Resolutions! (2012 Edition)

Gonna make this a short post because I’m not really “feeling it” today (kinda tired). 

I just wanted to list my New Year’s resolutions for 2012 in hopes that they’ll get accomplished this time (even though I didn’t do all of the ones I made for 2011). 

Lose weight (again) – At the end of 2010, people pointed out that I was a lot thinner than I used to be, so I stopped watching my weight and relaxed my exercise routine a bit.  I guess it paid off because now I’m finding my stomach sticking out a bit more and pants fitting a little less than they used to.  So I’m getting back into shape…..or trying to; I’m almost thirty and am wondering if I’m just starting to gain all the weight that people do when they get older. 

Find a new job – I always say I’m going to do this, but the company keeps pulling me back in with offers of promotions, my own business cards, and a higher salary.  The inter-office co-worker drama is starting to show, though.  So hopefully this is the year I finally break free from the job that’s been so good to me. 

(Re)Start writing stories – I just miss doing this.  I hope I still haven’t lost whatever talent I had at this….! 

See more shows – this includes seeing more plays & going to more shows to see bands / artists that I like.  It’s going to be tough (and expensive), but I’m off to a good start – They Might Be Giants is playing at UCLA Live at the end of the month & I already have tickets!   

Use Wikipedia for reasons other than looking up plots to popular TV shows – self explanatory. 

Lastly, I’m switching back to Xanga; Blogspot is nice and all, but I really miss the sense of “community” that I had with Xanga and none of the bells & whistles of the other blogging sites can match that. 

Thanks for the domain, blogspot!  I’ll keep you up & check in from time to time!  

Resolutions 2011

As is my tradition during Januarys (Januaries?), I try to come up with New Years Resolutions to follow through on in hopes that I grow and become a better, more evolved human being.

It doesn’t always work, but the important thing is that **I TRY.**

So, after spending (literally) a few minutes thinking about how I want to improve myself this year, I came up with the following resolutions:

Say “No” more often: You ever feel like you try to do too much? I feel like that a lot these days….and the majority of it has to do with my inability to say “no” to people; different friends will invite me to hang out with them at the same time and I find myself saying “yes” to them regardless of the scheduling conflict. It’s what causes me to leave early and arrive late.

Make more plans: This is the other effort I’m making to manage my free time better. By organizing my own get-togethers, I can invite whoever I want

Take a summer vacation (for real this time): I broke this resolution last year, but I intend to keep it in 2011. Not sure where I’m going yet, but……….hoping to see my friend, Amos, in Europe!

Take the GRE: Not sure if I ever mentioned this before (too lazy to look back in my Blog archives right now), but I made a plan to go back to school before I hit 30. It’s a slow process as Grad School isn’t cheap and I’ve only started saving since last year (2010). The cost of tuition alone is very discouraging. But they say to take things one step at a time, so that’s what I’m going to do starting at the beginning. And that first step? Take the GRE (and get a good score).

So there you have it, folks – my New Year’s resolutions for 2011. It’s not the traditional kind that most people do, but I think keeping them specific is what helps you achieve them.

DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS??

Chasing that Cheese

Kurt Vonnegut once said that “writing is not a way to make a living; it is (instead) a very human way of dealing with life.”

That phrase always stuck with me since my biggest (and by far least attainable) dream in life is to be a professional writer – the kind who gets paid to write in the style he so chooses.

In my case, it’d be playwriting. (or blogging?)

And now that you’re done laughing, I’d like point out that I came close to achieving this dream when I first moved out here to Los Angeles. I somehow found a theatre company willing to read my work.

However, this is where the “came close,” comes in; I never actually got paid for doing this. Quite the opposite, actually – I ended up having to pay them (as did everyone else in the company for the theatre space)

I learned a lot while writing there, but eventually my day job(s) got the best of me and I had to quit due to lack of time. I don’t think I wrote very much since then, even after I had time again. I think it had a lot to do with how social I was being: birthdays kept coming up, people kept asking to hang out; I kept traveling to all sorts of places…..! I just didn’t want to make the time to sit down & write because something better always came along.

I think that’s part of the sacrifice that writers make for their art – and something I really need to start doing if I ever want to even pursue this. Not that I actually think I’ll ever become a professional writer – but I feel I need to “get this out of my system” while I can or else it’s always going to bug me.

So here’s where I bring up my New Year’s Resolution of mine by vowing to spend my Sundays writing. (maybe Saturdays & Wednesday nights, too) Right now, I have two, possibly three ideas that I’m working on – one of which includes that screenplay I talked about last year. I worked on that one for maybe three months before deciding I hated where it was going and tossed it. (that’s another one of my flaws – I take too long to realize something is shit)

Anyway, if any of you wants to read anything I’ve written so far & give feedback, please don’t hesitate to let me know and please don’t hold back on the criticism. The only requirement I have on critiques is to elaborate on why you like /dislike something. (just saying “I hate this” doesn’t help me make it better)

Man, I’ve really gone Hollywood. I’ve become one of those “Read my screenplay!” people. *groan*