32 Days In

 There are only 52 weeks in a year and so for some reason saying I only have 40-some weeks left is terrifying. Yet if I tell myself I am only 32 days in, it feels like there is more time to catch up. 

A few giant work things are now over, and life has calmed down enough to still be a frustrating schedule but manageable. I'm sleeping more. Actually I'm rearranging habits so that sleep is a priority. I still eat like a crazy person but the sleeping is making waking up and exercising a reality in a way that it just wasn't before. 

I like it. 

Goals:

Goals 2011/2012 Month 1 (of 9)

Goals 2011/2012

Month one down and eight to go. I walked into this entry thinking I'd done a sucky job this past month, but actually I feel good about what I did accomplish and confident that I can get back on track with what I didn't. We should keep lists not to punish ourselves but help us keep direction in a chaotic landscape.

Goals 2011/2012

Getting back to the roots of this blog, I'm setting up hopefully-doable goals for the next nine months.Year 30 did not start out smoothly and while I'm over the initial drop kick, my feelings about where I should put my energies (or you know, goals) is shifting. So this list may look different in not too long. But a girl needs to start somewhere.

Importance of Sleep

Z surprised me with a weekend in San Fran for my birthday. We emerged from the plane in Oakland and all the Oregonians let out a gasp at the 65 degrees and sunshine. Z and I actually had to buy sunscreen day II so that we wouldn't come back lobster style.

Part of his unofficial itinerary was a Planning Morning where I would hang out in the hotel room journal in hand and Figure Shit Out. (While he got champagne and bread for brunch.) I no longer do New Years resolutions. Not really. Any major resolutioning I do happens mid to late Februaries. This gets me out of the New Years malaise but throws me double into the birthday malaise. And this one could be a lot of malaise. This year it's 30.

Sitting down with a journal and 30 years to come to terms with wasn't a historical re-visitation. It was more of a lesson in perspective. Every day we are breathing we are learning more about ourselves. Whether or not we recognize it and log it is a totally separate issue but every day we bump into good and we bump into bad and we react emotionally to those experiences.

2011

A new year. Get ready set go. Z and I spent the New Year at the beach, and on the lovely drive we began talking resolutions. I do most of mine on my birthday, but New Years is still a good excuse to add one or two and reflect on the ones I've already got cooking. I listed off all of mine and then when I asked Z for his he gave me two. "And that's what I think I can do," he said, and he was finished. This is a wonderful example of how we operate differently. I throw a net out and see what I catch. He focuses his spear on one fish, eyes it, calculates and throws.

Feb 2011 Goals

Life has resumed enough to create goals again. *Ah* feels good. There is a lot of finishing that I need to do before I move on in some ways. Finish moving in. Finish vaulted video projects. Finish throwing out wedding stuff and writing thank you cards. This winter will be about making good on creative promises and closing the book before I begin to open more. Finishing is a really important part of the artist (and life) process that I have never been very good at. The next three months (until my birthday) I'm going to try really hard to strengthen that muscle. And maybe some others.

Small Victories

Work game plan. It's small but you know, a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a soda from 7-11. I don't even know what we're talking about.

OK. So:
Every day I save whatever I'm working on to the desk top. Pretty internet pictures. Work word documents. Notes to myself. Then, 20 minutes before the work day is over I clean my desktop. I put all of those random things I've been accessing and saving on the desktop, in their appropriate sub folders. And if I have extra time, I clean a little bit within those sub folders. Then I start the next day with a clean work surface.

The result? World peace. I'm at least 13% sure that's a possibility.

A new kind of goal list

So here I am, standing before my 29th year. Twenty. Nine. Holy mother of wow.

I'll get to an assessment of 28 here in a few days but first I wanted to put in some thought on this next year's goals. Twenty-eight seemed like a year of trying to get shit done. Cooking. Video projects. Music. Cards. All were activities. I kept weight off the list, and I kept most internal working off of it too. Twenty-nine may be a different tune.

Goals: 10 month review

We're creeping up into New Years, and it's hard for me not to jump on the resolution bandwagon. (I LOVE resolutions!) But if I did, it'd be like what I always do, quit 80% of the way through. So I may create some work goals for this 2010 but I've only got two more months to pull through here.

