1. Read 1 script per month
I want to write more scripts, and I'm a big believer that you should read the types of things you want to write. And I know there are thousands (TENS OF THOUSANDS) of amazing scripts out there that I just haven't gotten to yet. I want to have read 12 new scripts by the time I'm 32. They can be TV episodes, screenplays, plays, etc.
IN PROGRESS (10/12)
September
X-Files: Season 3, Episode 3 "D.P.O." by Howard Gordon
The Nerd by Larry Shue
October
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Simon Stephens (adapted from the book by Mark Haddon)
Trifles by Susan Glaspell
The Stronger by August Strindberg
November
Okay, so I didn't quite read one entire script this month. But it was because I was busy memorizing one, writing another, and workshopping a dozen more. So I'm gonna still count that, because I was surrounded by scripts all month.
December
Uhhhhh...
January
To Kill A Mockingbird by Christopher Sergel, based on the novel by Harper Lee
February
Uhhhhh...
March
Uhhhhh...
April
Punxsutawney by Larry West
The Heart of Robin Hood by David Farr
May
Uhhhhh...
June
A Bundle of Trouble by Ruth Hale
July
Uhhhhh...
August
The Red Bike by Caridad Svitch
September
2. Write a spec script
I have zero intention of publishing or sending out said spec script. I consider it purely an exercise in writing. It's a good way to start--it's kind of like fan fiction. The characters, world, and format already exist...I'm just creating a different story. I'm bowling with the gutter bumpers up, so to speak. I'm thinking "The X-Files"? I'll keep you posted.
DONE! A few times, actually. Painting of an anatomical heart, a big pink jellyfish, an abstract painting about wonder.
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As of Friday, September 9, 2016:
1 complete
2 modified
2 partially complete
5 incomplete
2 modified
2 partially complete
5 incomplete
1. Create and distribute a zine!
Remember zines? I've been digging the idea of mixed media lately, and as a child of the 80s/90s, this seems like something I should do.
INCOMPLETE.
I did the brainstorming. I did the research. I did the planning. I just didn't quite get to the execution of this project.
2. Non-paper Poetry Project (at least ten poems)
A month ago or so, I was sitting in a restaurant with a few friends, and a poem came to mind, so I scribbled it onto a napkin. The imperfection of it appealed to me...the unfinished nature of it, and how it captured both the poem and the setting in which I wrote it. So here's my idea: write at least 10 poems on anything but regular paper--napkins, cardboard, trash, cloth, etc. Then take a picture of it and at the end, put all the pictures together in a collection.
PARTIALLY COMPLETE!
Poems complete: 5
This was a fun project. I'll do a separate blog post with the results.
3. Reduce BMI (body mass index) from 23.2 to 19.7 (goal weight = 115…down 20 pounds from current weight of 135)
My current BMI is totally in the healthy range. So is my goal BMI. So why bother with this goal? My reasoning is this: I spend a lot more time on camera nowadays, and it really does add ten pounds. Also, most of the work out goals I've had are things like "complete this many things." And after I complete them, I stop working out. I think it will help me to have an end goal...to make my goal "results-based." PLUS, this goal combines both exercise and diet.
MODIFIED. I made decent progress on this one:
Oct 2: 23.1% BMI/135 lbs
Oct 10: 22.7% BMI/132.8 lbs
Oct 15: 22.5% BMI/131.2 lbs
Oct 31: 22% BMI/128 lbs
Nov 12: 21.7% BMI/126.8 lbs
Apr 12: 21.1% BMI/123 lbs
My FitBit was life-changing. And I learned that I CAN do things like diet and exercise and get a certain result. But at a certain point, the goal weight just became...less important to me. I'm still interested in living a healthier lifestyle, and the things I learned during this time were really valuable. My biggest lesson was that I CAN change my lifestyle. But I decided not to follow through all the way down to 115 lbs. Partly because I got mad about the fact that I felt like I HAD to in order to get jobs, and partly because I didn't want to have to buy new clothes.
