January was a month of getting back into the work routine, post processing a ton of photos, and trying not to play Diablo 3 too much. In the past, I haven’t been consistent in summing up my month, but since I’m trying out monthly goals, it seems like a good idea to do!
Usually after the holidays, I can ease back into my work. This time I didn’t have that leisure and was immediately put on a major project that has hard deadlines. On top of that, I’ve had to figure out some team transitions. I transitioned my team of designers to a different manager (one who is actually a UX/design person), and I picked up a second team of developers instead. It’s been very busy!
Other than work, I’ve gotten back into running. Texas often doesn’t understand what “winter” is, so we’ve been having a lot of spring-like weather. I’m taking advantage of that by running outside more, and it especially feels good after work. Then I spend the night watching shows, playing games, and working on photos. Recently, I’ve been watching One Piece, Psycho Pass 2, and Voltron season 2 – the last of which I finished fairly quickly. I like how Netflix releases all episodes at once, but the downside is that some people bing it in a day or two and then post spoilers online. It makes me feel like I have to rush through them =/ (Why do people feel the need to post spoilers so soon???)
Anyway, let’s review the January goals I set for myself:
- Unpack the “box room” – Complete! I unpacked everything and separated them into 4 piles – keep, donate, trash, and recycle. I still need to go through the “keep” pile again and try to get rid of more.
- Start and finish a single player game – Complete! I finished Zero Time Dilemma on the 3DS and started playing Tomb Raider on PC.
- Set up a dash cam in my car – Complete! I hope I’m never in a situation (again) where I have to use the footage, but at least I have it available to me now.
- Start reading an Ember tutorial – Sort of, but not really? I did the base goal of actually starting to look at it, but I haven’t gotten far. I wish I had spent more time on this.
Other little achievements in January:
- Remembered to renew my car’s registration on time.
- Started to close my laptop during meetings, so I’m not as distracted. I still bring it with me since I frequently need to pull something up.
- Got my husband to take some photos of my Pokemon Go cosplay. I thank him for putting up with me as I totally acted as a back-seat photographer 😉
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- Finished post processing two photoshoots that I did at a recent Anime con. Just one to go!
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- Led a “Fix-It Week” project at work, where we managed to delete almost 3,000 lines of old, unused Javascript.
- Completed the season journey (Guardian) in Diablo 3, season 9 with my Barbarian.
And now for my goals for February:
- Subscribe to at least 5 charities – Every year, I pick several charities to do a one-time large donation to. Last year, I decided that I should stop that and switch to a monthly donation instead. My goal is to pick at least 5 and donate at least $100/month.
- Finish going through the Ember guides – I’ve put this off long enough. Time to learn this JS framework, especially since the other team I now manage mostly works in Ember.
- Draw something – Something, anything. I used to love drawing, but I rarely do it now. I want to get back into it.
- Clean my desks – both work and home. They have gotten very cluttered!
That’s it for now! Have a good February everyone!
Wow go you! I haven’t been keeping up with the One Piece anime but I still read the manga. Also, that’s great that you’re planning on donating to some charities. I’m not in a place where I can afford to do that right now but hopefully in the future sometime when I have a better income and I’m no longer a student I can do that!
I would be interested in seeing some of your drawings – I’ve tried to make it my goal to draw more often too, although I’m not doing it as often as I would like to.
It’s very cool how you set goals for yourself monthly. I feel like it would make you more motivated to accomplish things!
Winter HAS been insane in Texas and even worse in my area: DFW area, seriously :/ I love your drawings as you need to show more of them! Those photos turned out beautifully <3
I was lucky this year. My transition back into work after the Christmas break was fairly easy this year. I had a few 3 or 4 day weeks so that helped!
I also got my dash cam set up this month. I wanted it wired to the electrics so I didn’t have to power it via the cigarette lighter. As you say, I hope I never have to use it.
That’s very generous of you to donate to charity. Now I have a more steady income I’d like to start donating to a charity that has helped me a lot in the past.