In keeping with last month's reorganization:

Big Goals:
15. write, shoot, edit 1 CCP review for YouTube.
Found the script I started writing a few months back. Cleaned it up a bit and sent it on to Z for review. Next steps are to plan images to go with it, shoot it with Z one weekend and edit it together. I wish my hate of seeing myself on camera was less than the want to be decent on camera. (Does that even make sense?)

Goals: 9 Month Review

It's going to be hard to not just kind of give up on the remainders. Maybe a better tactic is to just pick 1 of the remaining big ones and figure out how to do that one particular thing, and hit it hard Jan 1. The play is kicking my ass time management wise. I don't have the time or energy to work on any of these until after Dec 27th. I kind of feel like I'm dragging my body across the ground toward Dec 27th.

So last ditch goals (some I've shifted)

Big Goals:
15. write, shoot, edit 1 CCP review for YouTube.
I think I can do this. If this is the one I do than that wouldn't be terrible.

11. Design and do photoshoot.-
I think I could do this. It would have to be super simple and involve something like fabric flags.

Goals: 8 Month Review

So I did this as I usually do. And then I erased most of my comments on my own list and decided I needed to look at it from another perspective. I need to look at the list now as in not what I've done but what I need to do to get it done. B/c I'm almost 29. And I'd like to check some things off!

Just finish already!----------------------------------------------
6. Send 5 birthday cards- Friday Oct 23: Finish and send

15. write, shoot, edit 1 CCP review for YouTube. -Aug Hold
Friday: Find all notes and do a redraft. Make list of what need to find/photographs or otherwise. Shoot November 7th?

21. Call/write my Grandmother once a month.
Oct- Saw her in person. Should start November letter now.
Create list of topics to write about for the next few weeks.
November- San Fran stay: gather decent pics of the stay. Especially ones of Z and I, or just me.

Goal Review (7 months!)

Holy mother of something. I'm on month 7. I'm practically through month 8! No more caffeine today, OK?

Here we go!

1. Pay $1500 in school loans-
Sept- Still on schedule...yet behind on wedding savings. Oh yay! Something new to try and save for! (No more BUYING caffeine in $5 cups of awesome! Except for tomorrow morning when you're getting to a max airport station at 5:45 AM <---really AM!) 2. Create at least $500 cushion in bank account
Sept- I read somewhere that using your credit card is safer from an identity theft standpoint. That said, it is LESS SAFE from a I-spend-way-too-much and (breath) a credit-card-makes-me-feel-invincible.
Aug- I am not on schedule but I'm now putting at least $200 away into a savings account. It's safer that way. I have access when I need it but I won't get week in a Michaels and lose the cushion.

Goal Review (6 months!)

So here we are. Six months until I turn 29. The big Half Way. On that melodrama-inspired note, let's get started.

1. Pay $1500 in school loans-
Aug- I'm on schedule. I will pay that bad boy (amt) off.
July- Now I'm at the $500 mark. That said I'm basically staying on a budget and everything else is going into a wedding. OK, not true, but maybe should be true.

2. Create at least $500 cushion in bank account
Aug- I am not on schedule but I'm now putting at least $200 away into a savings account. It's safer that way. I have access when I need it but I won't get week in a Michaels and lose the coushin.
July- I have like a whopping $1000 in my bank acct. But this is b/c Paypal charged me a bunch of money to pay Zach and so he declined the payment. I now owe him oooh, $1000 for rent and plane tickets.

3. Attain 2 octave singing scale
Aug- I'm finally back to full voice capacity. I'm taking off singing goals. I have enough others. This seems ill defined and arbitary. (Just started learning New York state of Mind last week. I like it.)
July- Being sick has decimated singing. I got over June's head cold from hell. Now I've got something else. Gah.


4. (I'm cutting this b/c it's been completed.) (Musical audition)

5. Finish writing 1 song with accompaniment. (Guitar and/or piano)-
Aug- Huge strides here. Wrote a third song ("ALoveSong") but have heard nothing back from Paul on it. I guess that means he's not as excited as the last one. Paul and I worked on "Your Everything" and we have a track layed down. Now it's back in my court to perfect vocals and figure out a (G*damn) bridge. I will work on this while I'm driving all over the valley this week. Score!
July- Sent off a song to a local acquaintance. He's an actual musician. He replied and the next move is mine. Needs to set a bit. Hard to work on music when I can't sing.
june-Been working on this. Slow and steady. Getting close on a couple. Close doesn't actually mean close but I'm making progress on a couple. Maybe have found a way to get help.

