Slight Turbulence

What a day, what a day.

What a day to start the year. What a way to start my supposed grandiose turnaround. Three hours of sleep, followed by almost missing our flight because some crazy international evangelical "church" decided to come together right next to the airport to the tune of 150,000 strong faithful(bankrollers), followed by my dad having to stay behind in São Paulo for 10 hours because we arrived too late too check our bags onto the plane, followed by my sister almost not being allowed on the plane because he needed consent from both parents (including the one who was forced to stay behind) to travel, only saved through some dramatic airport running/line cutting. It was carnage.

Anyways, if I were one to believe in omens... I would be concerned. But since I left my rabbits foot and tea leaves back at home i have little choice but to soldier on. At the very least I was able to take a 300 page chomp out of book one of the new year (review coming soon, and my first 30 points!) and now that were here in Montevideo I'll be getting my exploring points as well.

I'm beginning to think that this point system jives pretty well with all the fantasy basketball I will not be playing nearly as much now.

The Goal

It's about 2 hours till midnight here in São Paulo, there's a crappy Brazilian soap opera on tv and I'm nervous. I'm nervous because I've tried something like this before and failed, because I can tell everyone who knows about this resolution is a bit skeptical that I can manage it. Hell, I am too. That's why I am starting this blog. So that anyone patient enough to read through my confused, contradictory ramblings can serve as a further motivation to not give up on this project to improve my life.

Let's see if I can run through the different bullet points from memory as I don't have the list in front of me:

-Straight A's
-Study every day
-Read 50 books
-Watch 150 movies
-Go to 50 plays/concerts/sporting events
-Write 30 articles for the Daily Trojan in the Spring semester.
-Explore somewhere new every week
-Do something kind for a stranger and a friend every week
-Take time for spiritual growth and rest each week
-Try something new every month (like fencing or capoeira or fire-breathing or something)
-Surf the web and watch tv a total of 30 minutes each day.
-Save a fourth of my income each week.
-aaaaand...Get in shape (of course, what resolution would be complete without it?)

I know it's a lot, but I believe I can do it. To help myself I developed a system of progress reports and points to tell me just how I am doing. And I will write it all here for my as yet inexistent audience to help me on my way.

Think I can't do it? Better yet, think that I can? Hop on the bandwagon! There's plenty of room so far.