Limes with Orange

I've decided to put together a list of things I want to accomplish in 2009. I suppose most folks would call these resolutions, given the time of year, but I'm a list maker by nature so to me this is just another list:

1. Breakthrough my "neurotic procrastination" and make a "guerrilla" film from start to finish by the end of February. (You can thank Scientific American Mind for providing me with my self-diagnosis of "neurotic procrastinator"; as for the "guerrilla" part… I've realized that I've become obsessed with permissions and copyrights, not a completely bad thing but I think that sometimes I just use that as an excuse to continue procrastinating.)

2. Add a short workout to my morning routine. (It's a two-hour long routine anyway, so what's another 15 or 20 minutes?)

3. Get a vermicomposter (for all of those banana peels I'm left with after making my protein shakes)… Corollary: Try not to be grossed out by the fact that it means I'll have worms living in my apartment.

4. Try to complete sleep restriction therapy and get a handle on my insomnia.

5. Learn more about Judaism. (I mentioned my interest in Judaism a bit in my post "I Believe…" and followed up a smidge in "A Piece of the Pi", but it's not something I feel like discussing in depth on my blog.)

6. Get a tattoo to memorialize my cat Tobi. (The design that I've come up with incorporates the Egyptian goddess Bast; I'll post a pic of it once I get inked.)

7. Learn some animation techniques.

8. Finish writing current draft of my feature film screenplay and submit it to Sundance to apply to their Screenwriter's Lab. (I have more film goals for myself for the year, but I'm trying to have this list reflect that I do try to have a balanced life… try.)

I did think about some of these things from a "resolution" standpoint, the types of ways that we try to "improve" ourselves: lose weight, quit smoking, etc. I remember this book that I read that talked about how many of us focus on "packaging" and "marketing" ourselves but spend far too little time on "product development"… so I thought about whether I'm addressing "product development," i.e. improving myself as a person on the inside. While I suppose starting to work out and compost could be seen as improvements, I think they're still more external.

Internally, in terms of character or personality, I suppose I would like to be more patient. And while it may not look like I'm addressing that with my list, I think that reducing my insomnia would increase my patience as a direct result of increasing the amount of truly restorative sleep I get (which is practically nil at the moment). So, since it addresses both health and character, I guess I should put that "resolution" at the top of the list.

I start courses on both Judaism and animation next week, so I'm getting going on those ideas. And I just bought a hip-hop workout DVD that I put in this morning (and realized just how long it's been since I took a dance class… yikes!). I'm already working on my guerrilla film and plan on doing some recording for the vocal track on Friday. So that just leaves my vermicomposter, tattoo, insomnia and screenplay. The vermicomposter and tattoo should be simple enough, but the other two are rather more daunting. Then again… I don't need to do it all right away, right? So maybe I'll just keep on with what I'm doing now and address those two when I've adjusted to my new routines and finished this little film.

Am I procrastinating by leaving these bigger goals for later? Maybe. But the fact is those courses that I want to take start now and I can't change that. And I can only do so much. Am I now just justifying myself? Possibly. But it's my blog so I can justify if I want to (hmm, "justify" may rhyme with "cry" but the extra syllables kinda mess up my play on words… oh well).

Labels: education, film, health, judaism, philosophy, tattoos, writing