6. Send 5 birthday cards- ON TIME
Aug- I totally failed with Nikola's card. Oh I made one...but it was ugly. So it didn't get sent. Still plan on making her one. Emily too. (Hello Emily!)
July- I'm done with this. Wait, Nikola. Hmmmm.....OK, so I'm almost done with this!
(May 9 change of goal.)
(June 24 change- 5 is enough. Cross the sucker off your list but still try and send people cards.)

7. Send cards for one holiday-
Aug- I'm soooo excited about Halloween cards. I can start working on them in September!!!
July- Take THAT Halloween. Today I unearthed (and I do mean unearthed) those suckers. Oct 1 I will start writing. Oct 20th I will send them on their merry ways. !!!
June-I've been trying to find the Halloween cards I started last year. They might be gone. This royally sucks b/c they were a lot of work. Also I really liked them. *sigh*

8. Pursue art/design/craft/collage: figure out specifics and how to gauge-
Aug- CUT! Or change it to wedding goals. Hmmmm.....
July- I say screw this. I don't know how to gauge.
June-Still unsure of what this means.

9. Get through 5 drafts of 3 shorts total (includes at least 3 people writing comments on each draft.)-
Aug- No progress
July- no progress anywhere.
June-(These names won't make sense to you probably but are for my records:)
Zach's Taco Shack- Draft 1 complete (3 people have viewed and commented) How can I design a set for this?
Phone Calls- Still rough drafting
Car Faith- Found draft an dam working.
Happy Birthday- rough Draft 1.
Cranes- Story board draft 1 complete.

June:
You're Paranoid short: had 3 people review. This would be filmable. We'd have to mock police lights and find a uniform.

10. Learn Flash
Aug- Hold!
July- After maybe having the book for 3 months I finally returned it to the library. Flash learn'n is on hold.
June-I'm on chapter 8 or 18 or something. I should try and make like Tuesday after frisbee my Flash night.

11. Design and do photoshoot.-
July- This is a winter project.
June-Gathering ideas for this.

12. Direct music video.-
Aug- I have an idea I'm really excited about for "Your Everything" but it's an outside idea. Maybe I need to switch it to an inside one and plan for winter.
July- My test for the video I discussed below was a total fail. Not sure how to proceed. Or if I should proceed. Or really much of anything.
June-In May I think I decided that I was going to do a Flash animation music video for this but now I think I might try and do something from a song a man here in town wrote. I don't know how to categorize it. It's not pop. It's not folk.

13. Shoot a short.
Aug- I may cut this. I should try and do this OR the music video. I should probably try and do this in that the music video is suuuper complex. BUT I did come up with a super short short idea and it's filmable inside. It needs music. It's very heavily dependent on music.
July: Need to do something more than just write those first drafts.
June: Need to write those drafts first.
May: Need to write those drafts first.


14. Write, create, shoot, edit super short stop motion-
Aug- Take THAT number 14!!! Building and shooting complete! Rough draft edit COMPLETE! Need to figure out a plan for all the sound effects I'll need. (!!!)
July- This weekend was suppose to be the weekend I did this. It's now been moved to August.
June-Working on this as much as time allows. I'm figuring out today which weekend I can pull aside and finish building and start shooting. This may not be done until August or September.

15. write, shoot, edit 1 CCP review for YouTube. -
Aug- Hold!
July- no progress
June: Drafted a version. Need to redraft the words and begin building the set. Memorize as well I suppose.
May: I've got a quarter of this entire process finished. I watched the video and did artwork. This is on back burner until #16 is over.


16. (Officially finished )Edit CCP vid under craftcat brand.


17. Learn to cook 5 vegan entrees.
Aug- hold!
July-nada
Cooked two recipes last week. One was excellent. One was not excellent. I need to cook again but probably won't happen until next week.
May: Banana empanadas
June: nothing to add. I've not cooked in a looong time. Although I made some really excellent non vegan sopes recently. Delicious!

18. No bed piles.
Aug- *cough*
July- the bed piles were removed today.
June-The bed piles are back.

19. Learn congressional committee chairs and cabinet members.
Aug- Still mostly doing cheat sheets.
July- still trucking. Missing some of the cheat sheets but doing around 3 a week.
June-OK, so instead I'm changing this to read the Cheat Sheet from Daily Beast every day. It's not much, but it's something. Have I mentioned I hate politics?

