A Few Notes

As I am just relaxing (albeit tired) before work, I figured I would share a few things that have been on my mind.

As far as having goals--in my case, the 30/60/90 plan--it makes sense to me now that I should have necessarily quantified results I was hoping to get. By that, I mean I should have added some definitive measure as to what I hoped to accomplish. For example, it's hard to track "drink more water" when it's left to ambiguity. As such, I think I should try to drink at least 40 oz. of water daily to begin with. It's about half as much as I hope to eventually get to, but keep in mind that I haven't been working out much. Therefore, I lose less, and require less. Eating less also slows my metabolism, or at least logically that would follow, I would think. So perhaps that factor would also contribute to less cellular thirst.

I've also tried to set some priorities. I'm going to severely limit the amount of time I play video games until the semester is over. Not that it was a problem to begin with, but the trouble lies in my difficulty concentrating on a specific task when so many are before me. As of right now, I'm working on reading a book for my final philosophy paper as fast as possible. The book is the famous The Plague by Albert Camus. So far it's absolutely delightful, I love his style. It reminds me of Nabokov.

I need to make myself an iced coffee in order to stay awake. I'm only running on about 6 hours right now, and that's terrible. Personally, I know that I can't function well at all without my sleep. That's not to say that I don't enjoy waking up early, because I do. The issue is simply that I get home from work late more often than not, so that tends to shift everything about my schedule later.

I have been very ambitious about my writing lately. Yes, admittedly, I did post some erotica on DA recently, which I felt was very well received. It's a genre I'm quite interested in. Romance in general, really. You cannot blame me, my family has it's roots there; Madame de LaFayette purportedly wrote the first romance novel. But I don't want to write just erotica, of course. I have many passions, even in writing. Originally I intended to be a part of NaPoWriMo, but I took myself away from it after only a couple of days, reason being that I wanted to direct my efforts at working on my novel once again. And so I did for a little while, but the harsh realities of writing for school sunk in once more after "spring break". Despite having to write an 8 to 10 page paper for philosophy, I feel a deep urge to write something additional, describing some of my own personal philosophic insights during the course of the semester. A lot of these things are reflections I have had based on inquiries made by the professor--which, in class, often go unanswered. Perhaps I need more courage for my convictions.

At any rate, I would only take the course of writing such an "essay" if I felt it would be innovative in some way. I feel I have found a new approach for viewing the human experience, something both complicated and rational. It will be my attempt to explain it in the paper I jokingly told a co-worker I would title "A Comprehensive Treatise of Philosophy: Why Everyone from Socrates to Sartre Was Wrong". Naturally I would never be that bold, or make assertions of that kind. In fact, I am thankful for the breadth of philosophy that I have been able to study so far and draw from. It's a wonder when we can engineer thoughts that are truly original. On occasion I ask myself if a thought I had is one that surely someone else had thought before me. Perhaps it is so, or I could be mistaken in the way that everyone is an individual, and as such, has a different mental experience. However, the common factors (of how we organize our world) lead me to favor what I originally felt. *By organize our world, I mean the sheer fact that you and I could both observe an elephant, grasp its properties (size, shape, color, noises it makes, possibly even smell) analyze that sense data, and both conclude that it is, in fact, an elephant.

Hopefully my whole paper will not border on such trivial technicalities, or mundane orderings of language. I guess if that is the case, it won't be as entertaining as I had originally hoped. Although, this could be a case of writing for function rather than form. In such scenarios, a process approach works best. Anyways, I feel like the development of my personal philosophy is some kind of search for a unification theory, much like exists in physics today. The problem I have though is figuring out exactly which problem I'm addressing. Maybe I'm addressing everything, life in general, since it's occurred to me (especially with study of existentialism) that I've been left in life to figure a lot of things out for myself. I also possess a certain shade of skepticism, inherited by reason alone, or by paranoia, or a vivid imagination; I'm unsure.

I'm so happy that my university plans for fall are all ironed out. My financial aid should be just about ready to go once I fax a couple of forms back (but my application in general was received early). I really need that to come through for me for this to all work out well though. Certainly, I cannot work this volume next semester and still hope to do well. In fact, I have been faltering as it is now, at a considerably lesser institution. Perhaps the increase in difficulty is simply imagined, but I think it makes sense in actuality, taking a number of imagined and related factors into account. However, I digress: I plan on taking four classes so far. They will be Latin, French, English (intro level), and a Math Statistics course. The later two are going to be undertaken only to satisfy certain general requirements of my major program. My intended major is English, creative writing track (although I've considered a switch to the rhetoric one--damn sophists). I plan to double minor in French and Latin languages. I think Latin will give me an excellent understanding that will aid me in learning French and other romance languages in the future. Perhaps later on I could pick up Italian and Spanish with ease.

