Today I went on adventure to London on the last day of my visit back home and in spirit of my endeavour we did a lot. Though there was disappointment as there was no where for me to do any writing on the train it was a good day. I have calculated we did at least 6 hours of solid walking and walking is something i love and feel not enough people really experience. Also when you walk you discover things, and thats how the trip in London went. Due to map confusion we ended up starting in the wrong direction and discovered that the British library were running a science fiction exhibition and it was amazing. I reallyu got some good ideas and now have yet more books I want to read. From there we continued our trek and made our way in an odd path to Leicester Square. There we visited the disappointing M&Ms world. We didn't stay long before going off through Picadilly Circus, then to Covent Gardens then back to Picadilly and away to Hyde Park. in Hyde Park we enjoyed a picnic and the pleasures of a beautiful park in the chaos of the city. As far as I am concerened it was a great day and as far as my endeavour I really learnt what mattered was the outing with family as I felt the need to buy very little unlike previous London visits.
Tomorrow I make my way back to Aberdeen and on the 11 or so hour bus ride I hope to do some writing and finally finish Gormengast, which is my challenge at the moment.
Vincent
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Monday, 29 August 2011
Day The Fourth
Today was an extremely productive day to balance yesterday, I wrote, knitted, went out, came back, made key decisions and entertained a guest, hence the lateness of this entry. Now as I mentioned yesterday I would make decisions regarding the outlook of this endeavour. I have made several of these decisions, some I cannot make at this moment due to lack of information and some I intend to wait to see what influence time might bring. Another major point is that the rules have become more challenges or guide lines than rules, this is mainly in my acceptance in that I am only human, and not a particularly good one at that. So let us lay down some groun rules:
1) Honesty; something I admit i am not great at but from here on in I will truely make effort like never before to be honest and open and to lie less. This does not mean I will admit to anything and everything, I reserve the right to omit information and hope the you will accept that I may not always be honest especially if honesty might damage others.
2) Forgiving; this is a guide line I know I will find difficult, I can be a very bitter person. But if I am giving myself a second chance do others not deserve the same? I cannot simply blanket forgive everyone, though there are those tresspasses for which it is appropriate there are others more personal that i will do in person.
3) Accepting; I must continue to accept that people are people and try to accept them as they are. Pretty simple.
So they're the guide lines for now though I am sure in my infinite wisdon I will add more as the year and a month continues and I discover where I must have greater control. But what am I moving towards? I have come up with a number of goals however like the guide lines I know I will add to these as challenges arise. So far I have:
1) Learn a foreign language; to be at least bi-lingual is something I have wanted for a while but have never acheived through my own fault. I have chosen Spanish to learn for two main reasons, firstly because it is a language I enjoy listening to and secondly because I intend to walk across part of Spain towards the end of the year, though I will discuss this in more detail at a later date.
2) To learn to play a musical instrument; this one is pretty simple and somethingi have tried and failed repeatedly mainly through simple lack of motivation. I have chosen guitar, mainly due to it being an instrument I like though it has advantage over other instruments as they can be cheap and aren't half as heavy as some. I should specify I will start at least with an acoustic.
3) To write and attempt to publish a book; if I was to lay claim to any one passion it would be writing, as my many blogs are testament to, however self doubt and poor motivation have lead me to not finish, to give up. I know I have the ideas and passion, so I will do it. Over the next month I will on Nom Nom Words test some ideas and choose one to run with.
So I have goals, at organisation I stumble, it is difficult to organise not knowing my timetable and working a shift based job. So I am afraid I can only make three rough outlines.
1) Time organisation: the only garuntee i can make to time is my general sleep patern, but even then only for 5 days of the week. Sunday evening through to Friday morning I will be aiming to be asleep by 1, getting 7 hours sleep, and waking at 8. This pattern ensures I maximise my day whilst still getting a healthy amount of sleep, unfortunately I cannot say what time I will grace my bed on a Friday or Saturday night due to later working times.
2) Monetary organisation: I cannot say exactly how much I will get paid fortnightly as I have no way of knowing how many hours I will be working week to week. However working from reasonable estimates I hope to be able to put £100 into my savings account and have £100 to last me over the next two weeks for food and the things i want with any extra staying in my account to bolster my rent and bill funds and help me move out of my overdraft.