20. (Removed from list in June)

21. Call/write my Grandmother once a month.
Aug- Big time fail.
July- Dad sent her the proposal video. That should so count, right?
June- This is sort of verging on fail as well. *sigh*

22. Thank You cards for birthday presents.
Aug- GAH!!!!
July- GAH!!!
June-GAH!

23. (removed from list)

24. (May 9th add) Write rough draft 1 of a feature screenplay.
Aug- no progress, but maybe I'll work on this this weekend.
July: no progress
June: No progress.
May: I've got one in mind and have started outlining in my mind but nothing more than a story plot is committed yet to paper.

Goals (5 month review)

Wow. So next month it'll be six months. *sigh*

(Warning: typos abound.)

1. Pay $1500 in school loans-
July- Now I'm at the $500 mark. That said I'm basically staying on a budget and everything else is going into a wedding. OK, not true, but maybe should be true.
June- I think I'm at the $400 mark. Waaay behind schedule. This isn't going to happen. I'll get about $1000 tops. Should I cross it off completely or just keep admitting failure?

2. Create at least $500 cushion in bank account
July- I have like a whopping $1000 in my bank acct. But this is b/c Paypal charged me a bunch of money to pay Zach and so he declined the payment. I now owe him oooh, $1000 for rent and plane tickets.
June-It's not in my bank account but it's in checks I've written to myself. (They pull it out of the account and send you the check.) Although, I'm going to Portland this weekend and might cave and cash one.

3. Attain 2 octave singing scale
July- Being sick has decimated singing. I got over June's head cold from hell. Now I've got something else. Gah.
June-Singing is going reeeally well. Accept the current head cold from hell, I've been making a ton of progress. I love Jazz. I can't express this enough. Current songs:
Black Coffee
God Bless the Child
Angel Eyes
Just starting: After Your Gone

4. (I'm cutting this b/c it's been completed.) (Musical audition)

5. Finish writing 1 song with accompaniment. (Guitar and/or piano)-
July- Sent off a song to a local acquaintance. He's an actual musician. He replied and the next move is mine. Needs to set a bit. Hard to work on music when I can't sing.
june-Been working on this. Slow and steady. Getting close on a couple. Close doesn't actually mean close but I'm making progress on a couple. Maybe have found a way to get help.

6. Send 5 birthday cards- ON TIME
July- I'm done with this. Wait, Nikola. Hmmmm.....OK, so I'm almost done with this!
(May 9 change of goal.)
(June 24 change- 5 is enough. Cross the sucker off your list but still try and send people cards.)

7. Send cards for one holiday-
July- Take THAT Halloween. Today I unearthed (and I do mean unearthed) those suckers. Oct 1 I will start writing. Oct 20th I will send them on their merry ways. !!!
June-I've been trying to find the Halloween cards I started last year. They might be gone. This royally sucks b/c they were a lot of work. Also I really liked them. *sigh*

8. Pursue art/design/craft/collage: figure out specifics and how to gauge-
July- I say screw this. I don't know how to gauge.
June-Still unsure of what this means.

9. Get through 5 drafts of 3 shorts total (includes at least 3 people writing comments on each draft.)-
July- no progress anywhere.
June-(These names won't make sense to you probably but are for my records:)
Zach's Taco Shack- Draft 1 complete (3 people have viewed and commented) How can I design a set for this?
Phone Calls- Still rough drafting
Car Faith- Found draft an dam working.
Happy Birthday- rough Draft 1.
Cranes- Story board draft 1 complete.

June:
You're Paranoid short: had 3 people review. This would be filmable. We'd have to mock police lights and find a uniform.

10. Learn Flash
July- After maybe having the book for 3 months I finally returned it to the library. Flash learn'n is on hold.
June-I'm on chapter 8 or 18 or something. I should try and make like Tuesday after frisbee my Flash night.

11. Design and do photoshoot.-
July- This is a winter project.
June-Gathering ideas for this.

12. Direct music video.-
July- My test for the video I discussed below was a total fail. Not sure how to proceed. Or if I should proceed. Or really much of anything.
June-In May I think I decided that I was going to do a Flash animation music video for this but now I think I might try and do something from a song a man here in town wrote. I don't know how to categorize it. It's not pop. It's not folk.

13. Shoot a short.
July: Need to do something more than just write those first drafts.
June: Need to write those drafts first.
May: Need to write those drafts first.


