2018 Goals

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2018 Goals: Wrap Up

January 1st, 2019 by pladd

Lol what even was this year. I’m pretty sick, so the only goals I accomplished are ones I was able to do from my bed.

1. Hike Every Trail in Umstead: 43%

Oh yeah, I did nothing on this between now and the last time we talked. I am WAY out of shape and would not trust myself to make it out of the woods. Honestly, I get dizzy on light walks with Olivia now.

This is all I did

2. Learn to Juggle: 5%
I’m giving myself a few points for actually buying juggling balls and watching some tutorials. But I can’t juggle. I want to be a person who can juggle, but not enough to actually put in any effort. This was the stretch goal.

3. Review every book I read on GoodReads: 100%

All 177 of them

This is definitely a habit now, so I hope I will continue it!

4. Send everyone in my penpal club a birthday postcard: 58%
Yeah, I gave up after 7 months and 184 postcards. Respectable, still.

5. Give to a different charity once a month: 67%
Literally forgot I was supposed to be doing this. Sorry, charities. It is back to haphazard, spur of the moment donations for me.

6. Cook or discard everything in my recipe binder: 100%
Despite being pretty incapable of eating most foods, I somehow managed to complete this goal? Probably because I threw away A LOT of recipes, but the binder is cleaned up, and that’s what matters.

7. Make Pageapalooza a Success: 100%
Wow, the secret to padding these things is making a goal that will end before the halfway point in the year.

Total: 68%

More than half! I’m kind of shocked. Sure, I only advanced 1 percentage point from the last update in August, but considering I spent MOST of those 4 months lying on the floor in pain, it’s surprising I managed to do anything else at all. It’s been a shitty year, friends.

Previously: 2/3 of the way there
Next: 2019 goals -or- Aim Low

Tagged: 2018 goals

Posted in 2018 Goals |

2018 Goals: 2/3 of the Way There???

August 26th, 2018 by pladd

I didn’t make a post halfway through the year about my goals like I normally do, but time is a meaningless human construct, so I’m making one now.

1. Hike every trail in Umstead Park: 43%

I haven’t done much this summer since it’s been so hot, but I plan on getting back into hiking in a big way once it cools down a little.

I also hiked about 5 miles of trails I’d previously hiked since my last update, including this spot

2. Learn to juggle: 10%
Literally have not practiced this since the last time I updated. It’s a shame because I really would like to be a person who knows how to juggle, but not sure I’m going to achieve it at my current rate.

3. Review every book I read on GoodReads: 100%
I’ve gotten into a routine with this now, so I’m pretty confident this is a thing I will not only complete with 100% this year, but continue even after 2018. I’ve read and reviewed 129 books so far this year, average star rating: 3.29.

4. Send everyone in my penpal club a birthday postcard: 58%
I gave this up after July. Even with the restrictions I put on it, it was too much to keep track of and too much for postage. Overall I sent out 184 postcards, though!

5. Give to a different charity every month: 67%
This one I have kept up with, but I have also been counting a few things that maybe weren’t official 501C3s and just me helping out people. But whatever, I’m following THE SPIRIT of the goal if not the letter. Some notable charities I have given to in the past few months are: Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary, who have THE BEST facebook page of happy senior dogs living their lives, and RUFF animal rescue, where we got Olivia!

Can’t put a price on that

6. Cook or discard everything in my recipe binder: 91%
I have tossed a lot of these that sounded good but that in reality I’m never going to make. Like homemade pita bread, for instance. Why? When I live so close to Neomonde Mediterranean Bakery? It’s good to be realistic about these things.

7. Make Pageapalooza a success!: 100%!
It rained for most of the day, but that actually meant it wasn’t as hot. We still had a cornhole tournament, trivia contest, too much food, and a rad cake.

Publix Bakery knows what’s up

Plus awesome t-shirts!

Shout out to James Fox for the awesome design!

The t-shirts were definitely the most successful. The shift I’m on wears them every Thursday for page solidarity.

Total: 67%

Kind of surprising considering how many I’ve already given up on!

Previously: Quarter Quell

Tagged: 2018 goals, books, hiking, James Fox, olivia

Posted in 2018 Goals |

2018 Goals: Quarter Quell

April 3rd, 2018 by pladd

2018 is already 1/4 over!! I feel like I’ve been doing great on my goals so far, but let’s check the spreadsheet to make sure.