3) Health organisation: Another tricky one to consider with out knowing my time constraints, but I will be relagating sweets to what ever day I most time off to aid in my relaxation. I will be going to the gym at least twice a week, I do have a membership, I may as well use it. I will also look to plan my meals aswell, in an attempt to improve my eating and my cooking plus this should help with money organiation.
So there we have the initial fruits of my labour and a view to continue from. I plan to put up more short term goals both related and unrelated. As I said; a good day today. Tomorrow I journey to London on an adventure.
1) Honesty; something I admit i am not great at but from here on in I will truely make effort like never before to be honest and open and to lie less. This does not mean I will admit to anything and everything, I reserve the right to omit information and hope the you will accept that I may not always be honest especially if honesty might damage others.
2) Forgiving; this is a guide line I know I will find difficult, I can be a very bitter person. But if I am giving myself a second chance do others not deserve the same? I cannot simply blanket forgive everyone, though there are those tresspasses for which it is appropriate there are others more personal that i will do in person.
3) Accepting; I must continue to accept that people are people and try to accept them as they are. Pretty simple.
So they're the guide lines for now though I am sure in my infinite wisdon I will add more as the year and a month continues and I discover where I must have greater control. But what am I moving towards? I have come up with a number of goals however like the guide lines I know I will add to these as challenges arise. So far I have:
1) Learn a foreign language; to be at least bi-lingual is something I have wanted for a while but have never acheived through my own fault. I have chosen Spanish to learn for two main reasons, firstly because it is a language I enjoy listening to and secondly because I intend to walk across part of Spain towards the end of the year, though I will discuss this in more detail at a later date.
2) To learn to play a musical instrument; this one is pretty simple and somethingi have tried and failed repeatedly mainly through simple lack of motivation. I have chosen guitar, mainly due to it being an instrument I like though it has advantage over other instruments as they can be cheap and aren't half as heavy as some. I should specify I will start at least with an acoustic.
3) To write and attempt to publish a book; if I was to lay claim to any one passion it would be writing, as my many blogs are testament to, however self doubt and poor motivation have lead me to not finish, to give up. I know I have the ideas and passion, so I will do it. Over the next month I will on Nom Nom Words test some ideas and choose one to run with.
So I have goals, at organisation I stumble, it is difficult to organise not knowing my timetable and working a shift based job. So I am afraid I can only make three rough outlines.
1) Time organisation: the only garuntee i can make to time is my general sleep patern, but even then only for 5 days of the week. Sunday evening through to Friday morning I will be aiming to be asleep by 1, getting 7 hours sleep, and waking at 8. This pattern ensures I maximise my day whilst still getting a healthy amount of sleep, unfortunately I cannot say what time I will grace my bed on a Friday or Saturday night due to later working times.
2) Monetary organisation: I cannot say exactly how much I will get paid fortnightly as I have no way of knowing how many hours I will be working week to week. However working from reasonable estimates I hope to be able to put £100 into my savings account and have £100 to last me over the next two weeks for food and the things i want with any extra staying in my account to bolster my rent and bill funds and help me move out of my overdraft.
3) Health organisation: Another tricky one to consider with out knowing my time constraints, but I will be relagating sweets to what ever day I most time off to aid in my relaxation. I will be going to the gym at least twice a week, I do have a membership, I may as well use it. I will also look to plan my meals aswell, in an attempt to improve my eating and my cooking plus this should help with money organiation.
So there we have the initial fruits of my labour and a view to continue from. I plan to put up more short term goals both related and unrelated. As I said; a good day today. Tomorrow I journey to London on an adventure.
Sunday, 28 August 2011
Day Three
Today I spent the majority of my day contemplating and considering, which translates as not much. I had a bit of a lazy day. I wandered into town to meet friends and did some house work. Nothing of great importance. I feel guilty for it mainly because I know I could have done more. Today re highlights one of the main reasons I am making this endeavour, to not waste my life. There were aspects of today that were definitely not wasted despite what some might think, such as watching some anime, however it is the unplanned laziness that upsets me. And it really does upset me. At times my lack of motivation or inability to do things has lead to bouts of depression which have affected me quite seriously. So today i must make a move on some of these aspects, to find a way to tackle simple distractions and lack of motivation. I intend to do this through rules, goals and organisation. I doubt I shall construct them all tomorrow but that is the task I set myself. As for tonight I appologise for my momentary stumble.