4. Run a 10-minute mile, 3 separate times
I know I just talked about these kinds of goals, but look, this is sort of PART of the above goal. And I want to do it. I know a 10-minute mile seems absurdly slow. But I'm absurdly slow.
PARTIALLY COMPLETE.
The last recorded time I have is from Nov 12 - 14:57. And I really started to love running. (Between my FitBit and the Zombies Run 5K app, running became REALLY fun.) And I think I'd still like to reach this goal someday. I just didn't make it this year.
DONE! Month of October.
As of October 10th, I'm still going strong.
October 15th, half-way there! The cravings are still strong, but I'm still on the wagon.
November 1st: BOOM! MADE IT! (Now time to celebrate with some soda!)
6. Go on 5 new hikes
Every time I go hiking, I think to myself, "I've got to do this more often." And now that I live in a place where I'm surrounded by HUNDREDS of hiking opportunities, I'm going to hike more often.
PARTIALLY COMPLETE.
1. Living Room Trail, November 3 - Hella windy and steep. Amazing views, but too close to the city. I could still hear and see construction work going on. Oh well.
2. Thayne Canyon, August 21 - Lovely! Steep going, but gorgeous.
I've still got lots of time to keep exploring, and that's just what I'm going to do. (I MUST go to the Timpanogos Cave!)
7. Nude modeling
I never got to this goal for my 29th year, but I'm still interested in it. I want to be a model for a figure-drawing class.
INCOMPLETE.
One day. Someday.
8. Get paid to write at least one thing (published online, in a magazine, etc)
I have no idea how this is done. But I want to figure it out and do it.
INCOMPLETE.
I'll be honest...I didn't really try.
9. Complete temple work for 3 family names (baptisms, confirmations, initiatories, endowments, sealings)
Hooray for the spirit of Elijah!
INCOMPLETE.
I have no excuse.
10. Go stargazingI have no excuse.
I do this all the time, just in the sense that I look up every time I'm outside at night. But I want to actually go out to someplace with little light pollution with the express purpose of looking at the stars.
MODIFIED.
I didn't go star gazing. But I DID go up into the mountains to watch the lunar eclipse, and did some star-gazing while I was up there.
Notably, while I didn't reach a lot of the goals on my list, I DID do a lot of important, awesome things that WEREN'T on my list. I started grad school. I got a speaking role in a film for Lifetime, which made me SAG-Eligible. I played a romantic lead in a comedy at a major Utah theatre. I joined an improv troupe. I landed a speaking role in an HBO mini-series directed by Stephen Soderbergh. I watched the entire series of the X-Files, while personally making over a dozen cross-stitched gifts. I completed another year of NaNoWriMo, bringing my list of novel manuscripts up to three. I got a new job...two new jobs, actually. I made new friends and new connections. I redecorated our living room with a teeny tiny budget. I braved LASIK surgery (which is one of the best decisions I've ever made). I deepened my relationships with important people in my life.
Because it's been such an unexpected, unusual year, my instinct is to change the way I do these birthday goals. I didn't accomplish a lot of the goals on my list simply because I was busy pursuing others. But those other goals aren't as easy to track in the same, tidy ways...things like "make progress in my career" can sometimes depend on the decisions of other people, and those don't make good specific goals, although they make great general goals. I'm wondering, too, if maybe I should change how I number things. The "9 Things While 29" format was cute, but it's becoming a little impractical. Maybe I'll just do three things each birthday year.
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Tuesday, September 8:
6 done, 1 in progress/incomplete, 2 incomplete
DONE. This isn't exactly what I had in mind when I wrote this goal, but I'm going to count writing thank you notes for the cast of Damn Yankees. Because there were more than 10 of them, and they definitely influenced me for good. And I wrote them thank you letters.
DONE!
