The year 2017 has only...87 days left!
So where am I in my 2017 goals?
First, though, I want to elaborate on a couple of elements to my goal-making.
Do I actually write down these goals?
Of course I've written them in this blog. I even have Summer and Fall To-Do Lists. Here's what my Summer To-Do List looked like:
Goals
- Finish 3 drafts of updated “Craigslist Date” idea for script
- FIRST DRAFT DONE (end of May)
- SECOND AND THIRD DRAFTS DONE!
- Have 3rd draft of Hunters
- 3RD DRAFT DONE (7/1/17)
- 4th DRAFT DONE! (8/18)
- Figure out if Due is worth anything (try at least 2 drafts)
- FIRST DRAFT DONE! (6/2)
- Second draft DONE
- THIRD DRAFT DONE! (8/27)
- Practice baking baguettes & croissants
- BAILED
Events -- Arts, Festivals
- Atlanta Shortsfest -- July 7-8, 2017 NOT DONE
- Eclipsed @ Synchronicity Theatre -- June 2-25, 2017 BOOKED (6/20) DONE
- Try the Shakespeare Tavern again -- NO
Hiking & Travel
NOTE: Too hot.
- Arabia Mountain DONE
- Sweetwater Creek State Park BAILED
- Asheville weekend
Eating
- Asian Food Fridays
- Cafe Bombay DONE
- Chai Pani place in Ponce DONE
- Yummy Spicy DONE (yay! Finally found an Szechuan restaurant!)
- I’ll also count Kebab & Curry in Buford DONE
- Ameer’s Mediterranean DONE
- Summer Latin American restaurant hunt!
- ADios Cafe DONE
- Fancy Pants dinner
- Canoe DONE
- Revival (regrettably done)
I have a folder in my Google Drive entitled "Life." These are documents that I've created that relate more to my personal well-being or personal development. As I've gotten older I think of myself as it relates to these primary categories: Film, Travel, Library, and Life and I have folders in my Google Drive that correspond with those categories full of lists, goals, and other journals. The "Life" folder has documents such as the 50 List and so forth. It's where I make my seasonal to-do lists.
Beyond my Google Drive I also print out the list and either pin it on a corkboard in my desk area or glue it on a page in my Moleskin journal.
I go through this in order to have permanence in my goal creation. I want to have a tangible element to something in my head. Once a thought or an idea has been put into a document, I can troubleshoot the idea or reckon with it. It's real. This principle in making a goal feel real is something I've written about numerous times but I always want emphasize how potent this principle is...at least for me.
Do I feel unaccomplished when I am unable to complete a goal?
Well...yeah. As you can see in my Summer To-Do List there are several goals that have "BAIL" or "Not completed." I always want to do everything I think and write down. Life happens though. Thus, a better question I prefer to ask is "what was the goal really about?" Another question I ask is "how can I do this in the future?"
On the Summer To-Do List, for instance, I bailed on the goal of "[practicing] baking baguettes & croissants." This was to be a simple goal but I didn't complete or really attempt it. So I ask "what was the goal really about?" The answer: it was about expanding my love of food and expanding my expertise in cooking. I can generally cook well, but I'm a rut eater and consequently a rut cook. I can read and manifest a recipe but I very rarely do it. After visiting France I wanted to elaborate on the love of bread I found while there. Ultimately, though, it didn't happen because I try to avoid bread in my diet except during breakfast. As much as I love bread (and boy do I) I'm aware of its consequences in terms of health.
So "how can I do this in the future?" In my Fall To-Do List I found recipes for items not necessarily bread related that I can attempt new culinary ideas. Thus my Fall To-List has a few more food items than my Summer To-Do List. Several Summer To-Do List stuff left incomplete or not attempted made it into my Fall To-List, which I'll post here:
Film Goals
- Complete Post-Production on Will
- Determine if reshoots are necessary (UPDATE: THEY ARE)
- FIRST CUT DONE 9.10
- Second CUT DONE 9.17
- Begin development/outside help on Modern Romance and/or Hunters
- Have others read both scripts SENT TO HT
- Work with a producer to develop scripts and set timelines
- Curtains determination
- If shown at Y’allywood, then submit to more
- If not, discuss with Casey -- likely wrap distribution WRAPPED
Events -- Arts, Festivals, etc.
- Sense & Sensibility @Synchronicity
- September 22 - October 15, 2017 TIX PURCHASED for 10.12
- The Secret in the Wings @Gainesville Theatre Alliance
- 7:30pm, Nov.10-13, 2017
- Heidi @Synchronicity
- December 8-31, 2017
- Atlanta Docufest
- September 8-10, 2017 (DIDN’T HAPPEN)
- Y’allywood Film Festival
- October 9th -15th TIX PURCHASED for 10.9
Hiking & Travel
- Northern Arizona trip
- September 19-22, 2017 BOOKED COMPLETED
- Asheville day trip
- Likely during October 19-22 break
- Dahlonega day trip with Rory
- Likely during October 19-22 break
- Charleston overnight trip
- November 17 BOOKED
Eating
- Attempt the following recipes:
- Kerala fried chicken via Asha Gomez’s My Two Souths
- Sweet potato empanadas via Cooking for Jeffrey
- Herb and apple bread pudding via Cooking for Jeffrey
- Restaurants to try -- Asian Food Fridays
- Haru Ichiban in Duluth BAILED due to SHOYA which is better and closer (found my Japanese restaurant yay!)
