Mission 101 Progress Report: Day 921 (Plus something I learned)
I'm posting an update now because I just accomplished a major milestone: For the first time, I moved to a place where I can stay indefinitely (as long as I keep the job I currently have, which is also of indefinite duration). I thought now was a good time to assess where I am and what I need to focus on next, and also to share something I've learned about the Mission 101 process.
The goals that are newly completed since the last time I posted a progress report are: 7 and 22.
When I originally wrote my current Mission 101 list back in December of 2008, I was still in the middle of my AmeriCorps year in Florida. I expected that after that was over, I would move back to my parents' house briefly, then find my own job and be out on my own within a few months (that is, sometime between Day 226 and Day 365 of the 1001 days). For reasons that I won't go into detail about (in summary: I was lazy, ignorant, and complacent), that only just happened now. Unfortunately, a large number of the tasks on my Mission 101 list are contingent upon my having a stable, independent source of income. Now I have one and there are only 80 days to go. What I've learned, therefore, is that not too many of the things on your list should be contingent on one or more particular aspects of your life falling into place. They may not, or they may not fall into place in the time frame you expected them to. I would have been far more successful overall in this Mission 101 attempt if I had selected more goals that were not contingent on income, or, better yet, if I had bothered to find out what the steps were to finding and keeping a job and made those tasks my goals.
Key:
Black with strikethrough: Completed!
Teal: In progress.
Orange: Failed.
Plain black: Not yet attempted.
(Italics): Explanations and other comments.
Career
1. Obtain copies of the two books about how to get started as a translator from the American Translators' Association's website.
2. Read those books and take at least one step toward following the advice contained therein.
3. Look for my first paid freelance translating assignment.
4. Join the American Translators' Association (ATA).
5. Prepare for the ATA certification exam.
6. Talk to Shelley and find out when her AmeriCorps year ended and what she did afterward.
7. Do research and look for a professional occupation to enter into immediately following my AmeriCorps year, preferably in the San Diego or San Francisco areas. (probably more ESOL teaching, which I don't mind all that much) (Well, here I am, in a professional occupation. I did some research, but I wish I had done more. I'm still in the Temecula area, and this is hardly "immediately following" that year. Even though I didn't follow the letter of this goal, I've accomplished the spirit of it, which was "get a real job.")
8. Look into opportunities to teach English in Japan. (I've done a little bit of work on this. I really want a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) professional certificate before I go.)
9. Contact the organizers of Urbana and ask if they need somebody to work for them.
10. Start and maintain a supply of up-to-date business cards. (I am now the proud owner of a box of business cards that were ordered and printed for me by my company. :-D )
11. Attend a Chamber of Commerce meeting wherever I live after I leave Palm Beach County. (I have attended a Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce breakfast and several Coffee Connection events.)
12. Attend a meeting for young professionals in my area.
13. Do my homework in preparation for the ATA conference, whenever I attend it.
Continuing Education
14. Do at least one of the Japanese lessons from JapanesePod101.com every week. (Er... yeah.)
15. Read all of Do What You Are and use its resources the way they were meant to be used. (I've read most of it now. I haven't fully used all of the resources in it, though.)
16. Start studying for the 2009 Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). (I shouldn't have specified "2009." If I hadn't, I wouldn't have to count this as failed.)
17. Take the JLPT in 2009, or, if I still can't afford it, in 2010. (See my comments in the "what I've learned" section above.)
18. Reread all of Chijin no Ai (in translation: Naomi) by Tanizaki Junichirou, using the parallel Japanese and English texts I have.
19. Participate in an online class about how to become a freelance translator.
20. Participate in an online class about teaching library skills to ESOL students.
21. Take the in-person class "Perspectives on the World Christian Movement," if and when I live in an area near where it's being taught.
