2005 goals revisited..

So I went back and finally read what I had typed at this time last year as my goals for 2005, lets see how I did....

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By this time in 2005, here's where I want to have done.

1. Pay off my credit card debt

Of all of my goals for 2005 this was the highest on my list and although I didn't pay it off completely, I made a pretty good dent in it and from where I began at the beginning of the year, I have knocked out almost 70% of that amount. The problem was once I saw how good I was doing, I became complacent and strayed from my target... starting splurging on shit, and therefore didn't meet my goal.. But I'll have it gone by my birthday in July next year.

1.1. Keep up with readings, do well teaching this history course(s).

Of all the challenges I had, this one was something I put a lot of time and effort into and it worked out surprisingly well I believe. It was a lot of reading, but based on the student evaluation forms, I feel like I did a pretty good job at this for my first solo teaching experience.

1.2. Organize, prepare, and execute the beginnings of some sort of long term financial plan.

....... um, yeah, well, paying off my debt was the first part of this, so I suppose I sort of met this goal, but the whole long term thing I didn't do...2. Travel for leisure, preferably outside of the continental U.S.

After completing my architecture licensing exams, I took 10 days to relax in Greece so I met this goal.

2.1. Vacation in South America or Asia (I’m thinking Japan).

maybe next year...

2.2. Possibly plan and execute a coup de tat at one of my places of employment.

I actually did this!! I was on a project team with a project manager that was just a fu*king prick. So I teamed up with this other guy in the office and we didn't even have to do much actually. By doing exactly what he said, even when he was wrong, and pointing out that the mistakes were his when they were thrown in our faces, let to his removal from the project team. The client couldn't take it, the boss couldn't take it, and so he was 're-assigned' to another job! All it took was some planning, and subtle comments to the boss afterhours to make sure they saw what we knew all along. What this taught me is that sometimes, incompetence has to be brought into the spotlight before it's ever recognized. What made it even easier was his big mouth spouting about how right he was all the time.

2.3. Visit friends in Salt Lake City, New York. Albequerque.

I made it to New York, but Salt Lake City & Albequerque are still on my list..

3. surround myself with more black people that look less like wonderbread and more like multigrain.

I don't even know what I meant when I wrote this goal??? so I guess I didn't do this...

4. Help my nephew come up with a plan for his life.

Failed miserably at this one. after a long conversation about his future and what we were going to do, he ignored everything I said and moved in with this girl in another city with no job, no income, no nothing... now he can't wait to move out..

5. Write at least two papers .. working towards getting published again.

yeah, um..... yeah.... didn't do this. I would blame my lack of this on my highly prolific chronicles writing, but we know that's not true... no excuse, just had bigger things on my plate at the time.

6. Maybe start spinning out again… possibly just a monthly residency or something. I already have the name for the party – “Curt’s Ephemeral House Party of Interplanetary Unity, Peace, Harmony, & Love”

I do have a little weekly residency here in DC, but they didn't like my name for the party... :( so when asked to come up with something different, I told them "I can't"... so I'm playing at a weekly party with no name at the moment..

7. Pay off that debt.

yeah yeah..... only a few grand to go....

8. Have a better idea of where I'm going to live for the next 2-5 years.

I'm pretty much settled on the DC metropolitan area... I'm house hunting at the moment, so this should be resolved in 2006..

9. Have a better idea of how I'm going to live for the next 2-5 years.

Why I'll be BIG PIMPIN of course!!!! I wouldn't have it any other way!!

10. Have researched in depth at least 1 more language I haven't already tackled, to the point where I'm familiar with it both in and out, structure and environment…. And increase my Spanish speaking skills (looks like I’ll have to hang out with more Puerto Rican chicks…. damn….)

Well, once the Latino ladyfriend moved out, there went my Spanish.... shit, who am I fooling I barely spoke it when we lived together... She spoke to damn fast for me, I just became frustrated and never seemed to be in the mood to learn it with her.... But again, now that I'm done with my exams, I should be able to take on a project like this sometime this year.

11. Have a better system of not procrastinating so I'm more disciplined and have more control over my productivity and ultimately my ability to accomplish good work and goals.

... and here I am, writing chronicles at work..... not doing too well on this... but I did stay focused enough to always complete my lectures on time, which meant giving up my weekends most of the time, so I guess I did pretty good on this....

12. To keep in mind always my priorities, and to make sure that the choices I'm making line up with them, even if it makes me uncomfortable in the short term.

Hmmmm.

I will say I definitely did this. Staying focused to complete my architectural exams meant I had to make a lot of sacrifices, which meant those around me had to make sacrifices and meeting this goal actually probably cost me this last relationship I was in. But the priority was to complete this long journey that I had begun in 1992 and become a licensed architect. I did that and had to make sure that any and all choices I made about my personal time, my energy, etc... kept that as the number 1 priority. No one likes to hear that they are number 2 in your life, but sometimes reality is a mfer.. I could have faked like that wasn't the case, but I chose to be true to myself, and I'm very comfortable with the choices I made to complete this major accomplishment in 2005. It's something that can never be taken away from me. So now looking to 2006, I have to start doing something with that license now that I have it..... the journey continues...

peace,

~C