Challenge myself this summer!

I feel like I’ve been pretty productive over the summer. There are definitely more things I would like to have done, but there always are. I finished some longtime, nagging goals, made wide legged advances on others and have shrunk my list quite a bit. Now I should fatten it up for winter, although I think I’ll be focusing on a couple of big, more time consuming goals. One in particular.

Goals checked off since my last entry:

Fingerpaint

Dye my hair red

Give our son a haircut

Go to the PNE

Go to the current Vancouver Art Gallery exhibition

Make a First Aid kit

Be a rebellious witch whore

Favorite musician avatar week

Take photos of 43 strangers

Go camping with the new tent / Go camping

Find at least one thing each day that makes me happy and record it everyday for a year

(I also cheered on a few birthdays, but I’m pretty awful at keeping track of that…)

Goodbye Summer.

“Nobody on the road
Nobody on the beach
I feel it in the air
The summer’s out of reach
Empty lake, empty streets
The sun goes down alone…”

We still have 3 days of summer left officially, but if the weather is of any importance, I’d say summer is over and done for this year. :(

• paperwork – I’ve done what I could
• another IT certificate exam – taking the exam next week
• Java book – w00t! I finally returned it to its owner! phew, that’s a huge load off my chest
• Java online course – finished the core course! advanced topics can wait until I actually see the need for them :P
• fitness plan – running more or less 3x/week, occasionally going to the gym, starting to work out at home again (it’s fscking cold outside, the less I need to be out and about, the better) – could’ve done better, but then, could’ve done much worse, so it’s ok
• cook something new – a measly salad. I need to get off my ass and start eating properly again. I’m pretty sure it’s not possible for humans to live very long on cheese bread and tuna sandwiches.
• take a swimming class again, if its available – no summer swimming class, but I signed up for one from October to February!
• find at least 1 event to go to – ahhh, it’s hockey season again, and it started just in time to help me with this goal ;)
• do the ‘Get Writing’ course in E, C, S – writing in C regularly, but E&S got lost along the way
• mountain of books to read – argh! I broke down and bought 3 new books today. I mean, it was my birthday, and I didn’t get any books this year, so I had to get them myself. Birthdays without bookish presents are no fun!
• read M’s dissertation – I can only get it from the other specialist library and they were closed for the summer

Summa summarum: I didn’t really challenge myself. I’ve done most of the things on my list, but I could’ve done more, much more. On the other hand: “perfect” is the enemy of “done”. :P At least something got done. :)

All in all, I think I’m doing ok. I’m not making as much progress as I’d like, but “better than nothing” is sort of my mantra these days. :)

• sort out my paperwork – done what I could, some little stuff left but nothing major
• do another exam for my IT certificates – started studying
• read the bloody Java book already and return it to its owner :P – sigh… I’ll flip through it, I promise
• do the Java online course – 3 chapters left!
• do my fitness plan – running 3x/week. Not getting any better, faster or stronger, but it’s better than nothing. ;)
• cook something new at least twice a month – cooked a soup, planning a shrimp salad!
• find at least 1 event to go to every month – have become a regular at the local summer festival :)
• do the ‘Get Writing’ course in English, Croatian and Slovenian – finished the first part, writing in C regularly, have to start the second part and start writing in E & S
• take my mountain of books to read and turn it into a hill – “paper” books mountain looks manageable now, but how am I going to deal with e-books and everything? @_@

The blustery weather today is making me realize that the summer sand is quickly falling to the bottom of the hourglass. Things are getting done though, slowly but surely. There’s been new goals started, great progress with ongoing ones and a bunch more down (a decent balance of summer fun, practical business and longer term, important things):

• Go to a sandcastle contest

• Be part of a team that donates 10 million grains of rice through freerice.com

• Go blackberry picking

• Take my cat to the vet

• Go to Summer Cinema in the Parks

• De-mat the cat

• Fix my camera

• Participate in a zombie walk

• Buy a new keyboard

Now… what else can I do before the big, grey, wet, Vancouver fall descends into slick leaf carpets and even more violent bluster?

Well, the vacation was lovely. Going to the beach in the morning, coming back for lunch, taking a siesta after lunch, and going out in the evening… I could get used to it, no problem. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much progress, goal-wise, during this time. :P Now I’m back in the city, I might as well take a good look at my list, as my day is ruined anyway, having gone to work. ;) _{takes a deep breath}

• work
  
  • sort out my paperwork – This is sort of a never-ending story. I have 3 different paperwork “processes” and I’m doing what I can. The shortest “process” should take at least 2 more weeks, the longest probably 2 years. Sigh.
  • do another exam for my IT certificates – No progress, except my boss suggesting I take the exam. Maybe “boss pressure” will work better than intrinsic motivation?
  • read the bloody Java book already and return it to its owner :P – heh heh heheheh (psychotic laughter).. Who am I kidding, I’ll never finish it with this tempo, I’d better just flip through and later find online tutorials on interesting parts.
  • do the Java online course – Haven’t been near a computer in a while, so no progress here.
• health
  
  • do my fitness plan – Eh… Have been swimming lying on the beach and jumping into the sea occasionally every day, and climbing 220 steps to the beach and back every day. Also went to a new olympic pool in town! Managed to swim it crosswise a couple of times. Been to the nice knee doctor who said there’s nothing wrong with my knee so now I can start running again. :)
  • cook something new at least twice a month – I remember cooking something in July, before the vacation, so this is ok.
• erm, everything else?
  