- Canton House on Buford Hwy DONE 9/30
- Shoya Izakaya DONE
- Restaurants to try -- Fancy Pants dining
- Greenwood on Green St. -- Roswell
- Lure
- Bacchanalia (if I can afford it)
- Bone’s
- Table & Main
- Freaking Incan
What about the 2017 Goals?
How am I doing overall with 2017, however? Let's catch-up by breaking down categories.
Film
We are knee-deep in Will post-production. We have two cuts and they are rough but we know where we stand and we have a structure of how to progress the plot. I'm working on what we need to re-shoot and what we need to ADR.
Beyond Will I wrapped up my Summer to-do list with three drafts of three different scripts. I've shared two with a couple of folks to get fresh eyes in order to move forward. The script I didn't share still needs some work and I'm moving forward on that script entitled Due. Through this process I was able to keep my writing sharp but more importantly I've recognized the next script I want to make, currently titled Hunters. I'll share more on that as it becomes tangible and developed.
Travel
THE GRAND CANYON IS OFF THE 30 LIST!
I won't write a separate post on my trip to the Grand Canyon. This was a trip I was able to have completed due to the Delta Skymiles I accumulated. I flew into Phoenix, drove to Flagstaff which I stayed in as a home base.
How was the Grand Canyon? Glorious.
It's beyond what any camera can capture. The hues, the breadth, and the biting wind cannot be represented unless you're there. Each time I was there I tried to get as close as I could to the rim -- to which a tour guide said "That's the way to win the Darwin Award." Despite the tourists and RV's and everything I found myself absolutely threadbare.
The landscape of Arizona, at least northern Arizona, is breathtaking. So far, in terms of my experience, I feel Arizona may be the best U.S. state I've visited outside the South (which I'm biased). Flagstaff was a lovely host city and the scenery was as jaw-dropping to and in Sedona. I said far too many transcendent obscenities during that drive.
That was the last big trip of this year, before Mexico in January, 2018. I had "Asheville weekend" on my Summer To-Do List, and a day trip to Asheville will happen in October. I'm also taking an overnight night trip to Charleston.
Library
As I've written this blog and let it evolve to me sharing goals and aspirations, I've realized that I rarely share my library goals and ambitions. So let's change that.
For one, I feel that through the library I've been able to work through a 2017 goal of sketching more. What was this goal really about? It was about relaxing and finding a way to sit still. I've worked on that to an extent. Yet, the way I feel I've tackled this initiative is creating arts and crafts programs in the library. I try to have at least one per month and in regards to attendance we do fairly well.
Part of this process, however, has been not only the teaching of arts and crafts but being a practitioner. Before I teach a collage program I create my own collages. Before I taught a watercolor program, I worked on my own watercolor. Is it sketching two times a week? Not quite, but if the goal was about sitting still and being immersed in a less stringent process I feel our programs have been personally helpful.
The other larger goal through the library has been the creation of the HelpPages. I've been collaborating with new librarians on the development of an idea I shared for a directory of organizations that help people in desperate times. This directory will list essential information for homeless shelters, food pantries, employment assistance, and so on. This resource is primarily for staff but for patrons as well. My hope is that the resource will outlive the committee I'm on but more importantly if one person can get assistance then I will feel content.
Life
It's weird to use "life" as what lies beneath the other categories, as if these pieces weren't a part of my life. What I mean by life I mean what's personal or what's going on with me.
When I shared my 2017 goals I wrote of spending more quality time with friends and family. I wrote of taking Rory, my 10 year old pup, on a dogcation, alongside aspirations to relax more.
I'm happy to say I have relaxed more. Rather than sketching, I've made sure to find time to go on a few more hikes or sit down at a coffeeshop removed from my regular environment to read a book.
Will a dogcation happen this year as I had previously discussed? It's unlikely. What was the goal really about though? It was about spending more time with Rory. This year has seen me take Rory to more places than in previous years. Since I cannot see her everyday when I do visit (usually every other weekend) I try to have her join me on car rides and to places as much as possible, whether to a coffeeshop or to go on more hikes. While no overnight dogcation is planned, I'll take her to Dahlonega for a long drive to see how she acts.
I'm also spending more time with friends and family. My best friend is getting married to his fiance while my other best friend is officiating and I'm...the best man. For the first time in my life I will be someone's best man, a gesture I'm quite humbled by. I've also spent more time with my folks, finally convincing my mom to put more into her 401(k) and going out with Dad, who has improved his weight loss with dedication and self-discipline. I need to spend time with him and help plan the Italy trip that I will take Mom.
But I'll share more about that and my life in due course. I always do.