14. Write, create, shoot, edit super short stop motion-
July- This weekend was suppose to be the weekend I did this. It's now been moved to August.
June-Working on this as much as time allows. I'm figuring out today which weekend I can pull aside and finish building and start shooting. This may not be done until August or September.

15. write, shoot, edit 1 CCP review for YouTube. -
July- no progress
June: Drafted a version. Need to redraft the words and begin building the set. Memorize as well I suppose.
May: I've got a quarter of this entire process finished. I watched the video and did artwork. This is on back burner until #16 is over.


16. (Officially finished )Edit CCP vid under craftcat brand.


17. Learn to cook 5 vegan entrees.
July-nada
Cooked two recipes last week. One was excellent. One was not excellent. I need to cook again but probably won't happen until next week.
May: Banana empanadas
June: nothing to add. I've not cooked in a looong time. Although I made some really excellent non vegan sopes recently. Delicious!

18. No bed piles.
July- the bed piles were removed today.
June-The bed piles are back.

19. Learn congressional committee chairs and cabinet members.
July- still trucking. Missing some of the cheat sheets but doing around 3 a week.
June-OK, so instead I'm changing this to read the Cheat Sheet from Daily Beast every day. It's not much, but it's something. Have I mentioned I hate politics?

20. (Removed from list in June)

21. Call/write my Grandmother once a month.
July- Dad sent her the proposal video. That should so count, right?
June- This is sort of verging on fail as well. *sigh*

22. Thank You cards for birthday presents.
July- GAH!!!
June-GAH!

23. (removed from list)

24. (May 9th add) Write rough draft 1 of a feature screenplay.
July: no progress
June: No progress.
May: I've got one in mind and have started outlining in my mind but nothing more than a story plot is committed yet to paper.

Normally this inspires me to get me moving and I can't decide whether this time it's inspiring or annoying. Really I think I need to reassess which of these I actually want to accomplish in the next 7 months and then create some sort of strategy.

Goals (4 month review)

I'm slowly taking a lot of these off the list. Is that against the rules? Are there rules?

1. Pay $1500 in school loans-
I think I'm at the $400 mark. Waaay behind schedule. This isn't going to happen. I'll get about $1000 tops. Should I cross it off completely or just keep admitting failure?

2. Create at least $500 cushion in bank account
It's not in my bank account but it's in checks I've written to myself. (They pull it out of the account and send you the check.) Although, I'm going to Portland this weekend and might cave and cash one.

3. Attain 2 octave singing scale
Singing is going reeeally well. Accept the current head cold from hell, I've been making a ton of progress. I love Jazz. I can't express this enough. Current songs:
Black Coffee
God Bless the Child
Angel Eyes
Just starting: After Your Gone

4. (I'm cutting this b/c it's been completed.) (Musical audition)

5. Finish writing 1 song with accompaniment. (Guitar and/or piano)-
Been working on this. Slow and steady. Getting close on a couple. Close doesn't actually mean close but I'm making progress on a couple. Maybe have found a way to get help.

6. Send 5 birthday cards- ON TIME
(May 9 change of goal.)
(June 24 change- 5 is enough. Cross the sucker off your list but still try and send people cards.)

7. Send cards for one holiday-
I've been trying to find the Halloween cards I started last year. They might be gone. This royally sucks b/c they were a lot of work. Also I really liked them. *sigh*

8. Pursue art/design/craft/collage: figure out specifics and how to gauge-
Still unsure of what this means.

9. Get through 5 drafts of 3 shorts total (includes at least 3 people writing comments on each draft.)-
(These names won't make sense to you probably but are for my records:)
Zach's Taco Shack- Draft 1 complete (3 people have viewed and commented) How can I design a set for this?
Phone Calls- Still rough drafting
Car Faith- Found draft an dam working.
Happy Birthday- rough Draft 1.
Cranes- Story board draft 1 complete.

June:
You're Paranoid short: had 3 people review. This would be filmable. We'd have to mock police lights and find a uniform.

10. Learn Flash
I'm on chapter 8 or 18 or something. I should try and make like Tuesday after frisbee my Flash night.

11. Design and do photoshoot.-
Gathering ideas for this.

12. Direct music video.-
In May I think I decided that I was going to do a Flash animation music video for this but now I think I might try and do something from a song a man here in town wrote. I don't know how to categorize it. It's not pop. It's not folk.

