Sunday 20 January 2013

This is the Year I Kick My Own Ass: New Year Goals Part 1


Hooray 2013!

FOREWORD: I wrote this entry and its skeletal contents a few days ago as a draft, after putting off my yearly goal entry for the longest time. Lo and behold, our blogging challenge for this week is "5 things I dare myself to do in 2013!" It's like I have ESPN or something. Now onward to the entry. A word of warning: it gets pretty long. 

Everybody approaches the coming of a new year with different levels of enthusiasm and effort. There are some people who make the standard goals like "lose more weight" or "travel more" just to say that they made a goal. Some people forego the resolution-making all together under the excuse of "Resolutions are meant to be broken anyway." And some people tackle this goal-setting process with an ardor rivaled by the determination of people lining up the Apple store to get an iPhone 5.

I used to be a lazy goal setter. I set random goals that (1) are super generic and make no sense, (2) have no means of measure and (3) don't get fulfilled at all in the span of 365 days. Disappointment ensues and more halfhearted goals followed.

Thankfully, I've changed my goal-setting personality by making goals that are actually tangible and quantifiable. Now I look forward to listing my goals for the coming year!

It took me a while to write this entry because I wanted to make my goals a bit more cohesive and thematic, and also wanted to avoid pitfalls like having way too many goals that don't get at all fulfilled (it happened last year, cue my cringing!). So this year, I decided to unify my goals with the theme NOUVEAU. I don't use want to use "new," I want to sound fancy schmancy. This year (aside from my standard goals) I'm going to try and do things that I've never done before (which fits so well with our current blogging challenge prompt!).

Onward to le goals!

5 Things I Dare Myself to do this 2013



Dye my hair orange/red/brownish pink OR have it digi-permed

I am a super boring person when it comes to my hair! My mother really hates my hair and it's my form of mini-rebellion maintaining it super dry, long, and tangled. But this year, my cousin bought me a bottle of Etude House's hair dye in gold, and now my hair is a light-ish brown! It's been a strange yet welcome change, and it's inspired me to be a bit more crazy with my hair. Cause hey, if I have crazy hair, maybe I'll be inspired to do crazy (yet legal) things.

Another dilemma with my hair is that it's super straight and limp. A lot of people have actually asked me if I rebond my hair (the answer is never). I want to try curling it so that it'd look interesting and have a bit of volume. Digiperms are just so expensive though! We'll see which one I do first.

Go to three new provinces and one South East Asian country

Call me a loser, whatever -- but I've never been out of the country. NEVER. And I mean NEVER. NEVEEEEEEEEER (ok enough emphasis). Hopefully this year I get to travel overseas! I'm aiming for somewhere in South East Asia (Singapore, Vietnam, etc.) Another reason why I need to do this is because my aunt is potentially taking me with her family to Japan (JAPAN THE LAND OF MY DREAMS) and it'll be difficult to be granted a visa without any prior stamps on my passport.

Take up yoga or ballet barre

I've been a walking mass of lard since last year, because I keep losing my motivation to exercise. I'm thinking that if I get into an actual regimen, I might actually be motivated to keep up with it and possibly lose all this excess fat around my tummy. I saw a yoga DVD lying around, and ballet barre is something I've always wanted to try! The goal is not to lose weight but to be less sedentary.

Learn the basics of the Italian language

HA! Why the heck am I even making this goal when it's been proven that I suck at keeping up with languages? I already have a tiny background in French and Korean, and mind you, they're not expanding. But I still want to try and learn some Italian, mainly because it's pretty close to French and I want to add to my measly vocabulary. Grazie, ti amo and fettucine need companions. Also, there was a point in time where I was obsessed with Gunslinger Girl and actually said one time "Oh look it's the polizia."


Buy a cheap camera and practice photography. Make a weekly photodiary

I've always loved taking pictures. Even with the crappiest of phone cameras, I always took pictures of random but interesting things. However, I've yet to actually compile good pictures I've taken and I don't have even a camera to take photos with. I'm going to buy a relatively cheap camera and use it for a random weekly photodiary. I'm actually thinking of making a cat-themed blog 'cause I love taking pictures of stray cats (see above!).

