Update postponed!

I'll make a full update on May 1st. Not a particularly good month for me. Stay tuned for Saturday.

3rd Week of April is gone!

Okay, so, that week went by way too quickly. Almost scary, actually.

Had an amazing time at my favourite cousin's debut! Can't believe she's 18 now. To think that she was only 13 when I first moved here in America. How time flies.

On with the show!

Learn to cook a new meal each month ( 3 / 12 )

• I have one week left to make something. Anything. It doesn't even matter. I said adobo, but I'll settle for making a boiled egg just to achieve this goal!

Ballroom dancing

• I thought tango was easy, until my latest lesson. Sure, the basic, rockstep, corte were easy, but this move is 10x tougher. I don't even know what it's called, but it involves brush points and pivots. I'll get it down.

Consume an average of 1,800 Calories per day ( 189,810 / 657,000 for the year )

• I blame the crazy awesome weekend I had. Had to celebrate 3 of my cousins' birthdays, so I pigged out. In case you're wondering, I consumed about 13,500 Calories or 1,928 Calories a day.

Read 5 new books

• Bought the last two: The Great Divorce and My Life with the Saints

Don't curse for 300 days ( 76 / 300 )

• So this one's a killer now. I've said "itis", "shoot" and "frig" this past week. I'm starting to become aware of how poor my vocabulary is when talking to others. This is good!

Make money off investments

• Haha, just like that I'm back on the $ 1,000 tier. Wouldn't you know it, the very next day I went all crazy about making $ 1,000 on stocks, I lose it all because Goldman Sachs decided to be fraudulent. Thanks GS!

Learn 5 new piano songs ( 4 / 5 )

• Almost done completely memorizing Lamb of God!

Volunteer

• I think I have to cool off the volunteer hunting for the remainder of the month. I'll take another stab at it in May. I have to finish a bunch of my other goals just to keep up.

Draw

• I deserve a big F here. I've been doodling, but that's it. I haven't really been sitting down and taking my time to draw. I definitely will this week.

Compose

• And here comes another F. I need a good motivation boost to follow through with this one.

So, I've done pretty poor job of some of my goals. I really need to step it up for this last week. Maybe I can achieve some of those goals once I go to Lake Tahoe to attend some cousin's wedding. Pretty excited about this trip! Til next week.

Week 2 of April

Two weeks down. Two to go.

Toronto Raptors suck. That is all I can say. So disappointed in them.

Now for something not so disappointing: updates!

Learn Ilokano

• I'm up to five! awan pai means "(person) not here". The other four are mai mai sa "by yourself", away "farm", sing sing put "nice person", and awan un "nothing".

Learn to cook a new meal each month

• April adobo. Did I mention this last week? Anyhow, need to start cooking.

Ballroom dancing

• Always fun. Saw more newbies coming in for a drop-in lesson! Really cool people joined in.

Consume 1,800 Calories per day ( 176,310 / 657,000 year total )

• Where'd my discipline go? I ate around 13,400 Calories last week, which is about 1,914 Calories per day. Gotta drink more water to supress my "hunger".

Read 5 new books ( 3 / 5)

• Finished On Earth as it is in Heaven by Warren Wiersbe. Great book. It definitely shows my prayer life lacks maturity. Two in the book list: The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis and Life with the Saints by James Martin. Dunno which to read first.

Don't curse for 300 days ( 77 / 300 )

• My extra rules made me go 5 for 7. Very difficult. Even if I don't say the word and replace it with a "friendlier" version, the intent is there. This is gonna take some getting used to.

Make money off investments

• The stock market's doing well! Made another $ 1,000 off my stocks. I've hit the $ 2,000 tier; here's hoping, my stocks keep soaring!

Learn 5 new piano songs ( 4 / 5 )

• Finished Gounod/Bach's version of Ave Maria. I'm going to learn Lamb of God by Twila Paris next.

Read the Bible

• The book of Job's a tough read, but worth it. I'm glad Biblegateway has those commentaries to clarify what's going on.

Volunteer

• Volunteered last Saturday in the Divine Mercy conference at St. Timothy's Church. Surprised that many people came. It was great. I stayed the entire time, helping out registration, the kitchen, and wherever else they needed me. And I'm glad I stuck around cuz now I know all about the Divine Mercy.
  
  Gonna keep looking for other places that need volunteering. It felt great!

Draw

• As my friend suggested, I'm gonna try to draw or sketch something at least once a day, starting today. I'll even scan these sketches up on my updates from time to time.

Compose

• Ah I've been stuck with this one. I just need the right motivation and fire again.

And that is how my week went. Hope you readers have a great week!

First Week of April, Complete!

1st week of April is done. What just happened? Is it true that time seems to fly faster as the older one gets? Sheesh.

On with the show!

Learn to cook a new meal each month

• April Adobo: sounds good?

Ballroom Dancing

• Tango is interesting. Especially interesting is the "personality" of the dance. The man must play the strong, confident, MAN'S man who makes it clear that he wants the woman; however, the woman is the I-don't-want-you-but-I-do type who plays hard to get. I like that.
  

