goals for 2006

Having been off school for the last couple weeks, I've had lots of time on my hands. For the most part, I've been very unproductive, treating the vacation time as a vacation. I've felt guilty for that a lot of the time, but when I look back on how much I've accomplished in this past year, how much has changed and how hard I've worked, it's put me a little more at peace with taking some time off.

I've also spent some time looking at what I want to accomplish over the next year. From most years in the past, I'm used to having a great deal of personal overhaul kinds of goals, big financial hurdles to jump, and finding major direction in life.

But I've learned in this life of transitions I'm living that, as a student, it doesn't make sense to expect to have a lot of time and energy on your hands other than for classes, because frankly, school itself meets a lot of those big directional goals. Just being in school is in itself one of my biggest long term goals, and is a step in accomplishing many of the others. And I can't really move on to more, especially financially or career-wise, until school is over.

Do you realize how freeing that is? That basically leaves all my non-school related efforts to taking care of myself physically and emotionally, since my intellectual needs are being met, and college life also keeps me socially active. Everything else just needs to be maintained.

So, most of my goals this year have ended up being creative ones. Listed here are not all the specifics, but some general outline for what things I hope to improve this year. For the ones that are not entirely self-explanatory, I will elaborate on them in coming entries.

Creative:

• i will write three poems per week

• i will draw/paint/create three things per week

• i will begin playing out regularly again... return to the singer/songwriter life and become part of Columbus' music scene

• i will continue piano lessons and begin guitar lessons, practicing daily

• i will create themed topics of thought and exploration for myself on a regular basis, as writing prompts and artistic themes, keeping track of these in my small moleskine

• i will participate in the bi-weekly photography challenge with Adam

• i will update my blog at least twice a week

• i will create at least four audio docs, one of at least 40 minutes

• i will contribute more to my themed photo collections

Personal/Home/Financial:

• i will get an apartment i like/permanent housing (in time for summer vacation)
  

• i will manage my study time/recreation time better and plan out school days

• i will figure out a way to earn a stable living until graduation

• i will figure out a way to earn a stable living (and pay off student loans quickly) after graduation

• i will establish a ritual to help me wake up better/easier in the mornings

• i will begin regularly putting money in my savings account

• i will get my computer fixed

• i will get some old but sturdy suitcases for storage

• i will not buy anything i don't absolutely need or absolutely love
  

• i will travel to someplace I've never been before, out of state

Physical:

• i will take a daily multivitamin

• i will start running again