
abolishing the snooze button
being healthy + glowing + awake
conquering my apparent fear of housework
being reliable + available
getting a job that i love
nourishing my relationships + collaborating
becoming debt-free
continuing my education
on february 11th, you said you wanted to:
- Cook more!
- Continue learning.
- Finish your upholstery project
- Buy a ukulele and learn how to play it.
- Do laundry more than once every three or four weeks.
- Spend less cha-ching.
- Do something physical.
How are we doing?
Well, I guess I'll go first...
I am having a hard time getting over to my studio as often as I would like to. Really, I only make it in about once a week. I am using a planner now, though--as of last week! I am going to pencil in all the things I hope to do along with all the things I am supposed to do--like, hey! pay my parking tickets on time to avoid an extra 30 bucks! whaddyaknow!
hmmm, before I move on I want to speak more about my planner. I think I may fall in love with it. It's a teeny 3-ring binder that holds half-sheets of paper. Bought it at Staples a long time ago for work but discovered it was useless for the purpose I had in mind. Now I have outfitted it with little tabs for sections--month-at-a-glance, weekly planner, financial planning (used to be on paper scraps), project ideas, and project planning. And other shit too, like notes and whatnot. DIY Planner inspired me but they have ugly layouts so I had to make my own in InDesign. Plus it was one of the things I was supposed to get according to One Year :)
...and moving on...
Oh my god "abolish the snooze button"! No progress on that one. If anything I have been having more trouble with waking up. Andy lays between me and the alarm clock. It goes off, he slaps the snooze button for me! I don't even have to roll over or get my arms out & cold or anything! This is not working. Either I need to switch places with him or move the clock or something. I need to see the damn time before the snooze button is hit. Or else I have no concept of what time it is and am very happy to continue laying in bed/in ignorance. Going to do something about this tonight. Tally ho!
healthy + glowing + awake. I have not exercised in eons... Although I did shovel a very long driveway clear of a foot and a half of snow on Sunday! With Andy's help. I did at least 50% of the work though! And I was realllllly happy that my back could take it. It didn't even hurt yesterday or today! Which is awesome because I could really feel it getting weak on Saturday when we were helping Andy's mom move her quilt shop. I was caught between wanting to be as helpful as possible and not wanting to relive that week of bedrest I was subjected to last June. That sucked. The other thing I need to do is get my health insurance application filled out. Gotta find that old policy number.
housework. making progress. One Year is helping.
reliable + available. I haven't flaked out on anyone. I've been on-time to work an unusual amount of times recently. I've communicated with my mom a bit more regularly.
getting a job i love... well, I am finding ways to love my job. I am also dreaming about working on a farm, or as a ranchhand, or a photographer, or a book-reader! Know of any job openings for a book-reader? 'Cause I shore do love readin' dem books.
relationships. I've been seeing friends and family. I could do more though. Write some letters. Make some phone calls. See my sister more often.
collaborations. I haven't taken a single step on developing this. There is one guy I should call who offered to take me on a sports photo shoot.
Debt-free! Working on it. Like I said, so close I can almost see the day.
Continuing my education. Recently, I've read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell and half of After Photography by Fred Ritchin. I highly recommend the former and would like to chat about its pros and cons if you decide to check it out. The latter is pretty heavy. Mentally. Still need to wrap my head around it. On the other side of the spectrum, I have not looked into grad school at all. I don't know where to start. I'm not particulary interested in committing four more years to UCSC although I loved my time there. And I'm not particularly interested in moving away. What to do, what to do. I suppose browsing is my first step.
I can't begin to list more goals or wishes until I get through some of these... too much for my brain!
And, what about you? What obstacles are you up against? What have you been up to that you are pleased with?
ps I like calling you Totes 'cause it's like Toots.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Chili-less Vegetarian Black Bean Chili
I told you I wouldn't post unless I accomplished something. And what, pray tell, did I accomplish tonight? In honor of Top Chef--though the season finale was two weeks ago--I made VEGETARIAN BLACK BEAN CHILI!! Halfway into cooking, I realized that I didn't have any chili powder, so I just threw in random spices, peppers and such. I wouldn't say it was delicious but it was dinner. Plus, I have leftovers for tomorrow's lunch... and Friday's... and Monday's... etc.
While I was cooking I had to deal with a kitty whose face was swelling up due to exposure to onions. I ended up putting her in the bathroom; at first I tried the trick of sticking our heads in the freezer. (Is that cruel?) The second I put her back on the ground, her eyes would tear up and her face would get puffy. To the bathroom, she went!
