August Rush Begins!

It's that time of summer when I've come to realize which goals I'll have time to complete and which ones I haven't. It's a time for introspection as to the purpose of goals, as well as a time of reflection of how great my summer has been. Without going into detail, and with no more ado, I give you my final Summer to-do list:

-Finish my summer playlist
-Read 3 more Calvin and Hobbes books
-Run a 1 mile time trial (under 6:00)
-Practice break-dancing
-Practice skateboarding
-Write out final poems
-Finish inspiration board
-Buy a bike
-Tour the Masonic temple
-Write letters to Skittles, McDonald's, and the Mayor of Farmington
-Finish my work on the file

If I finish everything on this list in the next 10 days, I will have completed 20/25 summer goals. 80% on my summer goals would be the best completion percentage in summer goal history for me. Sure, it's not 100%, but I would still be happy. The goals I have failed still helped shape my summer for the better--hardly a failure at all. The measure of which my life has changed this summer is unprecedented--what an incredible summer so far. And I have summer goals to thank for that, for both directly and indirectly motivating me to do fun and incredible things.

One Month Down!

Rapid fire update:

-I beat Ocarina of Time. It was dope. It was a pain in the butt. It was fun. Ganon owned me. But courage prevailed.

-Saw Jurassic World twice. Movie goal complete. I'll probably see plenty more movies in theaters this summer, though. Because they're dope.

-Wrote one poem. Started a second. Boom. Gold.

Get it, son. This summer is dope so far.

First Update of the Summer!

Hey kids!

A quick update on summer goals. (#1) I've finished the first volume of eight needed to read every Calvin and Hobbes strip in existence. I found the second volume and I borrowed it from the library. Nothing crazy. Just reading comics. And a lot of them.

(#2) We had a writing meeting! I'm starting the draft on episode 4 for the Detention Miniseries. For those of you who don't know (which is almost everybody), we've been working on writing a miniseries for around 4 years now. Progress was slow for the first few years with a 2-year hiatus in there somewhere. But now we're back more productive than ever and actually writing the dang thing.

(#4) For the second summer in a row, my life goal challenge of the summer is to run a 5:59 mile time. I need to shave off about 6 seconds from last summer's PR and I feel like my training is off to a much better start this year. In other news, I reevaluated my list of life goals. I'll be posting about them and other things about my self motivating life on a different blog. Get it, son!

(#8) I'm at the infamous Water Temple. I haven't gone in yet. It's daunting, intimidating task for sure.

(#9) I almost went camping. Almost.

(#10/13) Quitting soda and Facebook was hard. I had headaches for a few days, but those are finally gone. I had a lot of thoughtless urges to check my Facebook app only to not be able to find it on my phone, as I took preventive measures in disabling it. Good call, past George.

(#11) I've slowly been trying to get my sleep schedule back on track so I can start getting up before 8 AM for half the summer. I think this goal is key to a productive summer and the days I've done it, I've made a lot of progress on goals and other aspirations. Because there's actually a lot of things I work on outside of my summer goals, of course. Especially fitness goals, which my summer goals this year are lacking.

(#12) The summer playlist is in the works! I'll be adding more songs as the summer continues to unfold and new songs become more relevant to my life. So far I've got 5 solid songs, but I want somewhere around 15.

(#14) I bought the board and started putting things on it! Once the inspiration board is full, I'll be able to check this one off.

(#23) Check this one off! My goal to finish one of last year's unfinished summer goals is over. I managed to make an actual friend that also happens to be a girl (Goal #23 last year), which is not something I've ever really done in my life before.

Not a bad start! 5/25 (20%) complete already and a lot more in progress. Tune in next week for another update!

New Year, New Goals!