  • find at least 1 event to go to every month – Seriously, can’t remember. I’ve been going out for drinks & company, so at least I haven’t spent the whole month in front of the TV. Have been at a local (very local: across the street from my place) summer festival yesterday, so if nothing else comes up, that’s that for August.
  • do the ‘Get Writing’ course in English, Croatian and Slovenian – Zero progress.
  • take my mountain of books to read and turn it into a hill – Doing much better, I might even come to the point where I can go to the library to get new books!
  • read M’s dissertation – Impossible to do this summer. Will research how to get into the other specialist library in Autumn.

Edit: Arrrgh, how could I forget? find at least 1 event to go to every month: Massive Attack concert in July. :)

So many things I need to do. They flutter around my head and overwhelm me in the middle of the night. I’m trying to do as much as I can, but maybe taking little steps in as many different directions as possible is less efficient than jumping with all my energy at particular goals. I’m aiming to KO a few more things this month, but so far (this summer) I’ve checked off:

• Ride the Burnaby Central Railway

• Celebrate Canada Day

• Use The Daily Plate everyday

• Buy camping gear

• Get him a great present

• Fix my tooth!

• Upload “Nothing But Bluebirds: The Happiness Project” to Facebook

• Make someone cry out of happiness

• Go to Illuminares

• Whiten my teeth

• Dye my hair red

• Go back and cheer the first 43 people who cheered me

• Did you know Venus wrote her first book?! We’ve got to share it!

• Get a picture published by Jones Soda

I’m managing to effectively keep up with most of my ongoing goals, but I’ve been struggling with my moods a bit lately, so trying to stay up and motivated had taken extra energy. In the next few days, I’ll try to pick a few specific things to focus on this month and come up with a fruitful pursuit plan.

I started this summer by having a fight with my boyfriend, then losing appetite and developing insomnia because of the ensuing emotional roller coaster, while working all the time even though I’m technically on vacation (I’m pretty much ready to kill someone at work) and suffering because of the 35°C weather in this concrete & asphalt jungle.

On the bright side, we’ve made up and things are great again, I’ve lost 3 kg which I’ll probably gain back but hopefully only in part, I had an interesting weekend, I provided some amusement for my friends who got to observe the aforementioned roller coaster, and I didn’t have to actually go into work, only work from home, so I could dress comfortably and survive the heat.

• work
  
  • sort out my paperwork – hm, I’ve done what I could for now; to do: gather Croatian paperwork, translate, gather paperwork at work, get a photo, send it all off
  • do another exam for my IT certificates – no progress :P
  • read the bloody Java book already and return it to its owner :P – I’ve moved forward a chapter… about a gazillion chapters left…
  • do the Java online course – one chapter down, 10 more to go
• health
  
  • do my fitness plan – postponed due to overwhelming heat (I tried running at 8 am yesterday and almost died); I’ll try to swim more if I get to the beach later this week
  • cook something new at least twice a month – I don’t see this happening in June…
  • take a swimming class again, if its available – nope, no swimming classes this year :(
• erm, everything else?
  
  • find at least 1 event to go to every month – attended the local Pride Parade by accident, watched a reenactment of the legend of Jason & the Argonauts on the river (including fire-breathing and sword play), enjoyed an open-air jazz concert that I stumbled into when coming home from the Argonauts thing. Very much done for this month. ;)
  • do the ‘Get Writing’ course in English, Croatian and Slovenian – first assignment done in E and S, half-done in C
  • take my mountain of books to read and turn it into a hill – ugh, very little progress (1 chapter of audiobook while running)
  • read M’s dissertation – it shows up as still being processed in library info, don’t know what to do?

I would love an invite if anyone is. Thanks!:)

Apparently the official astronomical dates for summer are June 21 – September 22.

Challenge starts today and will end two days before my birthday – in my world it will be between today and my birthday – easier to remember.

Week one update should thus happen on June 30.

There are several things on my list that I could finish or make significant progress towards:

Things to finish:
1.throw away 30 things I don’t need
•I have 16 things to go
2.Write a letter to my father
3.Lose ten pounds again
•Attend Weight Watchers meetings
•Do Couch to 5K to get back to running
4.Clean out my inbox
•Sort, delete, record info I need to keep (see 43 folders video)
5.Finish a scrapbook page!
•Maybe something about my recently completed MBA
6.2008: Get up at 5:30 a.m.
•I will consider this accomplished if I can do it for 30 weekdays (6 weeks)

Things I’d like to make progress on:
7.Be kind to my husband
•Not sure how this could ever be done as it is a lifelong journey
8.stick to my routines
•Start small – add one thing per week.
9.laugh more
•Go hiking with the dog
•Read something funny instead of stress eating
10.get out of debt
•I can reduce the interest rate on my credit card
•I can make double payment throughout the summer
•I can research how to consolidate my student loans
11.2008: Go green!
•Stop junk mail
•Stop all paper bills
•Get in the habit of taking my fabric bags to the market
12.complete CFA
•Keep up with Study schedule
13.Learn Spanish
•I will listen to podcasts 1-20 of coffee break Spanish
14.Read a new book every month
•I will finish “Our Votes, Our Guns” (Zimbabwe book)
•Start reading the #1 Ladies Detective Agency series
•Join the library
15.Clear out my paper clutter
•Clear off the bed in my spare room
•Organize/scan/otherwise deal with all my MBA notes
16.Put your presents where your politics are
•Sew travel accessories and bag organizers.
17.Take more pictures