Change has to begin somewhere
Jan. 7th, 2008 11:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
batskeetsThis is FREAKING AWESOME: A car that runs on compressed air. Let me just reiterate: This is a CAR. That runs on AIR.
When we talk about coming up with creative solutions to the energy and global warming problem, THIS is the kind of thing that needs to happen. Why is America sitting on its collective ass, waiting for Europe to come up with this kind of thing? We may not be leading the world in math and science, but surely we have the resources and ingenuity to bring about these changes somewhere within our borders.
In other news, HAY PEEPS: Today begins diet. The first two weeks are going to be quite restrictive, so don't show your love by making me any heaping piles of sugar-y, starch-laden deliciousness, mmkay? :)
And, on that subject, I have goals, goals, goals. I'm not calling them resolutions, because it seems like people always make the same ones and rarely actually accomplish them, so it just becomes a reason to hate yourself. So, rather than telling myself that I MUST accomplish all of these things, I'll say that I want to make some big strides in these areas.
Of course, there is lots more, but a lot of those will come naturally, once these goals start working their mojo. Woo!
Until next time!
When we talk about coming up with creative solutions to the energy and global warming problem, THIS is the kind of thing that needs to happen. Why is America sitting on its collective ass, waiting for Europe to come up with this kind of thing? We may not be leading the world in math and science, but surely we have the resources and ingenuity to bring about these changes somewhere within our borders.
In other news, HAY PEEPS: Today begins diet. The first two weeks are going to be quite restrictive, so don't show your love by making me any heaping piles of sugar-y, starch-laden deliciousness, mmkay? :)
And, on that subject, I have goals, goals, goals. I'm not calling them resolutions, because it seems like people always make the same ones and rarely actually accomplish them, so it just becomes a reason to hate yourself. So, rather than telling myself that I MUST accomplish all of these things, I'll say that I want to make some big strides in these areas.
GET MORE SLEEP:
Y'all know that I hate going to bed at night, and I've always been bad about staying up late when I have to get up early the next morning. I've done pretty well in recent years, and I got my nightly average consistently around 7+ hrs., but I've read a few things which suggest that bumping it up to 8 could do a lot for my overall health. So, I'm going to get that extra hour and make it 8 hrs/night.
GOING ON A DIET:
I've been resisting it for a long time, but I think I may just have to man-up and go on a friggin' diet. See, my dad lost a ton of weight, and now he seems to be eating pretty normally and maintaining it. I take after him a lot as far as how my body handles food, weight, etc., so his success in that area sort of reinforced the idea that I could do it that way, too.
Last time I kick-started a good, solid loss was when I went on South Beach Diet, and that plus wushu helped me lose 50 lbs. So, I'm doing that again, to start things off. This will take off the last bit of weight I want to lose, and I already know that I can maintain a loss, so as much as I hate dieting, I think can resign myself to what will be a temporary period of diet suffering. ;)
RUNNING IN THE MORNING:
I actually like working out in the mornings, before I do anything else; it wakes you up and tends to make the whole day go better. I just loathe getting up early, heh. I'd have to get to bed earlier, because shorting myself on sleep in order to work out would be silly, but ultimately, it would mean more exercise, better mood throughout the day, and not feeling like I'm spending all my free time after work at the gym. :) I'm thinking 2-3 days/week, to start.
WUSHU, YOGA, CROSS-TRAINING, ETC.:
More of this! :) I'll probably ask about joining the demo team at wushu to get more practice time, or just do it on my own. I really started slacking on yoga towards the end of 2007, so I want to get back on that. And the morning running, of course. Weight-training is a possibility, and I'm also looking into a "2 free weeks of Taekwondo lessons" offer I saw at the coffee shop the other day. (yes, Phil would probably call me a traitor for doing TKD, LOL)
DOING MORE THINGS WITH PEOPLE:
The idea is to hunt down more instances where I can be social with people. Strangers, certainly, but also with friends I already have. A lot of my shying away from that can be chalked up to me being moody and tired way too often, and when you suck at socialization, you sure as hell don't want to do it when you're not firing on all cylinders. But, hopefully the health-related stuff will help mitigate those factors!
Once we're past that point, I must also work on:
--Eye contact: I don't make much of it, and when I do, I think it kinda wigs people out. ^^;
--Short attention span: I have trouble staying focused, esp. when I can't hear someone well
--Getting stupid brain to work better: I think I'm generally more slow and contemplative when it comes to talking, recalling details, etc., so the discussion often moves faster than my thoughts do, and I miss the conversational boat because I can't catch up.
WORK/JOB:
I've thought a lot about what I do and don't like about my work, and really, I enjoy creative design quite a bit. I don't even mind development, to an extent, but I think that's probably better for me as a hobby than as a job. However, it seems that the most consistently boring and frustrating parts of my work have been in the educational field. Jobs at UO, educational products at my previous job, much of what I'm doing at current job... yecch. I've basically concluded that I need to Get Out Of Educational Design/Development, because the work hasn't been fulfilling or engaging for me.
I want to be out of this job by the end of 2008. I'll likely have to replace it with some other steady job, but as long as it's an upward move in some capacity--either requiring less of my time, and/or being less boring--then I can live with that.
