Goals for the Year

I've never been one for Making New Year's Resolutions. For one, I don't have any vices that I need to quit, and for two, I'm not the type who wants to make sweeping changes, because inevitably it won't work.

Last year, I was asked to come up with three resolutions for a school thing. I came up with: take a photography class; travel to a new country; and knit something new (like a new garment that I hadn't tried before). Of course, two of those require money, and since I spent more than half the year either unemployed or underemployed, they didn't happen. As for the knitting thing, I was lazy. I'm one of the crafty-in-spurts types, so whatever.

One year in high school, I made myself a list of goals for the gymnastics season. After each meet, I would check off what I accomplished. By the end of the season, I had accomplished almost all of the goals! I felt that I had worked hard and focused, and I was proud.

So I am in favor of goals.

Then, last week, I ended up trolling some amazing photography blogs, and I was inspired but also bummed that I don't have that much photography work. One of them had a list of "100 things in 1001 days." That was really inspiring and interesting to read.

After that crazy shit of this past year, I decided that there are some things I want to work on in 2010. I wrote down a list in a cute little pocket notebook to help me keep notes and thoughts. Here they are!

1. Go to the dentist twice. (I haven't been in three years. So as soon as I get my insurance info, I will make an appointment. )

2. Buy at least one new lens. (I have some money to help from Christmas. I think I will go for the 10-20mm wide angle!)

3. Save up for a D300. (I know. Lots of money. I bought the D80 in December 2008, so I figure two years is a good time to spend with it before upgrading. And maybe closer to the end of the year, the price will go down a teeny bit more. Even used it's a little more than $1,000!)

4. Travel to a new country. (Check! Last week we bought tickets for Costa Rica for spring break!!!!! WOOOOOO!!!! Also, my brand new passport arrived, fresh for another decade of country hopping!)

5. Do a paid photo shoot. (I would love to do some engagement sessions.)

6. Write on blog at least once a week. (There's always so much in my head, but I'm usually so tired and lazy at the end of the day.)

7. Update photo blog at least once a month. (I would love to post the link here, but I'm a fan of Anonymity. Send your email address if you'd like to see my work!)

8. Exercise at least once a week, at home or at the gym. (That's a pretty easy goal. One I've already exceeded for now--I went twice last week and this morning too!)

9. Get a new job. (Not teaching. Yeah.)

10. Attend 3 Meetups (for any group). (I would like to be more social and make more friends. Also this would help improve the work/life balance the right direction.)

11. Shoot a wedding (as first or second shooter). (I want to get better and take more photos!)

12. Take a class (photography, Spanish, etc). (Time is a problem here, with my stupid late hours at school. But I really want to do this.)

13. Visit my Grandma. (Haven't seen her in a few years.)

14. Attend graduations. (Check! Bought tickets home for June! Yay!)

15. Write a real letter at least once a month.

16. Decorate bedroom (frame van Gogh print, new dresser, paint?).

17. Donate clothes/books once per season. (On New Year's Day, I finally donated the FOUR large bags of clothes that have been cluttering my closet and car for the last five months.)

18. Buy a new computer. (I bought this one in the spring of 2006, and the memory is crap. I upgraded it once, but not much compared to today's standards, and I have a second hard drive that's more than half full with tens of thousands of photos and music files. I don't think it's exaggeration to say that I will need a new one.)

19. Knit or crochet a garment. I have been completely obsessed with crochet for the past month. I've made three hats this week. Last night I started a granny square. I want to buy some yarn specifically to make a vest as a start, since it's only two sides.

20. Some kind of financial goal. (I wasn't able to save any money for most of 2009, as I didn't have a real income. I would love to max out my Roth IRA contribution, but $5,000 is a lot in one year. I was thinking about getting my savings account up, with a goal of $10,000. I have about half that now, so it would be a two-year goal at best. I already bumped up my monthly contributions to both savings and IRA. We'll see how the job thing develops.)

21. More freelance photography. (That's not exactly up to me, but I have so enjoyed going out to shoot new things and then seeing my work published in a real newspaper! I will contact the staff there and let them know I'm more available. I can definitely do a shoot every other weekend or so.)

22. Do not leave any dishes out or in the sink; wash everything before going to bed. (I get lazy and feel bad about being a bad roommate; the boy never leaves dishes out.)

I hope to revisit these occasionally and evaluate my progress. It's my hope that making them public will help hold me accountable, so think good thoughts for me. :)