Try New Things

I never got around to typing up this goal before I left for California last week, but I fulfilled it, so here it is: Goal 22 was to try new things, and experiment a bit. Things blur together, and become nothing more than commonplace if you always do the same things—plus new experiences give you new perspectives and ideas.

My new experiences from last week included:

1. Flying on a plane by myself for the first time.

2. Flying in first class for the first time.

3. Riding in a convertible Mustang for the first time.

4. Driving on the beach for the first time.

5. Seeing real-life sea elephants for the first time.

6. I currently have feathers in my hair (predominantly blue in color)

7. I rode in an airplane with propellers for the first time.

-M.

Goal 21

My mom left at about 3 this morning, and will be gone for 2 weeks in California. I'm catching a flight to CA, myself, on Sunday, to join her. So far, though, it's only been a few hours, but I've already started getting some serious housework done. Something about having the house to myself makes me feel compelled to clean everything?

Anyway, seeing as I'm going to need to be packing and things, this week's goal is to go through all my clothes. Anything I haven't worn in a while or things I'm not sure fit I'm going to put in a pile. Then I'm going to try all of those things on, to see what I actually want to keep, and what I don't think I'll wear again. I've got a closet and a couple dressers stuffed full of clothes, so thinning that out would be nice.

In the mean time, I'm also going to continue cleaning up the house. It's always nice to come back from a trip to a lovely clean house (:

This is about half of the receipts that I ended up throwing out as part of my goal this week...

Goal 20

Tuesday post this week, what with yesterday being a holiday here in the States, and not being home for most of Sunday and Monday.

As you may have noticed from my summer goals thus far, they’ve all been focused on one thing: cleaning up. Cleaning up physically (my room, my house, taking care of my health/body), cleaning up mentally (reminding myself to take advantage of the weather, remember to live life, etc.), and cleaning up virtually (organizing my computer and internet tabs). This week is going along the lines of the physical cleaning up. I’ve been slowing getting through the piles of mess in my room that have been building since I was about 10. As you might imagine, that amounts to quite a lot of papers and random things I felt compelled to keep, sometimes for no apparent reason. Last week I decided to hit a pile on my desk, and found about 30 or so pieces of mail. I quickly stripped these of their envelopes to reduce space, and then split them up based on what they were—notices on my student loans, bank statements, and a bunch for a bill that I finished paying off last August (if that tells you how long I left this stuff sit). So, my goal for this week goes along the lines of finances and such.

Goal 20: Get my bank accounts back in order (putting my bank statements in order, updating my checkbook, etc.); go through my folder of receipts (I’ve been collecting receipts to almost every item I’ve purchased since I was about 12. I can probably chuck out 98% of these, excluding the ones that are useful for warranties and things); and, finally, also go through my folder of warranties (there’s probably warranties for things I no longer own in there…).

I’m slowly getting my room and my life back in order. Since the time that I left stuff collect I’ve becoming something of a clean-freak at times, and I am constantly going down to the kitchen and cleaning counters, putting away dishes, or cleaning up things that were left out for no apparent reason. The semesters I was away at college, my dorm room was always exceptionally neat, as well, and being in my bedroom at home now makes me somewhat claustrophobic.

No matter, I’ll get through it in time, due at least in part to the many goals I set for myself.

Cheers!

-M.