INCOMPLETE! *whomp whomp*
Deadline = June 15th
$1000 as of June 14th
But it will be okay! Another plan is in place!
DONE! I came up with the 30/30/30 challenge. Here's the idea. You and one other person each agree to do 30 crunches a day for 30 days. If either of you misses a day, you owe your challenge partner $30. Exceptions to missing a day include grave bodily injury/illness. I challenged my sister-in-law, Camilla. And totally won.
5. Do 3 PBS Art Assignments.
The Art Assignment is a weekly youtube show through PBS, hosted by Sarah Green. It highlights different contemporary artists and their work, and then they give you an "assignment" to participate in art inspired by their own work. You can post responses on youtube, or just enjoy the experience.
IN PROGRESS!/INCOMPLETE!
1. "Stacked Books"
2. "The One That Got Away" (Here's a link to the assignment video. I've chosen not to share my contribution to this project here. I didn't use any names, but since it involves another person, I felt it was best to keep it anonymous. You can watch an update video about future plans for the project here, and you can listen to a preview of the planned podcast here.)
3. INCOMPLETE! *whomp whomp* But 2 outta 3 ain't bad!
DONE. Submitted to one Salt Lake City-based literary agent as of 10:46 pm on July 1st. If they choose not to take me and my little story on, I'll keep submitting to other agencies, local and remote. Now the waiting game.
Mansion Street Literary Management - submitted July 1, 2015 (rejected July 11, 2015)
Gateway Literary - submitted July 20, 2015 (still haven't heard back as of September 8th, 2015)
REVISED AND DONE. I'm counting NaNoWriMo for this one. Because that's a helluva lot of writing. And besides, I wrote a lot of poetry on my own anyway. I just wanted to have a writing goal.
DONE! I took an awesome Intro to Aerial Arts class, which included aerial silks and trapeze. I loved the aerial silks, but trapeze was tough. Actually, all of it was tough...I was so sore sometimes after classes. But it was such a blast. I feel like I could barely do most things, but I really enjoyed myself.
9. Pose nude for an art class
This is something that's been on my bucket list for a long time. And I debated for a really long time about it. As a member of the LDS Church, I wasn't sure how "okay" this was. But after doing a lot of thinking and researching and reasoning, here's why I want to do it. I want to experience the vulnerability of it. I want to use it as an exercise in courage. But I also want to do it because art students need bodies, and I've got one. And here's why it's okay. Figure drawing classes are not about sexuality. And as much as the media begs to differ, the naked body is not purely sexual. I'm not posing for pornography. I trust the men and women in any figure drawing class to be focused on their art. And I believe it's important for artists to learn figure drawing from the nude body...it's an important skill in creating good art. (For a great perspective on the LDS Gospel and nudity in art, check out this blog entry from an LDS artist.)
INCOMPLETE! *whomp whomp*
But I am still interested in doing this, so I'm going to add this to my things to do during my 30th year.
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DONE!!!! It feels amazing to look at these numbers! Pay your tithing, people, because looking at this progress, I don't even really know where this money came from. Pretty awesome. We essentially saved $1000 in about a month and a half. Which is awesome.
$1000.00 as of January 10!!!
(And we got a car!)
DONE! Ugh. That was the WORST. January was the month I tackled this goal. Here were my thoughts as it happened:
January 5th: It's already been tough, but it's gratifying to learn that you can do tough things...like writing a draft of a novel in a month, or completing a jigsaw puzzle, or getting money into savings. So I know I can do this, too.
January 13th: Omigosh this is actually really hard.
January 24th: I hate this. I did this in an effort to prove to myself that I can live without eating out, which I can, but I hate it. I don't think my eating out habits will change very drastically as a result of this experience.
January 28th: So close. Getting so close. I can make it.
February 1st: Omigosh. Ugh. Never again. I'll probably eat out LESS than I used to, but ugh.
3.