22. Complete the first lesson in the CCNA course and see if I'm any good at it/if I like it. If I am good at it and I do like it, complete the course and get certified. (If only I had known when I wrote this list just how much of my life this goal would take over. This took up fully half of my 1001 days (507 of them), from August 18, 2009, when I started my first class, to January 7, 2011, when I passed the certification exam. I intended to pass the exam in May of 2010, but wasn't ready for it yet, for reasons that are partially my fault and partially not.)
Spiritual
23. Go to a NieuCommunities meeting and maintain regular contact with at least one person I meet there. (FAIL. I went to the meeting, but can't keep in regular contact with people to save my life.)
24. Keep in touch with my missions coach whenever I have anything new to report about my development as a potential missionary. (Which I don't, right now. I did earlier in the 1001 days, though, and I did keep in touch with her then.)
25. Give a little money to my church whenever I get paid. (Still 100% successful.)
26. Actually use the Lenten Meditation Guide I have this year.
27. Read e-mail updates from my missionary and campus-staff-worker friends as soon as I see that they've arrive, and pray for them right then and there. (Again, FAIL.)
28. Either talk or write to Christina E. about what happened at the World Missions Commission meeting I went to back in October.
29. Look in the InterVarsity Press online catalog for resources on how to disciple someone and how to be an evangelist, and obtain them.
30. Follow the advice in those resources.
31. Teach myself more about the books of the Bible, their authors, their groupings, and their background. (Almost done. This will be accomplished by the end of July, when I will be done with my second year of EfM.)
32. Find out more about the scriptural basis of the church and its role in the world.
33. Use my existing contacts to form a connection with St. Mary's Church in Southern California and find out if they can offer me opportunities to be involved in missions.
34-39. Complete the assignments from the online class "Work Your Way to the Nations" for Units 7-12. (Yes, I'm counting each assignment as one of the 101 things.)
Creative
40. Add at least 1500 words total to one or more of my various fiction writing projects every week. (Not. Even. Close. :-/ )
41. Participate in NaNoWriMo the next two times it comes around.
42. Participate in naarmamo community meetups.
91. Learn to play all the major scales on the piano again.
92. Rebuild my section of my family's website from the ground up, with a new front page and a better layout.
93. Read at least the first chapter of that book on library science Donna M. loaned to me. (Completed the first chapter on 5/3/10. Might continue, because it's pretty interesting, but probably won't have time with all these other goals.)
94. Go hot-air ballooning, preferably for my 25th birthday, though any other day within the 1001 days is acceptable.
95. Attend at least one local anime convention near wherever I'm living (so I can wear the costume mentioned in #72).
96. Participate in the "give a day of volunteering, get a free 1-day theme park admission" promotion that the Walt Disney Company is doing this year. (Completed 6/2/10.)
97. Donate hair to Locks of Love. (Completed 10/1/10.)
98. Clean at least the main upstairs bathroom when I get back to my apartment in Florida.
99. Leave said apartment cleaner than I found it.
100. Add at least $1,001 to my savings account(s) by Day 1001. ($500/$1,001)
101. Get a frame for my college diploma and frame it.
Stuff I thought of after I'd submitted my list (a.k.a. the Bonus List)
102. Start taking a daily multivitamin. (Was doing this at one point, but have fallen off the horse, and really need to get back on.)
103. Take all my free T-shirts from my AmeriCorps year and turn them into a quilt.
104. Keep up with the entries in my One-Minute Meditations book every day for at least the first year. (Fail, fail, fail!)
105. Figure out how I can do something fun with my sister that she'll actually enjoy, and do it. (I actually didn't need to figure it out - she did. We've gone out to eat together a couple of times, and we both actually enjoy it now. :-) )
106. Keep up with BibleGateway.com's daily Bible readings for the second year of the 1001 days. (Fail.)
107. Participate in and tweet about another big volunteer project on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in 2010. (The project turned out to be making get-well activity cards for kids and thank-you cards for veterans. It was lots of fun!)
