October 15, 2010

• long term goals

  Since I was looking at my resolutions for 2010 and grading myself, I decided to take a look at some of my goals from previous years to see if I have made more progress on any of them. Current updates in bracketed italics.

  2006 Aspirations:

  In general… happiness and stability. A bit greedy, perhaps. — [I think I've actually got this one covered for now.]

  2007 Aspirations:
  

  • Travel more (OK, I know people think I already travel a lot, but I want to get as much in as possible, especially since I’m thinking of leaving within a year to go back to the real world) — [I did pretty well on this until I left Europe. From 2007 until now, I've taken around 50 trips, of varying levels of exoticness.]
  • More specifically, travel to more countries I haven’t been to — [In 2007, I went to eight new countries; in 2008, I went to four new countries, and in 2010, I went to two new countries.]
  • Find more things to enjoy — [Not sure if I've found more things to enjoy. I probably indulge in the things I enjoy more consciously, though, like junk food, TV, sleeping in, spending an entire day at home without putting on pants or leaving the house, reading a lot...]
  • Enjoy things more — [I've been working on this one a lot this year, actually, and it's largely chronicled here.]
  • Figure out what I want to do after I’m done here — [I figured it out and I'm doing it as I type.]

  2008 Aspirations, both Low and High (this won’t all get accomplished in one year):

  • Learn how to finger whistle — [Alas, not yet.]
  • Learn Swahili (because how cool and useless would that be??) — [The reason for this was partly to know a language that few people speak out in the real world, mostly so I could talk about people without them knowing about it. After much delay, last week I finally checked out a DVD and book to learn sign language, so that's a good first step. Now I just need to follow through and also get a few other people to learn it, or I'll be signing to myself.]
  • Learn how to dive (not scuba dive, but the opposite-of-bellyflop dive, because no, I never learned) — [Nope.]
  • Learn how to write with my toes – [Nope.]
  • Learn how to blow bubble rings — [Done.]
  • Get a job that’s a worthy follow-up to this one (please let this happen soon…) — [Did this one, too.]
  • See the Northern Lights — [Not yet. I don't see this happening any time soon because I hate cold weather and long nights.]
  • Visit my 50th country (currently at 43) — [Almost! I think I'm at 49 right now. Living in the U.S. again makes this a slow process.]
  • Log my 200th dive (currently at about 180) — [I think I'm somewhere between 225 and 250 now.]

  2009 Aspirations

  • Sanity and stability — mental, financial, and everything else ending in -al — [I don't think I'll ever have all of these totally under control, but I'm doing relatively well right now.]
  • Find a place and buy it (gasp!) — [I consciously decided not to do this because I realized that I'm just not the buying type.]
  • Plan a trip and take it (oh, how I miss my former life full of crazy travels) — [Done. In 2009 and 2010, among other, more mundane travels, I also managed to get to Vegas and Hawaii twice, Palau and Yap, Z-town twice, Spain, New York, and Boston]
  • Move from adequacy to proficiency at my job — [I think I've mostly met this one.]

  • 6:11 pm
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