My Goals For The Year

I hope you've noticed that I keep a list of my goals for the year at the bottom of every post. They change slightly every so often. Lately I've been doing some thinking and I've decided to throw out my goal of posting a certain number of videos on YouTube.

Making YouTube videos is something I do for fun. I do it because I want to. I do it for me. I use it as a way to introduce myself to the world. My videos reflect who I am. I only want subscribers if they like me. I will not change myself to make my subscribers happy.  Forcing myself to make videos on a strict schedule isn't me. It takes the fun out of making videos. I don't want to make something just because I have to. Being forced to film will only decrease my video quality, and I'm not okay with that. It's not a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

So if I post 100, or even 50, videos by the end of the year, that's great, but I'm not going to force myself to do it.

And folks, the same goes for blogging. I blog when I want to. Don't expect a schedule.

My goals for the year (so far):

- Read more books.
- Keep track of the books I read.
- Make new friends.
- Make a scrapbook.
- Learn a seemingly useless but entertaining skill (boomerang, perhaps?)
- Write and produce a song.
- Learn to say "please", "thank you", and "you're welcome" in 7 new languages.

Pokemon caught: 54
Last caught: Machoke
Monferno evolved to Infernape

Geodude evolved to Graveler to Golem

Gastly evolved to Haunter to Gengar

Zubat evolved to Golbat

Books I've Read So Far This Year: January - February

Insomniatic Dreams - S.J.D. Howson
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Switched - Amanda Hocking
Torn - Amanda Hocking
Ascend - Amanda Hocking
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Hamlet - William Shakespeare


My goals for the year (so far):
- Read more books.
- Keep track of the books I read.
- Make new friends.
- Make a scrapbook.
- Post 100 videos on YouTube.
- Learn a seemingly useless but entertaining skill (boomerang, perhaps?)
- Write and produce a song.
- Learn to say "please", "thank you", and "you're welcome" in 7 new languages.

It's A Small World After All.

I know it's been too long since my last post. I live a busy life, as you'll soon see. Since I'm trapped in the car for several more hours, I decided to take the opportunity to blog on my nice 3G Amzon Kindle that I got for Christmas. I've accomplished some pretty awesome things in the last two weeks. I've given my IB Spanish oral presentation, which I believe went very well, and I've given my IB Theory of Knowledge presentation. I'll blog abut those later.

The reason for my absence everywhere but Twitter is due to the fact that I've been at Disney World without a computer or internet since Saturday. Unlike a significant percentage of the people at the parks, I wasn't running away from Mardi Gras. (Seriously, you wouldn't believe how many Louisianians were running away from Mardi Gras. I have never seen so much LSU and Notre Dame gear in one place, outside of Louisiana. I don't blame them. If I lived that close to New Orleans, I'd run away too.) I was there, along with the rest of my dance academy's performing company, to perform.

This isn't the first time my company has performed at Disney World. They performed back in 2007 on the Magic Kingdom Tomorrowland stage. I didn't perform with them that time, but my sister did, so of course I was there to see  that  performance. While the performance went well, the audience was little more than the people we had brought with us. It wasn't exactly what we were hoping for. The stage is pretty much the reason for our lack of spectators. Although the stage itself was nice, it was in the worst location. It was located in an obscured corner of Tomorrowland between the Carousel of Progress and the Buzz Lightyear ride. For those of you who don't know, Tomorrowland is where the famous Space Mountain rollercoaster is located. That rollercoaster is the reason why people go to Tomorrowland, despite the fact that it is notorious for its two hour peak wait time and its distibution of all Fast Passes within 2 hours of the park opening. Needless to say, people don't go to Tomorrowland to watch some nobody kids dance. (Another note, that stage doesn't even exist anymore.)

*** I am no longer typing on my Kindle. I broke it. Replacement comes tomorrow. ***

This year's performance was completely different. We performed at Downtown Disney on the waterfront stage, in front of a crowd of about 300. 300 people who actually stopped and watched our entire show. Besides the annoying stage flaws (that stage was NOT built for dancers), it was incredible. The audience response was fantastic. The adults thought it was great, and the kids were dancing along with us. It was a wonderful feeling, entertaining people. If it wasn't for my obvious lack of training, I could be a Disney performer. Making people happy would be a fulfilling career.


My goals for the year (so far):
- Read more books.
- Keep track of the books I read.
- Make new friends.
- Make a scrapbook.
- Post 100 videos on YouTube.
- Learn a seemingly useless but entertaining skill (boomerang, perhaps?)
- Write and produce a song.
- Learn to say "please", "thank you", and "you're welcome" in 7 new languages.

Day One.

2011.
Two thousand eleven.
Twenty eleven.
MMXI.

This year.

It's nearly March and I'm just now beginning to plan my goals for the year. I suppose that's typical for me. I've never been one for deadlines. In fact, I've been called a serial procrastinator. But this year, things are going to change. 
Actually, a lot of things are going to change, whether I want them to or not. I'm nearing the end of my senior year of high school and the great establishment of University looms over me, filling me with both excitement and dread. I'm very much ready to be done with all of the work I deal with in my classes now, but a huge part of me isn't ready to leave behind my classmates and all of the things I'm involved in.
I've been with the same kids in my classes since I was a freshman, and we've grown up together. We may not all be best friends, but the 24 of us have become a family. A dysfunctional family, but a family nonetheless. Whether we admit it or not, we'd all help each other out if we really needed it.
Going off to college terrifies me. I'm not afraid of the intensity of the classes; I'm afraid of being alone. Even when I started going to my high school back in 2007, I was never truly alone. I transferred there with three of my friends, and I had a lot of acquaintances from my dance academy, so there were at least familiar faces in the halls. When I go off to college, none of my friends are going with me. There will be no familiar faces. This will certainly be a test of my people skills.

My goals for the year (so far):
- Read more books.
- Keep track of the books I read.
- Make new friends.
- Make a scrapbook.
- Post 100 videos on YouTube.
- Learn a seemingly useless but entertaining skill (boomerang, perhaps?)
- Write and produce a song.