DONE! I want to continue to do this throughout the year and I have a few other fears in mind to face, but check this out. I've never in memory had blood drawn without passing out. Partly out of anxiety and partly out of having weak veins. But this fall, I was at the doctor's for a possible kidney infection. They told me they needed to draw blood and I freaked out a little. But I didn't want to call Jacob to have him hold my hand...that would only reiterate that this was something to be afraid of. I did cry for about 20 seconds before pulling myself together. I asked if one of the nurses would be willing to just talk to me or distract me during the draw. And I did it! Didn't pass out! Didn't freak out! Woot!
DONE! I was cast in a website geared towards kids, with a secret agent theme. I play the matriarch of the spy family in the interactive videos. Principal photography wrapped in April, and it was a ton of fun and I learned so much. It's in post-production right now, and should be ready by the end of the summer. Visit the website for more info. (Also, done again! I was a paid extra for a production in Salt Lake City called "Under the Bed." It was kind of a big deal. Maybe I'll blog about it sometime.)
DONE! During November. I was totally inspired by this video. Watch my own version of a similar concept here.
6. Visit someplace new in Yellowstone Park.
We spent the ENTIRE summer right next door to this amazing park, and I didn't explore it nearly as much as I wanted to. I did discover a few new spots, but whether we live next door to the park or not this summer, I want to discover something new there this year.
Not so much. But in my defense, our move to Provo got bumped to mid-July, when we were originally planning on moving in September. So we lost a month and a half of time being near Yellowstone.
DONE! It was a little tough there for a while...we had to keep taking stuff back OUT of savings for other things. But by golly, we did it!
$1000 as of March 7th!
8. Visit an art museum.
I've been having a love affair with art lately, like...even more so than usual. So I'd like to spend some time among some art.
Also a fail. And this one I have no real excuse for. Some other time!
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SEPTEMBER 8, 2013: 7 done, 2 in progress, 6 incomplete
I'm gonna count this. Not exactly a "street art installation," but it was fun and whimsical and public. And no damage to property.
DONE! Officially available for purchase as of January 26th. You can buy your copy here.
3. Complete the T-shirt quilt project that's been languishing in various closets for over ten years.
It's still languishing.
DONE! Although I still haven't actually seen a physical Bachelor's degree, so it doesn't feel real. I have my teacher's certification though.
5. Eliminate red meat from my diet (uuggghhh...I love it so much! I don't even eat that much! Oh, this is going to be hard.)
Ha ha ha!
6. Eliminate the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags (shopping = reusable canvas, trash = biodegradable).
Do you have any idea HOW HARD it is to find biodegradable trash bags?
7. Learn to juggle. (Shout-out to Carrie Chapman!)
In progress? I can kinda do it, but not consistently.
DONE! I'm gonna say our Mediterranean trip was a success...I was relaxed and cool about things the whole time, even when our trip back home took 27 hours.
DONE! At the last minute...at 10:30 pm on September 7th, I ran into my inlaws' front yard and did a few brief poses.
10. Build a bookcase. A sturdy one. One that shall stand for many years. But also be affordable and easily rearranged and transported.
In progress, but will need to be put on hold for a little while. Possibly a few years. Materials for this are expensive, and we need to pay off some debts first. So our books will just sit on the floor, driving me crazy, for a while.
DONE! I lived in West Yellowstone all summer, after all. My parents and I hiked the Riverside Trail in August.
12. Attend a Parson Redheads show.
Nope. But I do get to see Brette in a week at our 10-year high school reunion!
13. Do the temple work for at least 5 family names.
Nope. But I'm slowly making progress on genealogy.
DONE! Finished on December 30th! We started reading roughly a year ago--right before we moved into our new place, our home teacher challenged us to read the entire Book of Mormon over the next year, and we're pleased to say we've done it.
15. Go on a spontaneous road trip.
Nope. Partly because the best time to do this is the summer, and we couldn't exactly leave the Playmill.
