Reflecting on 2010
Random Observation/Comment #252: Writing these year-end reviews always put me in such a good mood. It enumerates and puts meaning to my accomplishments. It gives me a burst of motivation to complete my goals list. It lets me reevaluate my progress and recreate a new list of things to do the next year. It gives me at least a direction to walk in this ominous path. Try it – it will free you.
2010 was a different year for me. Compared to last year, I had not done as much traveling or photography, but I had worked on different parts of my personality. I have become more social and tech involved with a greater focus on relationships and learning. In this past year, I visited Cozumel, Key West, Miami, Marseille in France, Cinque Terre in Italy, Florence, and Rome. I saw her again. I wrote a few more entries consistently involved in career advancement. I attended at least 50 after hour drinks and networking events, meeting with around 20 valuable mentors. I became technologically synced. I learned much more than I once knew about relationships. I learned to cook better and ate new dishes that were purposefully tasted for the purpose of cooking it at home. I went sky diving and had the most amazing feeling of euphoria. I helped Komtra get their produced CD recognized and put online. I helped design and write Ryan’s comic book. I got into rockclimbing and bought shoes for it. I took the CFA with a certain level (haha) of studying and commitment. I learned a bit of French and improved on my Japanese. I took pictures for 10 iClick photography events that became published on internal sites. I made a second home.
This year was really more about career and girls. Although every year is usually about girls, this one was a little more in depth with the drama portion and finding one that would actually fit into my bigger plan. Everything seemed ridiculously complicated, but it was probably much easier than I made it. There were a lot of great memories and a lot of inside jokes that never faded. My eyes were opened into much more independence and it let me glimpse into a world where my parents were free of the burden of guiding me through everything. I hope they know my decision was made to help them use their time more creatively.
To continue with my tradition, I’ve set up new goals, aspirations, dreams, and fantasies for the next year. Most of them are revised and redefined.
Goals:
Stop procrastinating – become much more productive
Learn to write more in Chinese
Learn to speak fluently in Japanese, Mandarin, German, and Spanish by 25.
Review more restaurants
Cook more complicated meals and pair with items that complement each other
Finish comic book
Finish writing Love with an Expiration Date eventually
Add more to my bottle cap and labels collection of beers
Finish my side projects list (top secret for now)
Have 50 friends use my pictures as facebook profiles
Travel to Machu Pichu, Hawaii, and Iceland next year
Continue to collect memorable quotes from amazing nights
Make a second home
Stay true to the promises made
Get six pack abs – for reals this time
Become a better public speaker
Create a reputable online identity
Keep a scrapbook of all memories
Aspirations:
Get Engaged and make a plunge towards commitement
Find a career with flexible hours, low stress, and high pay (maybe this should be a fantasy or at least a dream)
Publish a book (autobiography, memoirs, novel, etc)
Make money from photography
Get an MBA
Save someone’s life – change it for the better forever
Beat Edmund in a game of Table Tennis
Own a walk-in closet of suits (like Barney)
Go restaurant reviewing with my brother – he drives the nice car and I pay for the meals
Work for Google
Dreams:
Visit all 7 continents
See all 7 wonders of the world (all of them listed on Wikipedia which makes them like 50 based on different organizations)
Travel to at least 50 countries (currently at 17)
Make my first million by the time I’m 28
Eat at almost 80% of all restaurants in The City
Early retirement
Make a living traveling and writing
Learn to fly a plane
Own a house that I’ve designed (I would build it, but I’m afraid it would fall down while I sleep)
Become as influential as a professor – possibly become a professor
Change the world with something
Get on the Colbert Report
Travel to space – weightlessness would be cool too
Bar owner where all my friends would drink for free
Fantasies: (All new sorts of ridiculousness: see past few years of entries for other funny ones)
Have Force powers of persuasion
Host a TV show about Engineers selling out to Finance
Have my own theme music wherever I go
Open a mashed potatoes restaurant
Live GTA video game in real life for one day without consequence
Be the only one who could lie in a world that everyone tells the truth
Understand women
Control an alien and essentially have mind-sex with animals so I could control them with my pony-tail
Speak to animals in a romantic comedy movie with Scarlet Johanson
Be the Barnacle and Suit Up all the time
Drive a car that transforms into a robot alien with Megan Fox being my girlfriend
I got it! Slick Shoes!
Wear glasses that can disguise me between my split normal and super hero life style
Roam the desserts bringing a book out West. I am badass with a machete and partially blind.
Win “So You Think You Can Dance” and have girls (and probably guys) swarm me
Car chase driving an Aston Martin
As always, Health and Happiness, my Friends…
~See Lemons Look forward to 2011