1. Hike Every Trail in Umstead State Park: 29.58%
So far this year I’ve hiked about 10 of the 33.8 miles of trails:

Here’s some proof:

A secret pond on the Loblolly trail!

Me waiting for an annoying hiking family group to pass by

2. Learn to juggle: 20%
Finding practice time on this where Olivia isn’t lurking around ready to snatch up anything I drop is a problem. I’m up to 2 balls, but I need to increase my consistency with them before I try 3.

3. Review every book I read on GoodReads: 100%

This one was difficult to get into the habit of at first, but now I’ve got the hang of it. I’ve read 47 books so far this year (average star rating: 3.2) and reviewed them all with at least one sentence. My favorite so far is probably Frances Hardinge’s A Face Like Glass:

4. Send everyone in my penpal club a birthday postcard: 25% (with reservations)
Soooooo… I’ve already kind of given up on this one. I’m doing a modified version of my original goal, because holy crap, guys, international stamps are $1.15 each even for postcards. So in March I started sending birthday postcards to all the US members of my penpal club and SOME international members, mostly those who live in countries I’ve never sent mail to (sorry, Canada and the UK). There are more than 500 members of this club, so I honestly don’t know what I was thinking with this one. Here’s how many I’ve sent so far:

I’ve gotten a grand total of ONE response! A postcard thanking me from Sweden! So that’s pretty cool.

5. Give to a different charity every month: 25%
I’ve been over thinking this one, of course, but I have kept up with it! In January I gave to Heart to Heart International, specifically their fund earmarked for Puerto Rico hurricane relief. In February I gave twice as much as I intended to NARAL because their donate page is really confusing. Whatever, it’s a cause I believe in, but also get some better web design, please. In March I donated to RAINN the same day I finished The Nowhere Girls because the realness of the rape and rape culture in that book made me so angry.

6. Cook or discard everything in my recipe binder: 66%
This number is so high because I have discarded like 20 recipes. But that’s allowed–the point is to decide one way or the other. I’ve also cooked a lot of them! But I’ve taken approximately 0 pictures.

7. Make Pageapalooza a success!: 0%
Of course I’ve been working on this one, but I’m not giving myself any points for it until I actually do it.

Total: 38%!

Previously: 2018 Goals
Next: 2/3 of the way

Posted in 2018 Goals |

January 4th, 2018 by pladd

It’s my favorite time of year! Time to start some new goals!

1. Hike every trail in Umstead State Park

This park is a 5 minute drive from my house, and has about 34 miles of trails. I got some hiking boots for Christmas, and Olivia and I are ready to rock! … Once the temperature gets above freezing.

2. Learn to Juggle

I’ve always wanted to be able to juggle. Maybe this is the year my dreams come true!

3. Review every book I read on GoodReads

I’m meticulous about recording every book I read on GoodReads, to better be able to answer the question “What is the absolute worst book I read this year?”. But I almost always only give them a star rating and move on. This year I’m going to TRY to write actual sentences explaining my rating. I’ve read 2 books so far, and both have seemed like a struggle, so this is the one I’m most worried about completing.

4. Send everyone in my penpal club a birthday postcard
There are 500 people in my penpal club, so this is kind of an insane goal! Not everyone has their address available though, so I’ll probs be sending out less than that. I’ve already mailed 2 batches for people whose birthdays are in the first two weeks of January!

5. Give to a different charity every month
I give to charity fairly frequently, but it’s pretty haphazard and happens mainly when the opportunity is shoved in my face or something pisses me off. I want to be more diligent about researching which non-profits address the issues I care about, especially in my local community. Although, not going to lie, January is probably going to be all about helping Puerto Rico because WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK why is everyone ignoring how messed up a part of our country still is

6. Cook or discard everything in my recipe binder
I keep a binder of recipes I pull out of magazines and such. I need to either cook them and decide they’re good/bad or admit that I’m never going to cook them and throw them out. Just the prospect of this goal made me examine the binder more closely, so right now I only have 61 more recipes to cook. A disproportionate number of them maay be cupcakes. I’ve already started this one, actually. Yesterday I made everything bagel-seasoned scones:

With oats!

7. Make Pageapalooza a success!
This is a party I’m planning for all the library pages. Shirts! Games! Food! Peanut butter pretzels! I’m hoping it’ll be a fun time.

So there it is. I’ll update you in April.

Previously: 2017 goals

Tagged: 2018 goals

Posted in 2018 Goals |