Year of our Lord

Two Thousand Eleven.

I usually don't make New Year's resolutions because the middle of the winter does not feel like an appropriate turning point. I make resolutions in the Spring, like the citizens of the Roman Republic. If they were into that kind of a thing.

This time the Kalends of Janus felt like a turning point. Seasons change and so do I. As a matter of public record, and for the purposes of auditing, I have made four New Year's Resolutions fit to publish.

1. Hold down a job for +6 months (&or go back to school).
2. Move out.
3. Get serious about building a nascent art career. (&Or go back to school.)
4. Read the ~52 unfinished/unread books I'm sitting on.

Notes:

One and three are likely. Four is doable. Two is a dream, but it's good to dream.

How many turning points can you have before you end up back where you started?

WHAT UP

So it's been like a month since I wrote here. A lot has happened. My computer was in the shop, I got a cold, didn't get a job (including being rejected at Blockbuster- fuck that.), saw some old friends, saw some new ones, had my wisdom teeth removed, ran out of money, ran out of clippings and beat GTA IV.

Yeah, lots of accomplishments.

I've read some bio and done some work around the house for this project thing and uh... made my fish tank look really cool. No, really, it looks really cool. I have Leopard again and I'm slowly knocking things off my 'Computer To-Do list" which isn't very exciting. I read the preface to the Critique of Pure Reason and maybe I'll post my notes later. I haven't played much guitar. Elsewise, I haven't accomplished much and since I have nothing interesting to say (I wrote down some ideas for interesting things to say) I'll keep this short and end it.

OUT.

The week in review.

Before I begin. Posts like this are why I do not share this blog with many, nor do I currently mind that it has a low to non-existent readership. These posts are more for my own organizational good than anything else. However, they are helpful in that they get me to write something, which, I hope, will lead to me writing other things of substance.

This blog is turning into a bizarre to-do list with a self-therapy session overtone.

Anyways, here's the run down for that list of goals I posted last Sunday.

• I didn't write a post that night, but who cares.
  
• Also didn't write that letter until later in the week. It was good timing.
  
• I don't think I got any guitar in this week. No no, I played once for like 20 minutes. I think what I need to do is go through the mess of papers from lessons and organize them (regardless of teacher) by difficulty, then go though them spending a day or two on each section. This will help bring me up to the level I should be at, without having me jump into it right away. I'd also like to retry Mitch's improv approach with better backing songs.
  
• My room was cleaned in stages. It's clean right now, decorations are probably going to find their right place eventually. I spent a lot of time in there today, and realized that I've always tried to make my room an extension of my personality, and my room at home is finally achieving that with a mature design sense. Or I've just accumulated a lot of cool shit over the years and now have an idea of how to put it together.
  
• I haven't read a Bio chapter yet, ostensibly because I 'don't have the syllabus yet.' Whatever, I should just read the chapter on viruses. Viruses are awesome, and I have so many questions about them. To make this work I need to get a notebook (Or binder?), cook something really good then sit down with Bio at the kitchen plastic table and chow down while I study. I also still might have an adderall pill from Matt.
  
• I did one better than not apply at enough places, I didn't apply at any. Big fail. I need to go out and hunt every day after Tuesday when my Mom gets home. And I need to just go into Blockbuster and see what's up. I could do that, but I'd want some daytime shifts.
  
• Sometime that week I rode home from Jack's on my bike at 5 AM and did some reading that wasn't Lem, which was fine.
  
• I couldn't find a way to have blogger publish my del.ici.ous feed. But I didn't search with the keyword 'publish.' Hmmm...
  
• I actually wouldn't be surprised if there isn't some kind of a way to make a computer publish information to a blog. It's not something I'm going to look deeply into doing for some time.
  
• I didn't read any Kant. Maybe before I dive into Bio.
  

My plan this week is to focus on the paper. I've got some appointments to make too. I did that math, and if I bust my chops, I can make the money to buy the things I want this summer. Doing that AND having spending money- to do that I need a job. The summer's social life is steady, which is good. I'm always more introspective in summer, but I can't let that be to the detriment of my social life. Also, buy a bike lock. My mom said she'd pay for it. My bike goal this week? Well, I need to start riding around with a bag, carrying stuff. But that's not hard enough. Maybe bike part of the way to the lake? (take the bus the rest?) Hopefully an opportunity will present itself. I need to get to the apple store at some point and look into getting that keyboard fixed. I should try calling first. I should also call Kilpsch and see about that bent-ass pre-amp input.

That's my plan, yup.

And The Results Are In...

These are the goals I had.

-Apply for a job at AT LEAST ten places
-Put air in my bike tires
-Clean my room (aka, unpack finally so I can stop dressing myself out of garbage bags)
-Totally fucking beat Ape Escape. (N.B: this goal is not important)
-Read a chapter of Biology
-Play some guitar

-3. Real win, champ.
-Yep. 'Bout to go ride.
-Yessir. Well, the first wave. The second is just some books, clothes and posters.
-Nope. Pretty glad I didn't. On the last level. It turns out that game is actually boring and games like GTA IV are not.
-No. I don't know what chapters to use, which is a bad excuse.
-No. Grr.

How can I improve my results? Stagger the goals.

TONITE:

Write a blog entry not just about the 'dealing with my stuff' side of my life.

BY MONDAY:

Write a letter to Rose.

BY TUESDAY:

Play some guitar.
Finish cleaning my room.

By THURSDAY:

Have read a Bio chapter
Have called everywhere by me and asked if they were hiring, and have applied at the ones that are. Also check back in with the places I did apply.

SOMETIME THIS WEEK:

Ride to Jack's house on my bike.
Read some Lem.

And that's the run down.

See Me In A Year, You!

I went to see the Audiologist today, since when people talk to me I can't hear them very well.

My hearing is normal, but it's borderline. Literally, there's a line on the chart that demarcates the split between 'normal' hearing and shitty hearing. My hearing is pretty much on that line.

The diagnosis? Come back in a year. It's possible my hearing has always been that way, or it could be diminishing. We'll find out in a year.

Stuff like that makes me think about where I'll be in a year, and more mysteriously, who I'll be in a year. If nothing changes drastically, next year I'll be enjoying the last 'summer break' of my youth. Will I have an internship, or even a job? Will I know what I want to pursue by then? Will I still have the same friends, be in the same relationship? What will I look like, how will I feel about myself? How much money will I have?

More directly, how will my hearing be?

These are questions I can't answer. (But I can guess: no, yes, probably not, yes, hopefully, handsome, good, still not enough, the same.) A year is a good benchmark to see change and growth in oneself, but it's hard to prognosticate that far in the future. Who knows, by June 2009 we might have a Black President. Or perhaps by June 2009 the terrorists will have won.* Who can say? Not me. I can set some goals for the end of the week, though:

-Apply for a job at AT LEAST ten places
-Put air in my bike tires
-Clean my room (aka, unpack finally so I can stop dressing myself out of garbage bags)
-Totally fucking beat Ape Escape. (N.B: this goal is not important)
-Read a chapter of Biology
-Play some guitar

That's all. That's it. There's nothing else.
*Terrorism always wins.