52 Goals - Goal 1

Ooooh no friends to the right of me...

No fullas to the left...

Dun-dun-dun... the first card I pulled out of my deck of goals was the three of diamonds - go to the movies alone. So I did! I decided to pick a movie to see that I wasn't likely to be attending with any of my friends, so "Australia" it was. While it definitely had less than thrilling moments, it was interesting to learn more about the history of our cousins from across-the-ditch.

Have just realised... non kiwi/aussie bloggers, New Zealanders tend to call Australians as a whole cousins (and vice versa) and the sea that separates us is fondly referred to as the ditch... as in "He got a better job offer across the ditch" or "He realised that the grass was greener on the other side of the ditch".

I realised how little I know about the aboriginal culture - at the start of the movie a warning is relayed to Aborigine and Torres Strait Islanders that the film may contain images of deceased persons and I really had no idea why they had. When an aborigine dies, their name is never spoken again and this is reflected in the movie. What Erin and Miss Karen enlightened me too is that sometimes this goes further and their possessions and any images of them are also destroyed. I can now see how seeing one of the aboriginal cast members in the movie once they are deceased could be very traumatic for their relatives.

One goal out of fifty-two down and I'm already learning. Gotta be good for you :D

Week starting 14th Sept

How did I do?

• Get at least 10 more squares of the blanket for FarmBub done - DONE! So close to being finished now!
• Pick up some polarfleece - Delayed. Ms Bee is a former fabric store employee and she advised me to wait a couple of weeks to go on sale
  
• Get to the gym three times next week - Failed... kind of. I've been really active, just haven't managed to make it to the gym.
  
• Finish one assignment - I decided to work on both ones due within the next fortnight, so I have two partially completed.
  
• File that paperwork - Done.

Goals for next week:

• Keep my room as perfect as it looks now - so easy to relax in
• Write in my gratitude journal every day
• Use my train commute time constructively
• Celebrate my gorgeous friends who are there for me :)
  

Week starting Sept 7th

How did I do? For a week full of stretch goals, I think I did okay:

• Do a good solid effort at getting the house tidy before Friday - It took five loads of washing and one FULL rubbish bag of garbage, but definitely achieved!
  
• Get at least 12 more squares of the blanket for FarmBub done - Currently standing at ten - could possibly finish by the end of tonight... at least this is got me motivated to finish it :)
  
• Get to the gym three times next week - Epic Fail! TMI warning but I got the most shocking lady cramps and exercise was not high on my list of things to do.
  
• Start in on assignments - I didn't get as much achieved as I'd hoped to with these (I need to access information that I can't get until I'm back in uni or at work) but I definitely started so this gets an Achieved as well.
  
• File that paperwork -Incomplete. A good effort made, but I got sidetracked by decluttering the rest of my room... reading stories you've written as a child are hysterical. There's a poem that I read in a collection of poems I wrote that's actually pretty impressive if it's a "me" original... if you're lucky I might just post it :)

Hmmm... if this was a school report, it would probably say "Scribbles is not working to her full potential" LOL. A lot of these goals need some extra work - so they can be somewhat repeated in the week to come:

• Get at least 10 more squares of the blanket for FarmBub done - That will leave me with just ten more to complete the blanket on the week after... Yay!
• Pick up some polarfleece to line the blanket and get FarmBaby's initials embroidered on it!
  
• Get to the gym three times next week - Once the "lady cramps" disappear there is no excuse. No one wants a fat MOH.
  
• Finish one assignment - I just need to get one more piece of info next Wednesday and then there isn't anything to stop me from finishing it (a week and a half early - less stress that way) .
  
• File that paperwork and don't get distracted by childhood memories! You want your computer up in your room, don't you Scribs?

UPDATE: Annie would also like me to make a goal to enjoy myself and be proud of what I have achieved - that's a great goal! Duly added!

Week starting 31st August

So how did I go from last week?

• Finish both assignments by 4pm Monday afternoon - Done! I'd actually finished both assignments in time to even make it to all my classes on Monday.
  


• Chill the frick out about where this thing with Mr. Wrigley is going - Done. I think chilling out has made me gain some perspective on the situation, actually. As much as he is cute and funny in person, some of his characteristics remind me of things that I did not love about my exes. Are they deal breakers? I'm not sure yet.
  


• Do a good solid effort at getting the house tidy before Friday - FAIL. I haven't even managed to get my room sorted out... I don't yet cover the definition of living in squalor but I find it hard to relax when everything is so out of order. This week has been pretty insane in terms of work, uni, etc but I don't have that excuse next week so this resolution will be rebooted!
  


• Finish writing up my 6-month objectives and hand them in to my boss for her to sign off - Done and before anyone else at work... way to impress the boss!
  


• Contact St John's and investigate course times for Sept/Nov - Done and booked in for next Monday and Tues through New Zealand Red Cross. I'll get great skills and heaps more in my paycheck for next week - the course is 16 hours in which I would not usually work.
  

Goals for the week ahead:

• Do a good solid effort at getting the house tidy before Friday - no excuses this time Scribbles... you guys will have to give me a virtual spanking if this doesn't happen.


• Get at least 12 more squares of the blanket for FarmBub done. This was a project that I started before everything started going on with mum and I need to finish it off. FarmGirl doesn't know exactly what it is, but knows it's a work in progress and is very understanding.


• Get to the gym three times next week - no uni, no pressing assignments, no excuses. I need to start whipping this ass back into shape.


• Start in on assignments - just because there's no uni doesn't mean it's a holiday. It's an opportunity to get ahead on what I need to do. At least have outlines completed by the end of next week.


• File that paperwork - this is part of the tidying effort but possibly even more vital. I have piles of paperwork that pertain to all sorts of different things (financial, academic, etc etc) and that's part of the massive amount of clutter. I also have ring binders for all this stuff... just sitting there. If I get onto this then I can shift my computer up into my bedroom - as part of the "making mum comfortable during her illness" drive we got mum a laptop and bought a wireless router, thus not restricting my connectivity to the lounge. Quite frankly I think I'd like the peace and quiet, ditto the privacy.
  

Week starting 24th August

I stole this beautiful header off the lovely Gala Darling's blog... I'm not sure I've seen her use this in a while but I thought it was a brilliant idea!
With everything that's been going on in my life at the moment, I've felt like my life is sort of all over the show and I need to pull everything back together and get back on track. I want to improve myself by setting some short-term goals... just little ones, acheivable within a week and the best part is that you guys will be able to keep me accountable. They won't always fulfil the SMART (yay, business school terminology) criteria, but I will know by the end of the week how I did. This week's resolutions are (drumroll please):

• Finish both assignments by 4pm Monday afternoon - to the best of my ability. Once these are handed in, relax in the knowledge that they are complete and out of my hands
• Chill the frick out about where this thing with Mr. Wrigley is going. I'm notoriously impatient and I always hate this nothing part of a relationship - when you know you like each other but you are yet to know whether it's going anywhere... you don't know if they are seeing other people, and even if they are it's none of your business. I just need to take a deep breath, realise that it's just the way the world works and stay cool with it.
• Do a good solid effort at getting the house tidy before Friday as that's when Mum's first chemo is
• Finish writing up my 6-month objectives and hand them in to my boss for her to sign off - she's basically guaranteed me a pay rise if I do achieve them (which it isn't like they are hard to achieve) so I should stop wasting time
• Contact St John's and investigate course times for Sept/Nov - see goal directly above.

Five's a good number to start with... let you know next Sunday how I go :)