This has drawn on quite long enough I should think. It's time to do something a little more productive.

Challenges

Well, it's only the second day of my working on 30/60/90, and it's already challenging. Obviously, my schedule is very hectic right now with school and work, to the point that it's not always convenient for me to just head right to bed at 11:30. But, I've stuck with it, and both mornings I got up at 7:30 as well (though with a bit more struggle today).

It's also rather difficult to not buy things at work, though I get the sense that once I break the "habit" of it, it will be much easier to do. I haven't fallen through on it yet, but the urge to get something on break is a pretty big one. My plan is to counteract this by planning accordingly, and bringing enough food to work for my breaks. This might mean spending a little bit more at the grocery store, but that's an expense that I can budget for, and it's more sensible than paying $3.99 for a lousy sandwich I could really be making myself.

And I guess things have fallen more into perspective, especially with the whole fast food thing. I can actually feel my body going back to a different state without all of the junk going in. With walking both mornings so far, and eating a more whole, natural diet overall, its a growing pleasure. I've felt like I'm crashing out a bit, and maybe I need a bit more stimulants throughout the day.. but I haven't taken to soda yet, just coffee. I bet it's really just the adjustments that are getting to me.

I weighed in yesterday at 158.6 lbs. This means that on May 1st, the scale better read at least 161.6 for me to have reached that goal. I've been reading Les Mis as much as time will allow. I've also been working on C programming from the book SAMS Teach Yourself C in 24 Hours which has been most helpful thus far. In WoW, I made the warlock, and I'm already up to level 6. I have to figure out how to use the 80 warrior still though.

Tomorrow, I only have work, and now it's officially spring break time for me. It's joyous, but I do feel guilty about missing so much class in the first half of the semester. I plan to recover homework wise over break and get back up on the horse for the 2nd half. However, I feel like for this plan to be successful, I really need to get less hours at work like has been promised for so long now. That is the sole condition. Otherwise, I have off on Saturday, which is quite epic. I rarely ever get weekends off, so I'm hoping to have some fun for a change. I'm even debating having a gaming night tomorrow night into the wee hours.

Other notes about progress on 30/60/90: I re-organized my facebook to the point where it's almost done. I have to re-add the Twitter update number to my phone so I can use it more often, even though I'm only partially serious about really getting into it. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but almost every social networking site has some kind of "status" feature.

I still have to eat my oatmeal and take my vitamin for today, which I will do now before I head to work. I'll have an hour of sitting time to read before I actually punch in though. This is going to be challenging to reach the halfway point, the book is just so incredibly dense. But, like everything else, I will keep punching away at it.

I've only been doing a little writing lately, sadly. I don't know how much that will change based on make up homework I have to do over break. I've been writing mostly little fragments to poems, and additionally I was working on a little rap yesterday.

Until next time, adieu.

The Return of the Jedi

Hey everyone, here's the "promised update"--so don't say I never deliver. Yesterday I decided I would do some things differently day to day in order to have more of a "balanced" life. So, I decided to use Sami's idea of 30/60/90. This involves setting goals for the one, two, and three month mark from now, and working toward them.

Additionally, I said I would like to do something to nourish mind, body, and spirit every day. There's nothing strict I feel the need to do, as long as they get included. However, I do want to read a little bit each day. Now, on to the goals:

Within 30 days:
Recreate my online "identity" (update social networking, etc)
Gain 3 pounds of "muscle"
Jog a mile consistently
Don't eat any fast food
Don't buy anything from work (on break, etc)
Eat oatmeal daily, increase water uptake, multivitamin
Gain first certification (NET+) MORE
Write my first C program
Finish half of Les Miserables MORE
Take a warlock (in WoW) from level 0 - 20 MORE LATER

Within 60 days:
Graduate with associate's degree
Gain 6 pounds of "muscle"
Jog a sub-8 minute mile
Finish Les Miserables
Warlock to level 30+
Submit poems to two publishers
Repair old xbox
Have at least one investment
Ensure university plans are all set for fall MORE

Within 90 days:
Get certified (A+)
Jog 1 mile sub-seven minutes, two miles consistent
Finish one other book
Gain 10 pounds
Warlock to 40+
Have saved $1000
Accomplish work on novel



Finally, for days I have school or work, I would like to have a more established schedule, so I'm going to try and be in bed at 11:30 PM, and wake up at 7:30 AM. The waking up time is more rigid in my eyes, because sometimes you are more tired than others for bed, etc.

I will edit this post periodically to show my status, or post other entries to make mention of my progress.