1. Take care of my health. - get a new doctor, get new glasses, get some exercise, quit drinking soda.
Did okay with this one. I went to the optometrist, got new glasses, got a new doctor, and even went to the dentist. The dental appointment was fairly traumatic, and I most certainly won't be going back to them. But after putting it off for a good year and a half, I get points for going.
I did not quit drinking soda entirely, but I think my consumption of soda and fast food is down from it's all time high of daily/ several times a week. However, most of the time I avoided soda by drinking Snapple or some other calorie loaded sweetened beverage. Which is kinda like swapping smoking heroin for smoking cigarettes... yeah, it's better but....
Exercise - I'd thought about joining a gym and starting to swim again, but never got around to it. I did however buy a bike over the summer and that has been a big improvement in my life. I ride to the store, I rode to class, and occasionally I just ride for fun.
Overall score for this resolution: B
2. Get in good financial shape. - save some money
I did, in fact, save some money this year. Not much, but some. Did not accumulate any debt.
Overall score for this resolution: A
3. Creative aspirations. - Show a quilt at Sisters Outdoor Quilt show.
Score for this resolution: A
4. Philanthropy. - give money to charity
I signed up for an automatic contribution to the Oregon Food Bank, and I made a small donation to the Red Cross. I gave, but I didn't give much. And I didn't do any volunteering this year.
Score for this resolution: B
5. Take the next few steps on my career path. - gear up for Grad School
This is where the bulk of my focus has been this year. I have been working my tush off in my Spanish classes to fulfill the pre-requisite for the graduate program. I took Summer term off to save my sanity, otherwise I'd be done with Spanish by now. So that part is still in-progress, although on track to finish up before the graduate program starts in the fall. Spanish is NOT easy for me, but I put in the hours, wrote up the flash cards, and studied as much as I could, and have As in each Spanish class as my reward. I still don't feel like I can actually speak Spanish... but at least my transcript looks good.
In November, I went to an information session at Portland State University for the Applied Linguistics department - Masters in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, and I have begun the application process. I still have to request one more letter of recommendation and revise my essay. The application is due on Feb. 1, and I'm on track for that.
Overall score for this resolution: A+
Extra Credit:
Not so much resolution oriented, but I did a few cool things this year.
- Flew down to Las Vegas to celebrate a friend's wedding. Although this doesn't really fall under any my resolutions, I think staying in touch with friends from far & near is important. It was also super fun!
- Visited Costa Rica with an educational tour group. This one falls under my overall life goal of traveling as much as possible. This was my first visit to Central America and I got to do a lot of cool things like river rafting and staying with a local family - communicating exclusively in Spanish.
- I got a really good review at work. My job is obviously not my dream career, but it was good to know that despite the fact that my focus was on my Spanish classes & pursuing my future career, I was doing well where I was.
- I joined a "Healthy Team, Healthy You" program at work. It's mostly a way to get a discounted rates on my insurance next year... but am actually going to the meetings and tracking my pedometer readings etc. I don't have a ton of confidence in the ability of this program to improve my health... but it can't hurt.
Factoring these extra credit points, I give myself an A for the year. Most aspects of my life are right on track!
There's always room for improvement of course... so that's what I'll focus on in this new year. =)
2 comments:
Yeah don't feel bad, after years of Spanish, I only speak it well when I've got a few drinks in me!
Here's to 2012!
I've often felt that if I could have a few drinks before each class things would go much better.
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