What a grand summer this is! Yet another opportunity to take advantage of the lazy months of life and turn them into my most productive. Without further ado, here's my goals for this year:

1. Read 3,000 Calvin and Hobbes comic strips.
2. Write the remaining three drafts of the Detention miniseries (4,5, ).
3. Learn a breakdance move.
4. Complete one of my many life goals.
5. Learn a sick skateboard trick.
6. See five movies in theater [x, x, x, x, x]
7. Write five poems [x,x, , , ,]
8. Beat a Zelda game.
9. Go camping.
10. Quit drinking soda for 90 days.
11. Get up before 8 AM 45 days (27 down).
12. Make a summer playlist.
13. Quit Facebook for 90 days.
14. Create an inspiration board
15. Quit electricity for one week.
16. Buy and fix up a bike.
17. Tour the Masonic Temple.
18. Save $4,000.
19. Write 3 letters [ , , ,]
20. Pull off a caper.
21. Distribute GFD shirts.
22. Beat the Ender Dragon in Minecraft.
23. Finish one of last year's summer goals.
24. Play ball at the Sandlot.
25. Fix up The File.

I think I'll post a lot more this year throughout the summer. As you can see, I've gotten a start on a few of these. So let's do this!

August Rush!

Gosh dang. It's that time again. August Rush. That time when it's the last week of summer and I've only achieved a small portion of the goals I've set out to do. It's that time when I have to try and prioritize my goals to get the most out of this last week that I can. Of course, in the end, it's not the actual accomplishing of the goals that's important. That's just the way to measure my actual progress--which, of course, is the actual goal. My real summer goal every summer, and always, is to become a better person with new great experiences and more knowledge than before, and all the other goals are just variable ideas of how to best go about accomplishing that.

With all this in mind, here's a few goals I've completed since last time:

Goal #5: I'm still nowhere near to being as good as I should be at guitar. I'm awful and only know a few chords. At the beginning of the summer, I was envisioning that I would know several songs by the end of summer, but that didn't happen. However, at the beginning of the summer, I didn't pick up a guitar and start playing it every time I was in the same room as one. I'm going to say that although I didn't get to where I wanted, this one is accomplished--mostly because it left me with a continuous desire to increase my skills. Basically what I'm saying is: goal complete, but this one isn't over yet. Kinda like this next one!

Goal #7: Learn the history of Hip Hop. Firstly, I realized that this isn't a thing I'm just going to do once in my life. I watched a few documentaries and made a big list of artists I need to listen to someday, and even started on the list. I learned the difference between Hip Hop and rap music, where rap came from, where the names "Hip Hop" and "rap" came from. I learned about important and early influences in rap. I also started to learn how much I don't know about Hip Hop. But I think most importantly, this summer I learned a greater love for early Hip Hop. It's much more my style--simple beats, lyrics with actual feeling and meaning, songs that are actually about something, not just made to make money. I'm going to count this goal as accomplished, under the condition that I will continue to study Hip Hop and finish listening to my list by the end of the semester.

Goal #10: Quit soda for 90 days. This one was already checked off, but the 90 days have finally come to a close. Honestly, I thought this would get easier as the summer went on. I thought I'd get used to not drinking soda. But this one was actually a challenge for me. I'm constantly surrounded by soda and it was a constant temptation. Well now my 90 days is over and I plan on splurging on soda a bit this week before I start new, intense fitness goals for the rest of the school year. And 3 months is a long time to quit anything. But I also haven't had headaches from caffeine in 3 months, which is a great feeling.

Goal #12: Go on a date. I honestly didn't think I was going to get this one. This was a complete surprise that I was able to complete this one. And it was great.

Goal #22: Write 12 letters to missionaries. This one is simple. It was well worth my time and I might not have done it if not for this goal.

Goal #23: This one didn't go the way I hoped it would. But looking back, there's several girls that I met this summer that I actually consider to be my relatively close friends. Good enough, I'd say, because making new friends is tough for me.

Goal #26: I'm going to continue on this for the rest of the week, but I've been exploring the basics of Linear Algebra lately. I don't feel a real need to brush up on Calculus, which was my original intent, after learning more about Linear Algebra and Discrete math and finding that they're hardly connected with Calculus much at all. My Calculus skills are still decent enough anyways.

Goal #27: Visit a new state. I had never been to Texas before. I wouldn't say I fell in love with the state of Texas, but I met some amazing people and this was perhaps the highlight of my summer. I even got to watch every episode of Community, my favorite TV show, on the 40 hour round-trip drive. More than anything, though, I learned a lot about quidditch and I became more motivated than ever to get my butt into shape. Not just for quidditch, but for me. Either way, look out, world. I'm finally getting serious about my health. Maybe I'll document that online, too.