13. Shoot a short.
May: Need to write those drafts first.
June: Need to write those drafts first.


14. Write, create, shoot, edit super short stop motion-
Working on this as much as time allows. I'm figuring out today which weekend I can pull aside and finish building and start shooting. This may not be done until August or September.

15. write, shoot, edit 1 CCP review for YouTube. -
May: I've got a quarter of this entire process finished. I watched the video and did artwork. This is on back burner until #16 is over.
June: Drafted a version. Need to redraft the words and begin building the set. Memorize as well I suppose.

16. Edit CCP vid under craftcat brand.
May: I'm working on it. This could be finished this coming week. Oh dear Christ that would be nice. I'm sooooooo close!
June: This has been completed!!!!! http://www.ccpvideos.com/r/dancik

17. Learn to cook 5 vegan entrees.
Cooked two recipes last week. One was excellent. One was not excellent. I need to cook again but probably won't happen until next week.
May: Banana empanadas
June: nothing to add. I've not cooked in a looong time. Although I made some really excellent non vegan sopes recently. Delicious!

18. No bed piles.
The bed piles are back.

19. Learn congressional committee chairs and cabinet members.
OK, so instead I'm changing this to read the Cheat Sheet from Daily Beast every day. It's not much, but it's something. Have I mentioned I hate politics?

20. Take on an entrepreneurial project.
May: Hahahaha. I failed her. Such a fail.
June: I'm taking this off the list.

21. Call/write my Grandmother once a month.
This is sort of verging on fail as well. *sigh*

22. Thank You cards for birthday presents. - GAH!

23. 200 lines of calligraphy a day (this isn't much considering a lowercase "a" has 3.) (*added March 5)
(May- I'm officially taking this off the list :)

24. (May 9th add) Write rough draft 1 of a feature screenplay.
May: I've got one in mind and have started outlining in my mind but nothing more than a story plot is committed yet to paper.
June: No progress.

Last month it was hard finishing my editing project. This month is finding time for stop motion. I've got a ton of great stuff planned this summer it's just making it very very busy. But no complaints. Just gotta find a free weekend and plug in "animation."

I always wonder if I should post this list, but it's proving really useful for me to have it in this one place where it's easy for me to review and reassess. And every time while I'm updating it I have a sinking feeling of not making much progress. But by the end I'm reinvigorated and ready to go!

Goal Review (2.5 month)

It's that time again. And actually was a few weeks ago but dropped the ball. Or I was traveling. I don't really know. But its a Saturday and I'm avoiding working on #16 so this will be good inspiration to get me motivated.

1. Pay $1500 in school loans-
Thus far fail. Fail fail.

2. Create at least $500 cushion in bank account
I am working on this. I've paid off NYC. I'm up to date on all my bills. Those credits cards have a positive balance (seriously how do I get that back?) I''m putting money away into my IRA every month. This other type of savings involves a major shift in my thinking so it's a gradual process.

3. Attain 2 octave singing scale
I need to get motivated about singing again. I have been very lax here even though I know I'm close to a break through. The problem is I feel self conscious singing at home. I'm worried I'm annoying the neighbors. This creates a major (major) block.

4. (I'm cutting this b/c it's been completed.)

5. Finish writing 1 song with accompaniment. (Guitar and/or piano)-
Haven't even given it a second though

6. Send 5 birthday cards- ON TIME
I did this...if I count a little wiggle room. So I'm changing it to 10. (May 9 change of goal.)

7. Send cards for one holiday-
Eh. This will be Halloween or something summery.

8. Pursue art/design/craft/collage: figure out specifics and how to gauge-
Still not sure what this means. Need to create a plan. I've sure been doing crafty stuff of late I've just been terrible about posting about it.

9. Get through 5 drafts of 3 shorts total (includes at least 3 people writing comments on each draft.)-
(These names won't make sense to you probably but are for my records:)
Zach's Taco Shack- Draft 1 complete (3 people have viewed and commented)
Phone Calls- Still rough drafting
Car Faith- Lost my rough draft. No idea which notebook it's in.
Happy Birthday- rough Draft 1.
Cranes- Story board draft 1 complete.

10. Learn Flash
Got the book again. Need to add this back into my plans.

11. Design and do photoshoot.-
Gathering ideas for this.

12. Direct music video.-
No progress. That's fine. Actually what I'm going to do I think is do a Flash music video for a commercial artist. Ideally I'd do it for someone who would actually, you know, give me the rights to use their music but this will do for now. I'm OK with it. Plus it's a good tie in with learn Flash.