Befriend someone new

• I gotta stop being so anti-social or something. Hopefully all my activities'll help me meet even more new people.

Consume an average of 1800 Calories per day (162,910 / 657,000 for the year)

• Did a pretty poor job again last week. Consumed about 13,270 Calories for the week, which is about 1,895 Calories per day. Way above my target. Gotta start disciplining myself again.

Spend at least 20 minutes walking the dogs each day

• I need to be punished for this one. I ignored some days just because I felt too lazy. Can't do that. Gotta keep on track. Feel free to give me a virtual punch in the face in the comments to help me out.

Don't curse for 300 days ( 72 / 300 days )

• This is too easy now. Went 7 for 7. I'm going to have to step up the rules here:
  1) Cannot substitute swear words for "friendlier" versions e.g. "frick", "shoot", "eff".
  2) Cannot use the Lord's name in vain or any substitutes e.g. "gosh", "golly".
  This should be fun.

Read the Bible

• Don't remember if I mentioned this but I'm in the book of Job. Really interesting, but also difficult to read stuff. Taking my time with this one; as I read a chapter, I also look at any commentaries it has (Biblegateway.com).

As for my new New Year's Resolutions:

Volunteer

• Gonna volunteer for my local Church this Saturday to help out with the Divine Mercy conference. I'm only signed up for an hour, but I'll probably stay the entire period.

Draw

• First step is to find an art store and pick up supplies. I'll do that this weekend.

Compose

• Have something already. Working with a G-D-C with some Em chord progression. Gonna be a pop/dance/Christian rock type of song.

And that's the first week. It's been busy, but it's been a good kind of busy.

In other news, I need to go buy my white suit for my favourite cousin's Debut. I bet I'm gonna look damn fine in it.

See you all next Thursday.

March Marches Right Along..

And there goes March. I waited until today so I can wrap up March in one post. Too bad it didn't land on a Monday; that woulda been sweet.

Here's a review of my goals:

Learn Ilokano

• New word get: awa-nun (awah-nuhn) - "nothing"

Improve Tagalog by speaking a different sentence a day

• Going to be honest here: I don't do this enough. Need to speak more Tagalog at home. I'll make it a goal to speak at least one sentence at home each night.

Learn to cook a new meal each month

• 3 down! March's Mac 'n Cheese was great!

Ballroom Dance

• Done my beginner's Cha-cha. Gonna enroll in beginner's Tango next week. Should be pretty sweet!

Befriend someone new

• Why is this one so difficult? I meet lotsa new people in ballroom, yet none of them are my friends yet. Maybe this means my social skills need polishing.

Consume an average of 1800 Calories per day (149,640/ 657,000 Calories total for the year)

• Over the last few days (11 days) of March, I consumed about 21,430 Calories, or about 1,948 Calories per day. Horrible. I blame the birthday parties and good food.

Read 5 new books (2 / 5)

• Next book is another Christian book called On Earth as it is in Heaven by Warren Wiersbe. It's a book about the Lord's prayer and how to apply it (I think).

Maintain budget of $40 per month for game related purchases ($ 105 / $ 480 for the year)

• Don't see many purchases in the near future, so I should be good.

Facebook App

• My friend says I need to get back and focus on this one! It's true; I've neglected this one for a while now. The fire isn't as bright, but it's still lit! I just need something to make that fire big again.

Spend at least 20 minutes a day to walk the dogs

• Good here. Sometimes I miss a day, but I make it up on the weekends.

Don't curse for 300 days (accumulated) (65 / 300)

• Not bad. Went 10 for 11. One-fifth there!

Make money off investments

• Good gains for my stocks over the last month. I'm at the $1,000 tier now. Hopefully another big gain comes this month. Who knows!

Don't miss Church

• Not a single Church missed! Even went to confession yesterday. Gotta pat myself on the back for this one!

Find a new job (or prospective job) by the end of the year

• Nothing here, yet.

Buy own place (house/condo)

• Same as above.

Learn 5 new piano songs (3/5)

• Learned Storm for my third song. My 4th song I'm currently learning is Ave Maria the Gounod/Bach version.

Learn 5 new guitar songs (0/5)

• Almost done piano, so I can start this soon!

Teach Charlie (new dog) new tricks

• He's starting to focus a lot more, so it should be easier from now on. He can sit and paw and lie down, but that's it.

Read Bible

• Been reading the Old Testament. I've decided not even to count the # of books I read. I'll just read at my own pace. So far it's been awesome to go back and read my "roots". I'm on the book of Job, which is really interesting so far!

And that's it!

Actually no, that's not it. It's not too late to add more resolutions right? So let me share you some new New Year's Resolutions:

1. Volunteer - for anything or any place
2. Draw - carry around a sketch book with me everywhere and draw anything
3. Compose music

Just these three for now. Should add some spice to my year. I can't wait to re-ignite my art and music passion. It's definitely been a while, but the inner-fire is burning for those two things.

Anyhoo, see you all next week (Thursday)! Happy Holy Week.