Yowza! You’ve done a lot for January. Just reading what you did with work and your hobbies and photoshoots — you were busy! Yay for accomplishing a lot! ^_^
Your thing about the charity goal caught my eyes. I, too, have decided to be more giving this year. I plan to donate to one non-profit org per month. For January I’d donated to No One Left Behind. For February, I’ll be donating to ACLU. I think what you’re doing is a good idea, too!
Good luck with your other goals 🙂 Cleaning is something I need to do, too LOL Do share what you end up drawing! ^_^
I can’t imagine how long it takes to post processing. I have a friend of uni who is a photographer and every time I go on Snapchat all he seems to be doing is post processing.
Ah, work sounds super busy but you sound like you’re on top of it so kudos to you! 😀
That also annoys me about Netflix releasing it all in one good. I get to binge watch, but I use Twitter a lot and Tumblr, both of which are notorious for people posting spoilers. Fun times(!)
Congratulations on completely most of your goals! At least you got a look in on the tutorial; doing something is better than nothing.
I loved seeing your progress of the Pokemon Go cosplay on Instagram! It turned out amazing 😀 Good luck with your goals for February!
Hope the business at work means lots of good stuff happening at work :). I giggled a bit on the inside when I saw one of our clients using your work’s product ;).
It’s great to hear you completing most of your goals last month! It’s always better to have a footage on hand just in case. There are too many shady people in the world these days @___@. It’s good that you close your laptop during meetings. I try to keep it closed and take some handwritten notes to avoid being rude to the other meeting attendees. Your pictures look great!
Good luck with this month’s goals! Donating $100 per month is amazing :). I remembered seeing your rooster picture for Lunar New Year. I love the attention you put into your artwork :D.
Last month was definitely a month where I had to try and adapt to the work routine after the holiday! It sounds like work has been very busy, I can say the same with mine too. It’s been super busy since I came back in order to transition into the new semester and bring in all these new initiatives.
Well done on completing your goals last month! I haven’t played a single player game in such a long time, I think gaming more is on my list for sure 😛
Good luck with this month! 😀 Looking forward to your next recap already 😀
OH I am so glad we aren’t the only people with a “box room”!!! Actually we had 2 box rooms – and lived in this house since 2013 ><;;; We finally condensed all the junk into one room. We needed to free up a room for baby.
I love your cosplay pics – if I cosplayed I would totally beg you to be my photographer!
Totally jealous of your Texas winter weather right now. It’s been pretty cold in Missouri and I’ve been wanting to go outside and go hiking or for a run, but it’s just too cold! Definitely makes me look forward to spring and the warmer weather.
Good job on your January goals!! I haven’t got much done with my own decluttering goal so this makes me want to work on that this weekend. I finished the one game that I started in January, so I’m pretty happy with that, but I haven’t started playing another yet. I’ve been pretty busy last month with a lot of traveling, so I’m hoping to have more time this month.
Getting your car registration renewed is definitely an accomplishment. I always hate going to the DMV, and Andrew was supposed to get his renewed last month and had to pay a late fee since he didn’t do it on time. *facepalm*
I love your charity goal. You should share which charities you donate to to spread more awareness! I donate a percentage of Andrew and I’s income each month, but we always donate extra around Christmas time (as I know most people do haha).
I’ll probably find out when I read your February recap that you’ve got ahead on Ember! 😉 I mean, I’m reading your posts in chronological order haha.
I found the commitment to closing your laptop during meetings very good! I always have my phone on me and recently we’ve had some company changes (RE infrastructure and architecture) and I was given a really subtle reminder in my 1:1 to perhaps leave the phone behind so I can take part in discussion. I think I really thought, wow, I should buckle down. I hardly take my laptop with me but it’s always my phone! I am now trying to take a notebook and pen instead.
Your husband did a great job on the photos. ? I also instruct Nick quite a bit when he takes photos for my Fashion Fridays!
It’s awesome to hear that you’re getting into running. I just had a big workout at the gym this morning, which didn’t have running… but I look forward to running a little more when I move out because we’ll be looking at somewhere closer to the city (nicer views and all).