I guess the cool thing is that I did a lot of cool things this summer not even on the list. I made a lot of great friends. I fell in love with Charles Bradley after one of the best concerts I've ever been to. Also, I gained a real appreciation for Beck--he isn't the boring, old rock artist I was afraid he might be. He's a rockstar and he is amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed renewing my love for soccer and obsessed over the World Cup, along with many other generic Americans. I even had a whole lot of fun doing absoultely nothing. I learned a little bit of Spanish. I transferred colleges. I got really into old school video games (SNES mostly) and had a great time bonding with friends and family over them. I went to a bunch of concerts, saw some great movies, went on several memorable trips, played some quidditch. I made enough money to get me through the upcoming semester safely, quit my job, and got another one teaching Math. I learned that even though Local Natives is great, they should only be allowed to open for other good bands. I jammed playing several instruments I don't even know how to play (sax, guitar, drums, bass), and I had a lot of fun doing it.

Well I want to save some material for my last blogpost at the end of this week. I have 7 days to finish as many of my remaining 14 goals as I can. As of right now, I'm projecting my final score will be 21/29 (72%), which means I'm setting out to accomplish 6 goals this week as part of Augst Rush. I plan to clean the cage for one day this week, watch 2 movies a day, do a lot of skateboarding, visit my good friend the Papabat, read more Shakespeare, and write a script. I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh, and for the updated this of this year's goals, here you go: http://goalsofsummer.blogspot.com/2014/06/an-overview-of-this-years-goals.html

Midsummer Night's Update

Whew. It's been a hot minute since I updated this, eh? Looks like I'm running behind on my friends-blog/tumblr thing, as per usual and as expected. I'm still gonna try and finish it, but things aren't looking great. As of right now, I'm 8/29 on my goals half way through summer. I've been lacking in my summer goals because it's a pretty overwhelming to-do list and I've been doing a whole lot of nothing instead, which I don't regret. But to keep things fresh, here's some goals I have completed:

2- Still haven't gotten a haircut. It's been since January, so... about 7 months now? Solid. Still contemplating what I'll do at the end of the summer. Mohawk it up for a few days?

3- I beat Dungeon Defenders, a surprisingly fun arcade-ish co-op with my broskis. More specifically, I played every level with my main bro Bambi, which also counted for one of his goals. I'd never played this game before, and it's been years since I've beat a new video game. Now me, my friends, and my family are all somewhat addicted. Which is healthy, because we all work together and play together all the time.

10- Soda fast is still going strong. A few more weeks to hold out. I plan on going balls out on more fitness goals when school starts, but I may take a day at the end of summer to reward myself with a brief soda binge. Man, I'm looking forward to that. I thought I'd stop craving soda after a while, but even after 5 weeks it still sounds amazing. I did write in an exception to this rule in the case that I need to drive through the night on a road trip and needed some caffeine since I don't drink coffee. Which came useful in my 1 AM-5 AM shift of driving to California, in which case I consumed half of  a Rock Star. Man, that caffeine got me wired, though.

14- I ALMOST ran a 6 minute mile. In all reality, if I don't achieve this goal, I won't be too bummed because I already set a PR this summer by 3 seconds with a solid 6:05. I think I can still do it before the end of summer, but this one is hecka hard for me.

-15 pullups. Very nice. This one took several weeks, and now I've been avoiding doing them since then.

20-I finished the entirety of Arrested Development, only one of 3 shows I've seen every episode of (along with Community and Avatar: The Last Airbender). This was soooo time consuming. But the writing in this show amazes me. The way they tie together every single small detail in every episode is ridiculous and inspiring. The one downside is that there's hardly a single likable character in the series, although some are obviously more despicable than others. The characters are well crafted, the continuity is amazing, and the series was just all-around solid. Definitely a good choice for this. My major complaint is with the 4th season, which is common among most viewers. Although I'm impressed they could get everyone back together for it, they aimed for a much too complex story-line for anyone to actually follow on a first watch. Which worked well with their mad skillz of tying everything together, but I think it's bad for viewers trying to keep everything straight on their first watch. I'm sure this would raise the re-watch value of the 4th season, but I'm not ready for that right now. Fantastic show, though.


