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26 before 26, 26 new places, bird pics, birds, BJJ, blackbird, blog post a week pls, blog series, bone marrow, camping, Chiyogami notebook, clothes making, competitions, cool people i know, cosy socks, curate has lost all meaning, dreams, employment, fashion, finnish, french, german, getting strong, goals, grappling, handstand, i got this maybe, imposter syndrome, jobs pls, judo, kitenge, knitting, language learning, life goals, lifting, macaron, nail varnish, nails, NaNoWriMo, novel, organised, outfits, papers, pc games, PhD, photography, russian, schedule, short stories, socks, songwriting, steam backlog, takedowns, tanzania, thesis, thesis writing, throws, tournaments, travel, video games, wardrobe, wrasslin
A yearly tradition for me, I am going to add one more goal to my list of goals that I never actually complete but strive towards. I think writing these goals helps me find some direction in my life. The goals are in no particular order in terms of importance.
1. Hit a sweet throw or takedown in BJJ competition. I really like judo and I want to hit a beautiful throw or combination of throws. I feel like it will make me feel strong.
Smug shrug for cute nails
2. Keep my nails maintained and well groomed. So far I’m managing but sometimes I get lazy and let them get chipped. This sort of stems from one of my 25 before 25 goals of using all my nail varnishes at least once.
Job hunttt
3. Find meaningful employment. It would be nice to find a job that I like and gives me meaning. My motivation would be much better. This has carried over from last year’s list.
allowing for endless ‘artfully arranged’ instagram photos
4. Make macarons. I didn’t manage to do it last year, but this year I think I should manage it. I’ve got almost a full year, after all.
hopefully with a pretty pattern like a field of flowers
5. Hand-bind a notebook with a Chiyogami cover. I love all the origami paper I have, and I want to use it to make myself a writing notebook, or maybe even a day planner. Making my own day planner might be rewarding, since I can choose what features it will have.
6. Make a song. It’s been a very long time since I wrote and recorded any music, and I would like to try making another song. Sometimes I catch myself humming new melodies in the car (though my voice is not in tune ever at all). I obviously won’t include any singing in this song, since I actually can’t sing myself.
Also I can make my BJJ pals proud of me while still looking vaguely (ok completely) like a 14 year old boy
7. Win a BJJ match. I’m currently 0-5 in BJJ, and while I don’t mind losing my matches because I feel that I learn from these losses, I really want to experience the feeling of having my hand held up in victory after a match.
Lifting desks like I lift the ladies wat
8. Start lifting again. I miss the feeling of strength and satisfaction after a proper weightlifting session.
How I feel when people invite me camping and then conveniently forget to take me
9. Go camping. I’ve never been camping and I want to try it, but I’ve never had the chance to really. I mean mum’s invited me to come yurting (is that what you call it?) with her, but that’s not like camping camping with a tent and stuff…
Preferably places with breakfast and in the Serengeti. (Yes, this is another safari picture that I have yet to write up sorry bro, but I haven’t even really written up Los Angeles either since I’m the worst)
10. Visit 26 new places/towns/cities. I borrowed this from this blog. It’s an interesting idea, and it’s totally do-able on a budget. It’s nice to visit new places and try out new things. The blog is also really good, and has some interesting posts as Jen (the author) pursues her goals). She’s given herself five years to do 30 before she turns 30, which might be what I do next year, since coming up with so many goals every year is getting a little tricky.
Ideally leading to a pretty design-ey closet like this one, though I doubt I’ll ever own so few clothes.
11. Cull and curate my wardrobe. This is probably the most obnoxious and onomatopoeic way of putting this. I feel like the word ‘curate’ has lost all meaning and become a buzzword. An-y-ways, I have too many clothes. I want to have fewer. I’d really love to be able to put together outfits quickly and have everything laid out and sorted out nicely. I’ve starting hanging some of my clothes, but I need to sort through and decide what to keep and what to give away (or put on consignment, though since most of my clothes are cheap (but well looked after!), they probably won’t fetch any money…).