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26 THINGS TO DO WHILE 26
1. Personal goal. (Sorry, readers, you don't get in on this one.)
Didn't make it. But we will!
2. Attend a Parson Red Heads show.
Retired. The opportunity just didn't present itself. We were even in Portland! But they weren't playing. It's still a goal, though!
DONE - Last book finished on Tuesday, May 8th! (I'm going to keep reading books, of course. Check out which ones on goodreads if you're interested. Just click on "reading!" up at the top)
4. Hike Inspiration Point at Jenny Lake.
Never made it!
Completed July 1st. This one has helped me discover that I actually like cooking! When I know what I'm making ahead of time, and have some time, I really like cooking.
Final entry written on Saturday, January 29th, 2012. On to Volume #18!
7. Go through the temple for 5 family names.
In progress - 1 out of 5 I'm going to keep working on this one.
May 19th - 20th: Took the Idaho motorcycle safety course. Learned on a Suzuki GZ 250.
At 10:17 pm on Monday, November 28th. There's still so much to do that it doesn't feel done, but I'm thrilled to have at least a complete draft!
September 5th. I did this at a drive-through! This is cool because it also coincided with my friend Carrie's birthday. She's the one who came up with the "26 Things to Do While 26" thing anyway, and for her birthday, she asked that people do random acts of kindness. Bam.
Fall semester 2011 - 4.0
Winter semester 2012 - 3.9 (Including an A- in Hyrum Conrad's Directing I class!)
BAM.
August. This was part of a group effort, and it was awesome.
13. Sleep under the stars.
I guess you're technically ALWAYS sleeping underneath the stars, but I had intended to do so without a roof in between me and them. Oh well.
Weekend of April 14th - 16th, 2012. I'm counting Cannon Beach, Oregon. Because while I've been to Oregon, including the coast, I'm 99.9% sure I've never been to Cannon Beach itself. And I'm not made of money, you know.
15. Go sledding.
RETIRED. There was never a combination of enough snow and time to accomplish this. (Remember this?) Which is AWESOME. This goal had to do with making the most of my least favorite season, but I didn't even have to! Oh global warming, how I love you. (Not really.)
I've modified this one. Maybe I'll actually make a pumpkin pie someday, but in the meantime, on Sunday, March 25th, I made a apple pie. And it was really good. So I'm counting it.
Done! As of December 17th, around 10 pm. Just in time for Christmas!
18. Finish the New York City travel diary.
Yeah, that might not get done. Maybe ever.
19. Learn Hindi basics. (I might modify this one...I've been focusing on ASL lately...)
I actually don't really know much more Hindi OR ASL than I did a year ago.
20. Read 5 Shakespeare plays I haven't read before.
In progress - 1 out of 5 Twelfth Night
Friday, Sept. 30th, through the BYU-I Outdoor Resource Center. Sunset ride through Harriman State Park, coming back under the stars and listening to elk call all around.
Ah, heck, I'll count this. I didn't sew a skirt or a dress. But I did modify like, three shirts, and sewed some curtains and some slipcovers for couch cushions.
Done! As of Friday, May 18th. Check it out.
Wednesday, June 13th. Twice in one day! With Beckah once, and then again with Beckah AND Jacob.
25. Run a mile in under 15 minutes.
I think I might have done this, but I didn't actually time it. I ran/walked a 5K in 25 minutes, so...
I think this counts. This is my final for scene painting. It's a little rough, but from 30 feet away, it works. And I did it in two and a half hours.
4 comments:
nice list, but concerning N°5, why do you want to do that? where are you gonna get your vitamin B12 supply from?
Fortified cereal and multi-vitamins. Although I'm totally failing the eliminating red meat thing so far.
Hey there, I just stumbled on your blog and thought your goals section was really like my monthly challenges. Good luck with the not eating meat thing! I didn't put it on my blog but it sent me a bit crazy for a month!
http://monthlyspraggchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/
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