Saturday, 27 August 2011
The Day That Came Next
So today being the seond day of this attempt I began by getting up ealrier so as to make the most of my day. I then proceeded to arrange some of my finanaces. not all that good but well enough. Then as part of a birthday gift from my parents I went to see Conan The Barbarian, which I have written a review of and will post as soon as I have typed it up. I have done some further knitting and spent some time discussing the coming year with my family.
One thing that I have been considering today is that one of my many faults is disorganisation. I have great need to improve on this however there is a problem. I cannot organise myself in unstable situations, with out being at university or having financial stability it is hard to make on going plans. I will endeavour though to come up with some plans as to assist my efforts. Another aspect of planning that is important is to set goals for myself, I cannot simpley move towards some unknown destination. So I have tasked myself with making some decisions that i will elaborate upon over the next few posts. It has become clear that I must focus myself, diverging from this I must also accept some aspect of spontaneity as well as allowing myself pleasure. there is little point to living if you do not enjoy life.
Vincent
One thing that I have been considering today is that one of my many faults is disorganisation. I have great need to improve on this however there is a problem. I cannot organise myself in unstable situations, with out being at university or having financial stability it is hard to make on going plans. I will endeavour though to come up with some plans as to assist my efforts. Another aspect of planning that is important is to set goals for myself, I cannot simpley move towards some unknown destination. So I have tasked myself with making some decisions that i will elaborate upon over the next few posts. It has become clear that I must focus myself, diverging from this I must also accept some aspect of spontaneity as well as allowing myself pleasure. there is little point to living if you do not enjoy life.
Vincent
Friday, 26 August 2011
So It Begins
So today was the first day of my Endeavour To Be Me. My one year and one month quest to become more of the person I want to be, to achieve more and to be a generally better person, whatever that means. Today was also my 22nd birthday, so I hope I will be forgiven when I admit I did nothing spectacular. It is important to remember that this is about the long haul, though by the end I do expect to have had some significant changes they will take time and in some cases the most significant changes appear the smallest.
So what did I do today you ask, I got up earlier than my usual 11 or 12 and went to spend time with my parents opening presents. I got a new book to go with the many books that I have to read, I am going to start giving myself deadlines to read books so that I do spend more time reading than staring listly into space. I also got a variety of items include a knit your own cuddly monkey and ninjabread men bisuit cutters. With these at hand I cooked up a batch and began knitting. The tasks might not seem like much but I am not overly experience in baking or craft work, and surely gaining these skills is arguably an improvement. Though I must be honest; I have yet to finish the monkey though I have got far and the buscuits are far from perfect.
Tomorrow I am going to the cinema with my family to see Conan and I promise to have a review on my Critical Considerations blog. I also plan to update all my blogs as part of my attempt to use the time I spend on the internet more efficiently. Another little note, you may notice that my English is not perfect, I am typing these blog entries directly to the upload section so as to avoid spell checking, this will force me to try and monitor my work rather than relying on the little ABC button.
Vincent
So what did I do today you ask, I got up earlier than my usual 11 or 12 and went to spend time with my parents opening presents. I got a new book to go with the many books that I have to read, I am going to start giving myself deadlines to read books so that I do spend more time reading than staring listly into space. I also got a variety of items include a knit your own cuddly monkey and ninjabread men bisuit cutters. With these at hand I cooked up a batch and began knitting. The tasks might not seem like much but I am not overly experience in baking or craft work, and surely gaining these skills is arguably an improvement. Though I must be honest; I have yet to finish the monkey though I have got far and the buscuits are far from perfect.
Tomorrow I am going to the cinema with my family to see Conan and I promise to have a review on my Critical Considerations blog. I also plan to update all my blogs as part of my attempt to use the time I spend on the internet more efficiently. Another little note, you may notice that my English is not perfect, I am typing these blog entries directly to the upload section so as to avoid spell checking, this will force me to try and monitor my work rather than relying on the little ABC button.
Vincent
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