I updated goal number 7 when I realized the implausibility to do this in one summer. I'd have to listen to over an hour of music a day, which isn't something I expected or wanted to commit to. Instead, I'm going to be taking on a more realistic and (personally) a more interesting goal of studying the history of hip hop and rap. It's a pretty non-specific goal, but it's a realm of music I've always been interested in but never felt well enough versed in.

I also updated goal 22 to be write a missionary 12 times, or once for every week of summer. I write missionaries sometimes twice a week, sometimes skipping weeks, since they respond sporadically. I figure it's a much better goal to just try and write an average of once a week than to actually write every week. Just as well, in my opinion. So far I've got 5 out of 12.

I also deleted two unwanted goals that were a bit of a joke anyways when I decided I didn't want to actually do them.

Oh, and here's some to-do lists for this summer.

One-time event goals left:
-Go on a date.
-Run a sub-6 minute mile.
-Clean up the cage.
-Surf.
-Visit a new state.
-Write a script (idea formulated)
-Visit Papabat.


Goals left in progress:
-Watch those 15 movies (2/15)
-Learn guitar skills.
-Learn skateboard skills.
-Learn the history of Hip Hop and Rap.
-Finish the New Testament and the Book of Mormon.
-Read 5 Shakespeare plays. (1/5)
-Start a band.
-175 pounds.
-Make a friend that is a girl.
-Finish that one tumblr thing.
-Catch up on my math skills.
-Write missionaries.

Goals I realistically will probably not achieve:
-Go on a date. I might have to change my definition of a date for this one if I want to achieve it.
-Finish the BoM. I've got a looooong way to go...
-Start a band. This one isn't looking too good. We might get desperate at the end of the summer because I know I'm not the only one with goals like this.
-175 pounds. Too many Slurpees with Dakota. Worth it, of course.
-Make a friend that is a girl.

Other cool things I've done so far this summer? I got to play on the same team as THE Stephen Bell and learn from the best Keeper in the world down in Cali at Western Fantasy. This was a great trip and a great tournament, all things considered. I also made great friends with Casey from Boise, who I respect a ton. And it turns out the bros from Boise are all even more awesome than I would have guessed. Also, we went tubing on the Provo river, which was an adventure, but was absolutely a miserable experience. No regrets, though. Goals we may see in future years that I've been thinking of? Catch a snitch. Read the complete works of Calvin and Hobbes. Get in a fight. Learn to freestyle. Just to name a few.

Peace!

Quick Update From George!

Adventures have been had. Pictures have been taken. Goals have been completed. New goals have been posted. Other goals have been started.

So this week we climbed a mountain (goal #4). For those of you who remember Snow Cup II and that amazing sunset view from my cousin's house--and the mountain you could see across the lake? That's the mountain we climbed. It wasn't the biggest mountain in the world, but it was my favorite hike I've ever been on. It was about 8 miles and a lot of fun. We even saw 19 different things, but right now I can only remember a handful of them. Although I can't post some of the pictures here because Pat was indecent, and even though I haven't mashed up the videos we took yet, here's a few quick pics from the journey. Personally, my favorite is my phone's attempt at a panoramic pictures--looks like there's a few too many legs and Kevin looks prego. But then again, sometimes the altitude can do some weird things to you. Oh, and did I mention we found a geocache at the top? If accidentally finding a geocache doesn't count as an adventure, then I don't know what does.

Additionally, I got my hands on a skateboard (goal #6), learned some new chords on guitar today (goal #5) borrowed a Calculus book (goal #27), and sadly I gained a few pounds (backsliding on goal #17). I'm almost finished with Arrested Development season 1, which started off slower than I expected, but is quickly becoming self-referential and hilarious. I also checked off the 90 day soda fast because I quit soda. Although the fast isn't complete, it will be by the end of summer if I don't drink any soda. Also, I'm considering adding a goal about studying the history of Hip Hop. Right now I'm trying to decide if it's worth having 31 goals instead of 30. We'll see.

PEACE.