Even though I don't have a copy of One Year myself, I followed one of the habits tonight. I did all my dishes after cooking--yes, even the sauce pots, which I almost always just leave dirty on the stove until the next time I need it. (Is that gross?)
Speaking of One Year, I don't know if you noticed this on my coffee table when you were over this weekend--awesome weekend, by the way--but I also did a weekly activities breakdown. Great minds think alike because I didn't do it by percentages either. I already threw away my calculations of actual activities, but I have my goals sitting on my coffee tables. I must have calculated this two or three weeks ago, but I haven't followed it once. Actually, maybe today. I did cooking/eating/cleanup for two hours, and in a little bit I will be watching the second part of my one hour of TV (the first part was, and always will be, Jeopardy!).
While I was cooking I had to deal with a kitty whose face was swelling up due to exposure to onions. I ended up putting her in the bathroom; at first I tried the trick of sticking our heads in the freezer. (Is that cruel?) The second I put her back on the ground, her eyes would tear up and her face would get puffy. To the bathroom, she went!
Even though I don't have a copy of One Year myself, I followed one of the habits tonight. I did all my dishes after cooking--yes, even the sauce pots, which I almost always just leave dirty on the stove until the next time I need it. (Is that gross?)
Speaking of One Year, I don't know if you noticed this on my coffee table when you were over this weekend--awesome weekend, by the way--but I also did a weekly activities breakdown. Great minds think alike because I didn't do it by percentages either. I already threw away my calculations of actual activities, but I have my goals sitting on my coffee tables. I must have calculated this two or three weeks ago, but I haven't followed it once. Actually, maybe today. I did cooking/eating/cleanup for two hours, and in a little bit I will be watching the second part of my one hour of TV (the first part was, and always will be, Jeopardy!).
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
the general consensus
Thanks to you and Dana for being good sports and letting me make you uncomfortable for long periods of time. At the beginning of our shoots, I could tell that you two really hated being in front of the camera, but by the end you had gotten used to it. Which means..... we have to plan another one! I promise it will be less painful this time as we are both getting practice.
And...
What an awesome bay area weekend! I came home Sunday night thoroughly exhausted from all the good times. Thanks for having me over and chauffeuring me around and bearing with me when I found treasure at the White Elephant Sale and waking me up with Daisy Dukes.
I'm glad we both took the time to hang out with good people whom we haven't seen in awhile. And I'm glad we got ric rolled at Sangha.
In "One Year" news, I'm a bit behind on the kitchen stuff but still holding strong with the Habits. I am seeing myself adopting the "everything in its place" mindset and also not being so lazy as I have been in the past. CAN I PLEASE SAY THANK YOU AGAIN! Even if I reaped no further benefit from the book for the rest of the year, I am pleased as punch at how our kitchen feels now. Everything is clean and making dinner or even a snack is never a battle because something's out of place or dirty. Yay!
I did complete the exercise that I was avoiding, where you have to find out where you spend your time. I listed everything I do and everything I want to be doing. Then instead of applying current percentages, I just wrote how many hours per week I spend on each thing. Exercise got a zero... Studio time got like a 1... Sleeping got a 56... Jaguar got 45... etc... The second half of the exercise is reworking the percentages (hours) to match your goals. I was incredibly surprised to find that there is plenty of time for me to engage myself in all the activities I want to be working on & doing. At least on paper. So I have this idea inspired by Dylan's workout tracker (which he previously developed into a task tracker for me for logging hours spent on projects at work). I'm going to mock one up to use for the entire week and see if I am realistically able to stick to my new goal times.
Okay! So many words! I'll show you the tracker once I have it put together.
Peeeaaaaaaauuuuuuhhceeeeee!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
pretty colors
(I hope you are ready for this weekend because I am going to shoot pictures of you.)I took this picture last Saturday, during what I believe was my 1st ever shoot of another human being. I always take pictures of trees & flowers & buildings & shapes & what-not. When I do take a picture of someone, it is only 1 or 2 pictures, not a series with the intention of capturing a good portrait.
So this was new for me. A little challenging. But working with Sabrina was easy because she is a friend and likes to be in front of the camera. I'm glad I made an effort to stop napping and get out of the house to do this, as I had momentarily considered putting it off. The fact that it wasn't raining helped a bunch.
I also made it to my studio for an hour yesterday and plan to go work some more this evening. yay.
I'll have the rest of my favorite pictures from Saturday up on the SBPC tomorrow.
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