Blackbird in South Wales
12. Find my camera and start taking more bird photos again. I really like taking photos of birds, and I currently can’t find my camera body (I can, however, find my telephoto lens). I think it’s in my large rucksack, but I can’t find that rucksack. It’s weird. I’m going to tidy up to try to find it.
I want to be so good that even when I’m half-conscious I still try to lock that choke
13. Improve my wrasslin’ and grappling. This is a little vaguer and less concrete than #1 and #7. I just want to get better and better and better and betterer. I really hope this will be my hobby for a long time.
And then flip over into a sweet handstand
14. Do a handstand. Reflecting on my plank goal last year, this might be somewhere to go from there. I’ve never done one, and my balance is crap, so we’ll see if I can do it.
Cosy
15. Knit myself some cosy socks. I know socks are hard to do, and that I’m crap at knitting, but I think having a difficult and almost unattainable goal is probably a major characteristic of my list (see ‘french braid’ and other goals from previous years).
A terrible fate of being super slow at finishing video games
16. Finish three games on my Steam account that I haven’t played. Thanks to all the sales, bundles, deals, and gifts from friends, I have a giant backlog on my Steam account. I want to finish three games, which I think is attainable (unlike #15 <_<).
Thesis writing encapsulated in one gif. It’s a little scary how accurate this is for me.
17. Get into the PhD program of my choice, working on a project that I have chosen and designed, though still taking into account the interests of my advisor, the department in question, and the funder. I want to do my PhD, but I want to work on something that I have decided solely by myself. I adjusted my MA project to my own interests but ultimately I did not feel 100% about it for a long time. It took me a little while to come to terms with it, and I did in the end. Going in with my own project I think will help me stay motivated.
I will profile the fellowship first, obviously, and sassily
18. Start the “Cool People I Know” (CPIK) blog series. I have had this idea for a long time, but I haven’t decided on the format. I want to profile people I know who are cool and rad and stuff. I always find everyone so fascinating, because everyone is almost their own universe unto themselves, and it’s almost impossible to understand or perceive the depth of feeling and thought that is within someone. But anyways, climbing out of that mire-ish train of thought, I think it would be fun to write this series.
From the (now closed) Hoof Café
19. Cook bone marrow. It’s been a while since I’ve eaten it, and I’ve never cooked it myself. Bones are fairly cheap, so I think this is eminently do-able. I’d like to have it with some nice bread too.
Planniiiiinnnnnggggg
20. Write a novel. I want to finish, and NaNoWriMo hasn’t really worked out for me (again) though I’ve got a lot more done this month (albeit only about 1/25 of what is necessary for NaNoWriMo). I have two main ideas. I might write the mystery novel first, since the fantasy-esque one I’ve been working on for NaNoWriMo has proven difficult.
yes yes yes yes yes papers papers papers papers
21. Publish two or three more papers. I think I can manage to get at least one or two from my thesis, and I have one or two I’m working on independently. I hope to finish these sooner rather than later.
Will it actually get done… maybe? <_< Please believe me
22. Make myself a dress with the kitenge I brought back from Tanzania. I love the pattern on the fabric and I want to make myself a shift dress with it.
There’s something inherently relaxing in language learning for me
23. Continue to improve my French, German, Russian, and Finnish by writing diaries, watching and listening to TV and radio, and reading texts. I have some books that I can start using.
That’s fascinating
24. Write short stories using writing prompts. I think I need some structure at first, as I found it difficult to get started on writing.
hi friends sorry if i randomly burst into tears or something like it’s not awkward whatevs
25. Post on this blog at least once a week. I tried to maintain this, though sometimes it’s difficult to keep writing when I feel down. I like blogging, so I want to try to keep to a sort of schedule.
My apparent feelings on schedules
26. Be more organised because I’m a bit all over the place pretty much all the time. I try to keep a schedule and a diary but I find it difficult. I don’t know why.
Well that’s the list and hopefully I manage more than half this year. It took me a while to come up with everything, though I did once and then WordPress deleted my draft somehow and I don’t know what happened there but whatevs everything’s ok.
that’s right wordpress
If you know me IRL (in-real-life) then please help me hold to these goals. Thank you in advance and stuff even if I’m a little salty when you remind me.
Em out
