Birthday Goal Post
May 2, 2008 | Navel Gazing
Crazily enough, I’ve been blogging since 2005. It doesn’t really seem like it, but when I sit down to do this birthday goal setting post, I realize that this is the third time. Man! Blogging is so cool. I feel like life would just go by in a busy blur without it. Before the internets, I always wrote in journals, but in fits and starts, and there were of course, no comments. My private journal-scribbling did little to contribute to keeping in touch with friends and family, either.
Anyway, let’s see what I said last year and see how I did on the goals…
1. Keep my job. Learn more stuff. Feel like a badass geek by this time next year.
Well… sort of. Shortly after I wrote that I would find out that the group I was working for no longer wanted to make any more websites and they got rid of me just like that. There was a period of unemployment in there… but then I got another geek job and it seems to be going well. I wouldn’t say that I’m a bad ass geek by any means, working in IT only serves to show you how LITTLE you know, but I’m definitely less afraid of it. I’m constantly confronted with scary things I don’t know how to do, but the more times I have to figure something out, the better I get at guessing at the process. And I don’t cry at work anymore, which is a HUGE improvement.
2. Continue doing yoga 3-4 times a week, and keep reaping the rewards.
Hmm. Well, I kept that up almost the whole year. I’ll give myself half credit. I still go about once a week, sometimes twice, but my stoopid commute makes it hard. I’ve had to switch to different, less time consuming, and less scheduled forms of exercise. When I have to fit exercise in to the day outside of the 12 hours I’m working or driving, it’s hard to make it to class. I end up going to the Y or walking the dog instead.
3. Make Paris Happen. (SB and I are trying to cook up a way to work remotely for a month…)
Paris didn’t happen. Working remotely for a month might have worked with the job I had at the time, but not with the one I have now. We did manage to travel a goodly amount though, so again half credit, I think. We went to Belize, Hong Kong, and twice to New York City.
4. Maybe…um…STOP taking the pill everyday at some point in the next year? (after achieving a certian level of geek badassery)
Yes, well, hmm. I did stop taking the pill. But guess what? Despite what you may assume, after doing everything in your power to NOT get pregnant your whole life, once you start having sex for the purpose of procreation, you don’t get instantly knocked up. Shocking, but true.
5. Schmractice Shpanish and the stinking guitar.
Yeah. My spanish is still fading away, and my pretty pretty guitar still sits unloved and dusty in the corner. Oh well.
Now then. What sorts of self improvement shall I take on this year…
1. Continue learning to be a proper geek. Specifically, not just learn complicated stuff at work, but try to apply these skills to things I like to do, like design and whatnot. I’d like to get over my fear of Photoshop, and also, perhaps tackle redesigning this blog.
2. Figure out how to keep this job or get a different one in IT, but improve my quality of life. Do I need to spell this one out? GET OUT OF THE FREAKING CAR. Get back some of those 20 hours a week, 32.5 days a year I spend sitting in traffic.
3. Keep up the fitness regime. Achieving number 2 will greatly improve the odds of this.
4. Complete a couple of fitness events. SB and I plan to do the ALS DoubleDay, an 85mile bikeride in July, (Dude. We need to start training. Kristina? When do you start kicking my ass in gear?) and also… three friends and I plan to walk the Portland Marathon in October. There I said it.
5. Get pregnant. Have easy pregnancy. Birth beautiful child. Be perfect mother. That should be easy.
6. And what kind of goal list would this be if I didn’t put Spanish and the guitar on here? Maybe this is the year!
If you’re still with me after all that navel-gazing, thanks so much. That’s what blogs are for, right?
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May 2nd, 2008 at 1:09 pm, peaches Says:
Good for you with your goals!! Mere minutes before I read this entry I was digging in my planner, just trying to plan my weekend, and I found a sheet of paper with Goals for 2008 written prettily across the top…and nothing else!!! I don’t know when I’ll get it through my thick skull that taking 5, 10, 30 minutes every now again to do some planning, reflecting, and goal-setting would make life so much easier!!! Without it, I feel I present a facade of shit-togetherness to the world. :^)
Related note: I read a novel a few months back with a very powerful female figure in it who was so because she made a to-do list every day and only put things on it that she knew could be accomplished. She was evil, but that idea kind of stuck with me….
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:36 pm, Swistle Says:
It was a surprise to me, too, not getting pregnant instantly. Especially the third time, when I was all Efficiency McChartersons and could see EXACTLY when things were happening—and yet still not pregnant WTF??
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:01 pm, Edward Says:
I will totally ride bikes with ya’ll. I need to train back up as well. Woe to an exercise-fallow Winter.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:28 pm, Sarah Says:
I’m so excited that ya’ll will be riding in the ALS DoubleDay! I will be there in Spirit…
I will also make sure I continue to keep you updated with exotic Texas sites… err… sights.
Wish you all the best on the 2008 goals!!
Sarah
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:45 pm, tacomachickadee Says:
Re: Despite what you may assume, after doing everything in your power to NOT get pregnant your whole life, once you start having sex for the purpose of procreation, you don’t get instantly knocked up.
Practice makes perfect? *fingers crossed for ya!*
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:13 pm, dahli Says:
oh, jenny. I always hear you voice so clearly when I read your blog, but this one really made me miss you. like miss you so so so much.
xoxo
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:53 pm, Noreen Says:
This is a great post! I love it. It makes me want to look back at my goals and start working on them. Such an inspiration.
I am so excited abou your plans. I laughed so hard at parts (especially #5), and got really thrilled for you (the #2-3 double-whammy and again #5). I can’t wait to see how all your great plans come together!
And, Happy Happy Birthday!
May 5th, 2008 at 7:21 pm, hliv Says:
You are my goal guru!
May 6th, 2008 at 9:00 pm, Jenny Says:
peaches: Evil or genius? I am the queen of to-do lists. My reason is that if I don’t right it down, “remember to do such and such” will cycle in an unending loop through my head, lest I forget.
Swistle: I know, right? Why the mystery?
Ed: Word. Let’s do it!
Sarah: Thanks, love! You’re not coming homr for the ride? Sad!
chickadee: Thanks!
dahli: Awww. You are sweet. I miss you all the time!
Noreen: Thanks, my dear! I hope I can make it all look as easy as you do, while remaining smokin’ hot, once it all finally happens.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:01 pm, Jenny Says:
hliv: oops miss you. Thanks, friend. Can’t wait for you to be here so we can work out together!
May 18th, 2008 at 3:06 pm, Jenny M Says:
Jenny: I hear you on the why-not-instant-pregnant post. But if you still have a need/desire, I used a great accupuncturist in Tac. And that book about charting fertility signs, that helped (name totally escapes now).
Or go rub yourself against Alicia, because her man just had to look at her with lust in his heart for her to conceive.
I found myself surrounded by people who got pregnant at the drop of a hat when I was trying, rawther irritating, really.So if you need a sympathetic ear….
Jenny Myers
December 29th, 2008 at 9:18 pm, Zesty Enterprise » What day is this? Says:
[...] I make resolutions on my birthday. This is not the time of year for goal setting. [...]
October 19th, 2009 at 11:42 am, Zesty Enterprise » My Jesus Year Says:
[...] was a great day! I do plan to do my annual Birthday Goal Post, hopefully tomorrow. Posted by Jenny @ 12:00 [...]