13. Shoot a short.
Need to write those drafts first.


14. Write, create, shoot, edit super short stop motion- Barney is half built and waiting on my shelf. Have a ton to do to prep for this but it's where it needs to be on the back burner until #16 is the hell out of the way.

15. write, shoot, edit 1 CCP review for YouTube. - I've got a quarter of this entire process finished. I watched the video and did artwork. This is on back burner until #16 is over.

16. Edit CCP vid under craftcat brand. I'm working on it. This could be finished this coming week. Oh dear Christ that would be nice. I'm sooooooo close!

17. Learn to cook 5 vegan entrees.
Cooked two recipes last week. One was excellent. One was not excellent. I need to cook again but probably won't happen until next week.

18. No bed piles.
The bed piles are back. Need to do this tonight. I'm having some issues with my closet but that's not for a public entry.

19. Learn congressional committee chairs and cabinet members.
OK, so instead I'm changing this to read the Cheat Sheet from Daily Beast every day. It's not much, but it's something. Have I mentioned I hate politics?

20. Take on an entrepreneurial project.
Hahahaha. I failed her. Such a fail.

21. Call/write my Grandmother once a month.
This is sort of verging on fail as well. *sigh*

22. Thank You cards for birthday presents. - GAH!

23. 200 lines of calligraphy a day (this isn't much considering a lowercase "a" has 3.) (*added March 5)
(I'm officially taking this off the list :)

24. (May 9th add) Write rough draft 1 of a feature screenplay.
I've got one in mind and have started outlining in my mind but nothing more than a story plot is committed yet to paper.

OK! This is actually totally inspiring! I'm ready to finish my art instruction video project. Today I'm doing DVD menu art and switching some stuff in the main time line. The main barrier at this point is writing the stupid copy for the voice over and back of the box. It's sooo hard!

Year 28 Goals Reviewed (month 1)

It's been only a little over a month since my birthday. It feels as if more time has passed. Am I sure I'm not a month off? This is still March, right?

I'll have to trust that it is still indeed March and take a look at the goals a little over a month out.

1. Pay $1500 in school loans- I'm waaaaay behind on this and kind of forgot about it. I suppose that's why I'm trying to check in once a month.

2. Create at least $500 cushion in bank account
Right now I have it but it's more like savings for the NYC trip.

3. Attain 2 octave singing scale
Picture me driving down the road with a foot and a half long pink Disney Princess electronic melody keyboard next me testing my range. The thing is a mound of Disney pink and yellow with gobs of swirls and flowers. But it cost under 20 bucks and I can keep it at work to practice voice. AND I proved on the way to the gym that I can sing 3 Fs. Low.Med.High. I can vocalize words on the low F. Not so sure if I could sing words on the high F but I'll continue to work on this.

4. Audition for a musical - Cross this baby off!

5. Finish writing 1 song with accompaniment. (Guitar and/or piano)- Have been really lax on this. Haven't even been thinking about writing music. I have, however, been thinking I'd love to learn to play Jazz on the piano. How cool would it be to be able to accompany yourself while singing. (That might be a rhetorical question in that I can't sing on key in front of people. *cough*)

6. Send 5 birthday cards- ON TIME
Can I count my Dad's? I didn't send it to him but he got it by his birthday. This so far has been the best of the bunch. I normally make a ton of cards every year but rarely do I focus on birthdays, which is a really (REALLY) fun theme. And really though this has encouraged me to not just make them but actually send them. That is the real kicker most times. THAT is where I get hung up. Yay little number 6.

7. Send cards for one holiday- ON TIME- Was going to be Easter but that was overly optimistic. I might start finishing Halloween cards this summer and have them ready for fall.

8. Pursue art/design/craft/collage: figure out specifics and how to gauge- Haven't yet considered how to guage.

9. Get through 5 drafts of 3 shorts total (includes at least 3 people writing comments on each draft.)- I've got initial drafts for the first two and nothing for the third. When I hit draft 2 I might start sending them out for critiques. Prepare yourselves.

10. Learn Flash
I'm on Chapter 3 or something of the book. I'm still maneuvering basic principles but this program is going to be great for me.

11. Design and do photoshoot.- Not even considering this yet, although I've warned my model(s) and began gathering inspiration from random stuff on the web.