As of Day 921 (July 10, 2011):
Main List
Goals Completed: 26
Goals In Progress: 19
Goals Failed: 10
Remaining Goals: 46
Bonus List
Goals Completed: 2
Goals In Progress: 1
Goals Failed: 2
Remaining Goals: 1
The goals that are newly completed since the last time I posted a progress report are: 7 and 22.
When I originally wrote my current Mission 101 list back in December of 2008, I was still in the middle of my AmeriCorps year in Florida. I expected that after that was over, I would move back to my parents' house briefly, then find my own job and be out on my own within a few months (that is, sometime between Day 226 and Day 365 of the 1001 days). For reasons that I won't go into detail about (in summary: I was lazy, ignorant, and complacent), that only just happened now. Unfortunately, a large number of the tasks on my Mission 101 list are contingent upon my having a stable, independent source of income. Now I have one and there are only 80 days to go. What I've learned, therefore, is that not too many of the things on your list should be contingent on one or more particular aspects of your life falling into place. They may not, or they may not fall into place in the time frame you expected them to. I would have been far more successful overall in this Mission 101 attempt if I had selected more goals that were not contingent on income, or, better yet, if I had bothered to find out what the steps were to finding and keeping a job and made those tasks my goals.
Key:
Black with strikethrough: Completed!
Teal: In progress.
Orange: Failed.
Plain black: Not yet attempted.
(Italics): Explanations and other comments.
Career
1. Obtain copies of the two books about how to get started as a translator from the American Translators' Association's website.
2. Read those books and take at least one step toward following the advice contained therein.
3. Look for my first paid freelance translating assignment.
4. Join the American Translators' Association (ATA).
5. Prepare for the ATA certification exam.
6. Talk to Shelley and find out when her AmeriCorps year ended and what she did afterward.
7. Do research and look for a professional occupation to enter into immediately following my AmeriCorps year, preferably in the San Diego or San Francisco areas. (probably more ESOL teaching, which I don't mind all that much) (Well, here I am, in a professional occupation. I did some research, but I wish I had done more. I'm still in the Temecula area, and this is hardly "immediately following" that year. Even though I didn't follow the letter of this goal, I've accomplished the spirit of it, which was "get a real job.")
8. Look into opportunities to teach English in Japan. (I've done a little bit of work on this. I really want a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) professional certificate before I go.)
9. Contact the organizers of Urbana and ask if they need somebody to work for them.
10. Start and maintain a supply of up-to-date business cards. (I am now the proud owner of a box of business cards that were ordered and printed for me by my company. :-D )
11. Attend a Chamber of Commerce meeting wherever I live after I leave Palm Beach County. (I have attended a Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce breakfast and several Coffee Connection events.)
12. Attend a meeting for young professionals in my area.
13. Do my homework in preparation for the ATA conference, whenever I attend it.
Continuing Education
14. Do at least one of the Japanese lessons from JapanesePod101.com every week. (Er... yeah.)
15. Read all of Do What You Are and use its resources the way they were meant to be used. (I've read most of it now. I haven't fully used all of the resources in it, though.)
16. Start studying for the 2009 Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). (I shouldn't have specified "2009." If I hadn't, I wouldn't have to count this as failed.)
17. Take the JLPT in 2009, or, if I still can't afford it, in 2010. (See my comments in the "what I've learned" section above.)
18. Reread all of Chijin no Ai (in translation: Naomi) by Tanizaki Junichirou, using the parallel Japanese and English texts I have.
19. Participate in an online class about how to become a freelance translator.
20. Participate in an online class about teaching library skills to ESOL students.
21. Take the in-person class "Perspectives on the World Christian Movement," if and when I live in an area near where it's being taught.
22. Complete the first lesson in the CCNA course and see if I'm any good at it/if I like it. If I am good at it and I do like it, complete the course and get certified. (If only I had known when I wrote this list just how much of my life this goal would take over. This took up fully half of my 1001 days (507 of them), from August 18, 2009, when I started my first class, to January 7, 2011, when I passed the certification exam. I intended to pass the exam in May of 2010, but wasn't ready for it yet, for reasons that are partially my fault and partially not.)