BONUS! Get commissions for web and graphic design

It's a bonus because it's something new but it's not so much a dare as the other things. If I really want to be a graphic designer/web designer extraordinaire, I'm going to need practice. And aside from practicing on dummy sites and graphics, it'll be good practice to take on actual "clients". Last year I began with revamping my cousin's mess of a resume and helped construct a friend's online arts and crafts store. This year I may badger other people for commissions too.

Confession: I'm actually a bit scared of putting my work out there because I'm always critiquing myself on not being good enough. Well this year I'm going to throw that doubt out the window and accept work. 'Cause yeah, I may not be good, but at least the clients can tell me why.

BONUS BONUS! Write a short story compilation

Elle, my wonderful blogging partner, said she was going to write a novel or a short story this year. And my subconscious nudged me and said, "That was your goal a few years ago, one that you never did fulfill." THE SHAME. So thanks to Elle, I was reminded of this goal and I'm now finally going to take steps in accomplishing it.

A few years ago I was making rough sketches for a series of illustrations I was planning, based on J-rock/visual kei songs. I began with this illustration (2 years ago!!) and just like I predicted, it didn't get continued. In order to improve both my writing and my illustrative capabilities, I've decided to make it a story/illustration compilation! How's that for a challenge? Now I just hope this doesn't bite me in the behind again.

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And those are my not-so-daring dares for 2013! They're not very extreme but like I said, baby steps!

Part 2 will be about my standard New Year goals and a few notes to myself, so stay tuned!

Check out my partner Elle's entry over here! She's got some kick-ass goals that she wants to accomplish!



This post is part of a blogging challenge by Wanderrgirl



Photo sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

8 comments:

  1. Good job on your post partner~ !!!! Oh yeah! *High five*

    I seriously can't wait for you to dye or perm your hair! Take lots of pictures and post them up over here, okay? *A* Also, as a tip for your travel plans, you should follow Cebu Pacific's twitter account (https://twitter.com/CebuPacificAir) because they're always posting promos! Annnnnd you got me with the whole being less sedentary bit >.< I'll definitely make that one of my goals for 2013. I wish you the best of luck with all the dares, Partner! I know you can do it! Ganbatte and arrivederci! ^^

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    1. Thank you partner~! High five! (^o^)/\(^.^)

      I'm really looking forward to dyeing my hair as well! I will post pictures (but not a lot cause I hate taking pictures of myself hahaha!)

      Thanks so much for the travel tip. I'm super clueless when it comes to airfare promos and whatnot, the twitter account is a good place to start!

      Ganbatte and hwaiting to both of us!

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  2. I want to die my hair but I'm allergic to hair dye. T_T You should go ahead and do it while you can. :)

    I think dares should also be more manageable and doable. It'll give you that sense of accomplishment.

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    1. :O That's so sad! Maybe you can try natural dyes? And I definitely will :D

      [I think dares should also be more manageable and doable.]

      Agreed! I've always written down impossible goals that sound nice in principle but can never be done because of resources/time/etc. Hope you accomplish your dares for 2013! :D

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  3. I've been slowly dying my hair to a lighter color (it's light brown now), but one of my dares is to go for a really wild color this year, so let's do it! :D

    With regards to getting commissioned projects, I say really focus on gettin your work out there, set up a portfolio, blog about your design work etc. That's what I did starting two years ago, and although I didn't know it would bring anything, I suddenly started getting emails about design commissions.

    Another thing you can do (it's a bit ballsy but rewarding) is if you have a particular person/company in mind that you want to design for, drop them a line via email, introduce yourself, and let them know that you want to design for them. I did this accidentally for one of my favorite shops and now I'm designing regularly for them!

    Just take the leap and put your work out there! Good luck! :)

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    1. Thank you sooooo much for your tips Allie!

      I don't really have an organization in mind that I could design for, but I will definitely keep your words in mind when I encounter one!

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  4. I loved how you phrased that you want to learn yoga - the goal really is to be less sedentary. But if you're starting with it, best to learn with an expert because you might pull a muscle or something. I can recommend some centers to you if you want, depending on what type, and how serious you want to be with it (aka turn vegetarian, etc). :)

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    1. Thank you so much! I'd like to work with an instructor too but I don't really have the time/resources. Can you point me to some schools/centers though? I'd like to learn more when I have the time!

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