12. Direct music video.- No progress. That's fine

13. Shoot a short. Well if I get my act together on #9 we can progress here. Have, at least, established three minis for this summer to shoot.


14. Write, create, shoot, edit super short stop motion- Barney is half built and waiting on my shelf. Have a ton to do to prep for this but it's where it needs to be on the back burner until #16 is the hell out of the way.

15. write, shoot, edit 1 CCP review for YouTube. - I've got a quarter of this entire process finished. I watched the video and did artwork. This is on backburner until #16 and Chicago are over.

16. Edit CCP vid under craftcat brand. I'm working on it and there is a SERIOUS deadline looming. I'll be so happy when this is finished.

17. Learn to cook 5 vegan entrees. I LOVE CHEESE!

18. No bed piles. So far so mostly good. I've even had a clean night stand for 2 days. Tonight I'll clean off the receits that have started to gather there and will be set to go.

19. Learn congressional committee chairs and cabinet members. I hate politics. I keep forgetting I want to do this. Hmmm....

20. Take on an entrepreneurial project. (I have a super simple one in mind but not ready to go into details.) Not even in stage 1 yet.

21. Call/write my Grandmother once a month. Yep. I've done well with this thus far. Must keep it going.

22. Thank You cards for birthday presents. - GAH!

23. 200 lines of calligraphy a day (this isn't much considering a lowercase "a" has 3.) (*added March 5) I bailed on this some 5 days after I wrote it down. Basically I want to learn calligraphy. I don't know if I'll practice everyday...although to be fair, that's how you learn something.

This was good for me to do, and I think I'll try to once a month.
Review over!

Maybe this is why I can't spell.

One of my goals (#14?) is to learn committee chairs and the cabinet. I'm starting on the cabinet. Here are the word games I've create to help me remember. Don't judge! Some are a wee bit rusty but they might work:

Yes I've heard (HRD- Hillary Rodham Clinton) that Clinton is Sec of State. Hillary Clinton. Sec of State.
He doesn't know where the money went either. Geithner. Timothy Geithner. Sec of Treasury
Stop them at the Gates. Robert Gates. Sec of Defense.
He's gonna hold'em accountable. Eric Holder. Attorney General
He's got A's inside all his consonants. Ken Salazer. Sec of Interior
A sack of potatoes. Tom Vilsack. Sec of Ag.
I have no idea. Hilda Solis. Sec of Labor.
S)ecretary) (of) H(ousing) A(and) (urban) D(evelopement), SHA...D. Shaun Donovan.
Ha-Choo! Wind turbines. Steven Chu. Sec of Energy.
He's going to Flunk'em. Duncan. Arne Duncan Sec of Education.
No idea. Eric Shinseki. Sec of Vetrans Affairs.
We don't want'em. Napolitano. (slant rhyme?) Janet Napolitano. Sec of Homeland Security.

Haha. OK, these sounded a wee bit silly when I said them to Zach. Now they sound REALLY silly.

Year28 Goals

Over the last few years I've eased out of New Years Resolutions and eased in to birthday resolutions. Here's the official/non official list for Year28.

1. Pay $1500 in school loans
2. Create at least $500 cushion in bank account
3. Attain 2 octave singing scale
4. Audition for a musical - (already did this but it was on my Year28 goal's list before I did it so I'm keeping it! Oh also, it was a disaster. But I still did it so WIN!)
5. Finish writing 1 song with accompaniment. (Guitar and piano)
6. Send 5 birthday cards- ON TIME
7. Send cards for one holiday- ON TIME
8. Pursue art/design/craft/collage: figure out specifics and how to gauge
9. Get through 5 drafts of 3 shorts total (includes at least 3 people writing comments on each draft.)
10. Learn Flash
11. Design and do photoshoot.
12. Direct music video.
13. Shoot a short
14. Write, create, shoot, edit super short stop motion
15. write, shoot, edit 1 CCP review for YouTube
16. Edit CCP vid under craftcat brand
17. Learn to cook 5 vegan entrees.
18. No bed piles
19. Learn congressional committee chairs and cabinet members
20. Take on an entrepreneurial project. (I have a super simple one in mind but not ready to go into details.)
21. Call/write my Grandmother once a month
22. Thank You cards for birthday presents
23. 200 lines of calligraphy a day (this isn't much considering a lowercase "a" has 3.) (*added March 5)