Spiritual
23. Go to a NieuCommunities meeting and maintain regular contact with at least one person I meet there. (FAIL. I went to the meeting, but can't keep in regular contact with people to save my life.)
24. Keep in touch with my missions coach whenever I have anything new to report about my development as a potential missionary. (Which I don't, right now. I did earlier in the 1001 days, though, and I did keep in touch with her then.)
25. Give a little money to my church whenever I get paid. (Still 100% successful.)
26. Actually use the Lenten Meditation Guide I have this year.
27. Read e-mail updates from my missionary and campus-staff-worker friends as soon as I see that they've arrive, and pray for them right then and there. (Again, FAIL.)
28. Either talk or write to Christina E. about what happened at the World Missions Commission meeting I went to back in October.
29. Look in the InterVarsity Press online catalog for resources on how to disciple someone and how to be an evangelist, and obtain them.
30. Follow the advice in those resources.
31. Teach myself more about the books of the Bible, their authors, their groupings, and their background. (Almost done. This will be accomplished by the end of July, when I will be done with my second year of EfM.)
32. Find out more about the scriptural basis of the church and its role in the world.
33. Use my existing contacts to form a connection with St. Mary's Church in Southern California and find out if they can offer me opportunities to be involved in missions.
34-39. Complete the assignments from the online class "Work Your Way to the Nations" for Units 7-12. (Yes, I'm counting each assignment as one of the 101 things.)
Creative
40. Add at least 1500 words total to one or more of my various fiction writing projects every week. (Not. Even. Close. :-/ )
41. Participate in NaNoWriMo the next two times it comes around.
42. Participate in naarmamo community meetups.
91. Learn to play all the major scales on the piano again.
92. Rebuild my section of my family's website from the ground up, with a new front page and a better layout.
93. Read at least the first chapter of that book on library science Donna M. loaned to me. (Completed the first chapter on 5/3/10. Might continue, because it's pretty interesting, but probably won't have time with all these other goals.)
94. Go hot-air ballooning, preferably for my 25th birthday, though any other day within the 1001 days is acceptable.
95. Attend at least one local anime convention near wherever I'm living (so I can wear the costume mentioned in #72).
96. Participate in the "give a day of volunteering, get a free 1-day theme park admission" promotion that the Walt Disney Company is doing this year. (Completed 6/2/10.)
97. Donate hair to Locks of Love. (Completed 10/1/10.)
98. Clean at least the main upstairs bathroom when I get back to my apartment in Florida.
99. Leave said apartment cleaner than I found it.
100. Add at least $1,001 to my savings account(s) by Day 1001. ($500/$1,001)
101. Get a frame for my college diploma and frame it.
Stuff I thought of after I'd submitted my list (a.k.a. the Bonus List)
102. Start taking a daily multivitamin. (Was doing this at one point, but have fallen off the horse, and really need to get back on.)
103. Take all my free T-shirts from my AmeriCorps year and turn them into a quilt.
104. Keep up with the entries in my One-Minute Meditations book every day for at least the first year. (Fail, fail, fail!)
105. Figure out how I can do something fun with my sister that she'll actually enjoy, and do it. (I actually didn't need to figure it out - she did. We've gone out to eat together a couple of times, and we both actually enjoy it now. :-) )
106. Keep up with BibleGateway.com's daily Bible readings for the second year of the 1001 days. (Fail.)
107. Participate in and tweet about another big volunteer project on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in 2010. (The project turned out to be making get-well activity cards for kids and thank-you cards for veterans. It was lots of fun!)
As of Day 921 (July 10, 2011):
Main List
Goals Completed: 26
Goals In Progress: 19
Goals Failed: 10
Remaining Goals: 46
Bonus List
Goals Completed: 2
Goals In Progress: 1
Goals Failed: 2
Remaining Goals: 1