1337 DESIGN BUSINESS:
I talked some with Travis at the NYE party about how it would be awesome to go into web design/dev business, and it got me all fired up about having my own firm again. After talking to several people in recent months, and learning that they already have or are building up awesome web skills, I'm thinking that I could assemble a decent team, just based on people I know here in Portland.
Of course, getting the work is the issue, and all I know right now is that I'm awfully short on time and energy to be hunting around for it, so I'm in need of strategies to get work, or at minimum, to make more time for trying to get work. (even if you get only a tiny percentage of the contracts you apply for, you can get by if you apply for enough contracts, heh)
MONEY/INVESTING:
Saving up more is the name of the game. It's been difficult because of things like moving expenses, paying for two belt tests and a spear, the lease changeover when Thomas left, etc. But, now things are actually lining up in such a way that (gasp!) I can start socking away some good money. Booyah! Extra funds will go towards a house down-payment, future business ventures, and other generally Good Things to fall back on if the money situation ever gets dire again.
Y'all know that I hate going to bed at night, and I've always been bad about staying up late when I have to get up early the next morning. I've done pretty well in recent years, and I got my nightly average consistently around 7+ hrs., but I've read a few things which suggest that bumping it up to 8 could do a lot for my overall health. So, I'm going to get that extra hour and make it 8 hrs/night.
GOING ON A DIET:
I've been resisting it for a long time, but I think I may just have to man-up and go on a friggin' diet. See, my dad lost a ton of weight, and now he seems to be eating pretty normally and maintaining it. I take after him a lot as far as how my body handles food, weight, etc., so his success in that area sort of reinforced the idea that I could do it that way, too.
Last time I kick-started a good, solid loss was when I went on South Beach Diet, and that plus wushu helped me lose 50 lbs. So, I'm doing that again, to start things off. This will take off the last bit of weight I want to lose, and I already know that I can maintain a loss, so as much as I hate dieting, I think can resign myself to what will be a temporary period of diet suffering. ;)
RUNNING IN THE MORNING:
I actually like working out in the mornings, before I do anything else; it wakes you up and tends to make the whole day go better. I just loathe getting up early, heh. I'd have to get to bed earlier, because shorting myself on sleep in order to work out would be silly, but ultimately, it would mean more exercise, better mood throughout the day, and not feeling like I'm spending all my free time after work at the gym. :) I'm thinking 2-3 days/week, to start.
WUSHU, YOGA, CROSS-TRAINING, ETC.:
More of this! :) I'll probably ask about joining the demo team at wushu to get more practice time, or just do it on my own. I really started slacking on yoga towards the end of 2007, so I want to get back on that. And the morning running, of course. Weight-training is a possibility, and I'm also looking into a "2 free weeks of Taekwondo lessons" offer I saw at the coffee shop the other day. (yes, Phil would probably call me a traitor for doing TKD, LOL)
DOING MORE THINGS WITH PEOPLE:
The idea is to hunt down more instances where I can be social with people. Strangers, certainly, but also with friends I already have. A lot of my shying away from that can be chalked up to me being moody and tired way too often, and when you suck at socialization, you sure as hell don't want to do it when you're not firing on all cylinders. But, hopefully the health-related stuff will help mitigate those factors!
Once we're past that point, I must also work on:
--Eye contact: I don't make much of it, and when I do, I think it kinda wigs people out. ^^;
--Short attention span: I have trouble staying focused, esp. when I can't hear someone well
--Getting stupid brain to work better: I think I'm generally more slow and contemplative when it comes to talking, recalling details, etc., so the discussion often moves faster than my thoughts do, and I miss the conversational boat because I can't catch up.
WORK/JOB:
I've thought a lot about what I do and don't like about my work, and really, I enjoy creative design quite a bit. I don't even mind development, to an extent, but I think that's probably better for me as a hobby than as a job. However, it seems that the most consistently boring and frustrating parts of my work have been in the educational field. Jobs at UO, educational products at my previous job, much of what I'm doing at current job... yecch. I've basically concluded that I need to Get Out Of Educational Design/Development, because the work hasn't been fulfilling or engaging for me.
I want to be out of this job by the end of 2008. I'll likely have to replace it with some other steady job, but as long as it's an upward move in some capacity--either requiring less of my time, and/or being less boring--then I can live with that.
1337 DESIGN BUSINESS:
I talked some with Travis at the NYE party about how it would be awesome to go into web design/dev business, and it got me all fired up about having my own firm again. After talking to several people in recent months, and learning that they already have or are building up awesome web skills, I'm thinking that I could assemble a decent team, just based on people I know here in Portland.
Of course, getting the work is the issue, and all I know right now is that I'm awfully short on time and energy to be hunting around for it, so I'm in need of strategies to get work, or at minimum, to make more time for trying to get work. (even if you get only a tiny percentage of the contracts you apply for, you can get by if you apply for enough contracts, heh)
MONEY/INVESTING:
Saving up more is the name of the game. It's been difficult because of things like moving expenses, paying for two belt tests and a spear, the lease changeover when Thomas left, etc. But, now things are actually lining up in such a way that (gasp!) I can start socking away some good money. Booyah! Extra funds will go towards a house down-payment, future business ventures, and other generally Good Things to fall back on if the money situation ever gets dire again.
Of course, there is lots more, but a lot of those will come naturally, once these goals start working their mojo. Woo!
Until next time!
