2008 Recap
Last year was undoubtedly an up and down year. I start my new dream job, only to watch my 401k balance lose 50% of its value due to my shoddy international investing strategy. I find new love, companionship, and all that is wonderful in Keiko, only to discover that my sister suffered from cancer. It was baffling how I was able to get *anything* accomplished.
Goals 2008:
1. Switch jobs.
In October, I had the opportunity to take on a role with a startup, but decided against it because something about a large company felt right. Thus, I jumped the sinking ship that is ALZA and started my new gig as a device engineer at Genentech. In December, ALZA announced its final layoffs and all their buildings were sold to Google. Well played. 1 point.
2. Participate in The Chinese Challenge.
The Chinese Challenge was Diana's and my way of keeping our Chinese language skills up by speaking only that to each other. It started strongly the first three to four months, then failed miserably. 0 points.
3. Ride in a limousine for the first time.
This would have been nice, but there just wasn't an opportunity to. 0 points.
4. Survive three songs on Rock Band expert mode for all four instruments.
While I did not keep an official tally, I am pretty sure this happened, just by the sheer amount of time that I spent on the game. It is tough to say which instrument between the drums and guitars I am better at, but it is safe to say that singing is not my forte. I sure do like to sing, though. 1 point.
5. Wake up before noon 354/366 days (allows for one slip up a month).
It is hard for me to sleep in past noon now, so this was set up to be a success from the onset. 1 point.
6. Be able to run five kilometers without stopping.
I was certain I could have done this had I trained for it, but the fact is I never made the effort to and that upsets me more than the fact that it didn't happen. What happened to my drive? 0 points.
7. Two words: Roth IRA.
This was a stupid goal. So I put the max ($4,000) in, but had I held off for one more year, I would have been better off. Oh well. For 2008, since I can, I will put even more in! That's right. Throwing money at a problem will magically make it go away. 1 point.
8. Buy a home in the Bay Area.
This was a stretch goal and I knew it since the job situation was quite shaky. However, it is set up pretty nicely to be achieved in 2009. C'mon housing prices and interest rates.. free fall some more! 0 points.
9. Go on the top deck of a double-decker bus in London.
I barely made it out of California, much less the United States. I guess the New York trip I took in May was the closest I got. That and seeing a bunch of double-decker buses in Vegas now. 0 points.
10. Introduce myself to a new person every week for 52 weeks.
I would not be surprised if I now know 52 more people than I did exactly a year ago. But! The condition states one every week, so.. close, but no cigar. 0 points.
That was a pretty epic fail if I ever saw one, as the final score is 4/10! For 2009, one of my goals will be to make more achievable goals. :-p
Goals 2008:
1. Switch jobs.
In October, I had the opportunity to take on a role with a startup, but decided against it because something about a large company felt right. Thus, I jumped the sinking ship that is ALZA and started my new gig as a device engineer at Genentech. In December, ALZA announced its final layoffs and all their buildings were sold to Google. Well played. 1 point.
2. Participate in The Chinese Challenge.
The Chinese Challenge was Diana's and my way of keeping our Chinese language skills up by speaking only that to each other. It started strongly the first three to four months, then failed miserably. 0 points.
3. Ride in a limousine for the first time.
This would have been nice, but there just wasn't an opportunity to. 0 points.
4. Survive three songs on Rock Band expert mode for all four instruments.
While I did not keep an official tally, I am pretty sure this happened, just by the sheer amount of time that I spent on the game. It is tough to say which instrument between the drums and guitars I am better at, but it is safe to say that singing is not my forte. I sure do like to sing, though. 1 point.
5. Wake up before noon 354/366 days (allows for one slip up a month).
It is hard for me to sleep in past noon now, so this was set up to be a success from the onset. 1 point.
6. Be able to run five kilometers without stopping.
I was certain I could have done this had I trained for it, but the fact is I never made the effort to and that upsets me more than the fact that it didn't happen. What happened to my drive? 0 points.
7. Two words: Roth IRA.
This was a stupid goal. So I put the max ($4,000) in, but had I held off for one more year, I would have been better off. Oh well. For 2008, since I can, I will put even more in! That's right. Throwing money at a problem will magically make it go away. 1 point.
8. Buy a home in the Bay Area.
This was a stretch goal and I knew it since the job situation was quite shaky. However, it is set up pretty nicely to be achieved in 2009. C'mon housing prices and interest rates.. free fall some more! 0 points.
9. Go on the top deck of a double-decker bus in London.
I barely made it out of California, much less the United States. I guess the New York trip I took in May was the closest I got. That and seeing a bunch of double-decker buses in Vegas now. 0 points.
10. Introduce myself to a new person every week for 52 weeks.
I would not be surprised if I now know 52 more people than I did exactly a year ago. But! The condition states one every week, so.. close, but no cigar. 0 points.
That was a pretty epic fail if I ever saw one, as the final score is 4/10! For 2009, one of my goals will be to make more achievable goals. :-p
Labels: life
My resolutions, as I think I've told you, tend to be more about working on aspects of myself that I wish to improve. I'm not sure why that is...other than figuring it can never hurt to be a better person... And possibly because there's not too much that I can really do outside of my normal realm sometimes. I haven't made resolutions perse but I have certain things that I figure I'll aim to work on during 2009. Probably by the end of the year, I won't remember them, since I kind of make "resolutions" throughout the entire year.
Posted by
Starlight |
January 4, 2009 at 5:02 PM