new goals

As I said in a previous blog post, I'm taking a bit of a break from writing this month. So instead of a story a day or even a poem a day, I have new goals. Hey, I have to fill my days with something! (Even if lately that's mostly been crocheting while watching Babylon 5 on Netflix. :D)


First up, I've made the resolution to exercise more often. I started this goal on the first of June--a good time to start summer goals. Mainly, I downloaded an app to my phone called Noom, which helps you to keep track of diet and exercise and encourages you to eat better. And I think it's really made a difference--I pay a lot more attention now to what I eat and whether I exercise or not. I made the rest of my family download it too, and we've been going on walks and to the gym together.

Second, I've been folding three origami cranes a day. At Nihon Matsuri, my family bought me a 1000 cranes set, so I've started to use it. I don't really have a wish in mind for those 1000 cranes--it's somewhat just for my bucket list--but I figure that finding something to wish for along the way is a good way to do it. I picked the goal of three a day because I'll then be done in a year, with a month or so of leeway if I miss a day. I've been putting the total each day on my daily grateful pictures--since I take those every day anyway, it's a good way to keep track.

And third, because I want to be drawing more often, I'm adding a goal to go along with my daily self portrait photography goal: I've started doing a rough sketch of the picture I use as my self portrait every day. It's very freeing to just sketch without worrying as much about the final product. Far too often, I start a picture trying from the start to make it a final product, and end up obsessing too much about the details, so it never gets finished. That's one of the reasons I also like to sketch in pen--if I know I can't go back and erase, I'm more likely to go with the flow of the drawing rather than trying to make it perfect.

So anyway, that's what I've been up to lately. How are you spending your summer?

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Listening to: The Crowing by Coheed and Cambria. I think it's so cool that this band writes their songs based on a sci fi graphic novel that they're also creating. Gives me ideas regarding my own music and writing!