All Entries in the "Goals" Category

Planning My Own Walk in the Woods

I re-kindled my love of camping in 1993. I was in the Oklahoma Army National Guard, and we were doing our annual two-week training/summer camp. That year, instead of setting up the usual big-ass tent that could house my entire platoon with our cots and all of our gear, we bivouacked, which is basically forced camping. One evening, I was sitting on the ground outside of my pup tent and reading a book, and thought that some coffee would be good. I looked through some MRE packets and found packets of instant coffee, sugar, and cocoa mix. Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) packets are widely despised except by me and 3 other people in the world. When some of my army friends walked by my tent, and asked what the hell I was doing, I would tell them. They were all skeptical of the idea of an MRE mocha, but after one sip, they were hooked. By the time the sun had gone down, there were 4 or 5 people sitting around my canteen stove, drinking coffee and talking about whatever. It was great.

A couple of friends and I liked it so much, we went camping a few weeks later, and that was it. No army uniforms, roomier tents, and a huge crackling fire. No phones, no work, no noise. (To this day, whenever I claim a campsite for the weekend, I feel like a big weight has been taken off my shoulders. Cindy feels it, too.)

Anyway, we would go on small hikes during these camping weekends, and we started thinking about doing longer ones. When you start thinking about stuff like that, sooner or later you hear about the Appalachian Trail, a 2,200-mile footpath from Georgia to Maine. The AT is like Route 66 for hikers. It would take lots of time and money to hike the AT, and if I ever had plenty of one, I had none of the other. So, I put it off.

It’s been 15 years since I first started talking about hiking the Appalachian Trail. I still haven’t done it, but I still talk about it a dozen times a year. A few years ago, I read A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson, and I really wanted to hit the AT…which is crazy because, if you’ve read the book, any sane person would have the exactly opposite notion.

Case in point: A couple of months ago, Cindy and I were sitting on the couch, and she was reading Bryson’s book, and after reading a section about bear attacks and missing hikers, she looked up and said, “And you want to do this?!” and proceeds to read aloud the section about bear attacks and missing hikers. “Are you crazy?”

“Well, I don’t want to do that part,” I said.

I still don’t have the time or money to thru-hike the AT, but that’s okay. I don’t really have the body for it anymore for it either. I think I would be satisfied with just spending 4 to 7 days on the trail, a section of it that’s not too harsh. I want to enjoy the experience, after all.

It’s on the list for 2010.

So, I have already taken steps toward making that a reality this year. I’ll keep you updated when everything starts coming together. I can’t say much right now because I have two friends that are going and it all requires some co-ordination.

My Goals List for 2010

Okay, this is not everything I plan to work on, or towards, or do, or whatever, but it’s a fairly big chunk of mostly-little things that I would like to do this year.

1. Complete 365 Days Project on Flickr
2. Try 52 new fruits
3. Write one novel
4. Keep my blog updated
5. Write one short story a month
6. Lose 50 lbs.
7. Get a tattoo
8. Write one screenplay
9. Float the Illinois River
10. Hike part of the Appalachian Trail
11. Start a weekly podcast
12. Participate in the 5K Alien Fun Run in Roswell, New Mexico
13. Make mozzarella
14. Make bread
15. Make beer
16. Make chocolate-covered bacon
17. Visit Kansas City, MO
18. Visit St. Louis, MO
19. Set aside time to write daily
20. Join or start a writing group
21. Go camping at least 6 times
22. Make time to read
23. Try a new wine every week
24. Make a great costume for Halloween
25. Stop using so many damn plastic eating utensils
26. Do a better job of getting Christmas stuff together
27. Make a living will
28. Make pizza from scratch
29. Learn a second language
30. Make a pound cake
31. Be more positive
32. Nest at work/Create a positive working environment for myself
33. Take Cindy to an elephant sanctuary
34. Visit my cousin in Durant, OK
35. Refinish a piece of furniture
36. Go to a crawfish festival, preferably one in LA
37. Save for a pick-up truck
38. Take more naps
39. Get more sleep/Go to bed at a reasonable time
40. Create a small side business
41. Hack a Magic 8 Ball
42. Make a Millennium Falcon birdhouse
43. Participate in Script Frenzy
44. Participate in Nanowrimo
45. Put quality before quantity/Fewer things, but better things
46. Carry a notebook everywhere I go, and remember to use it
47. Start an Emergency Fund
48. Start saving more
49. Contribute regularly to our Edward Jones accounts
50. Do 30 minutes of cardio each day
51. Complete the P90 workout program
52. Do crossword and logic puzzles
53. Give to charity each month
54. Plant a small garden
55. Start a compost bin
56. Save stuff that I use at work that can be recycled and recycle it
57. Visit Tiffany, Tom, and Allison in Lake Charles, LA
58. Get the watch my dad didn’t wear for 30 years fixed
59. Organize my finances
60. Rebuild my Ghostbusters proton pack
61. Ride my scooter in the Ghouls Gone Wild parade, or spend Halloween in New Orleans, LA
62. Make soap
63. Update my resume
64. Get rid of a lot of stuff I don’t really love, use, or need
65. Organize our storage unit
66. Have a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving dinner with friends
67. Get a membership to Art Museum
68. Renew our Zoo Friends membership
69. Buy our Flaming Lips Freakout tickets early
70. See some roller girls in action
71. Put a sports rack on the car
72. Put a trailer hitch on the car
73. Have turducken
74. Create a vegetarian version of Thai soup
75. Make som tum tacos and hot dogs
76. Cook blue crab
77. Make a crawfish bowl and have king cake for Mardi Gras
78. Go bowling
79. Increase readership of my blog
80. Do something with each domain that I own
81. Visit the Ruckers
82. Have movie nights and dinner
83. Do two charity walks
84. Cheer on marathon runners with Misti
85. Get a group together to cheer on the Gay Pride parade
86. Keep track of the books I read this year
87. Get everyone’s contact information updated and into my address book and cellphone
88. Fix that hole that Hooper tried to squeeze through
89. Ride with one of the local scooter clubs on a day trip
90. Visit that thrift store in Enid that we keep talking about
91. Get an eBook reader – either a Kindle or Nook
92. Dress better
93. Make something artsy-crafty and sell it
94. Always carry a book to read
95. Always have music or audiobook to listen to
96. Learn the metric system
97. Fly a kite
98. Spend a day at the horse races
99. Learn 3 ways to make fire
100. See 4 stage productions
101. Contact friends I haven’t seen in a while
102. Drink more water, and avoid bottled water
103. Start a vehicle repair fund
104. Set-up wifi at Cindy’s parents’ house
105. Learn how to fillet a fish
106. Learn to play chess (and then strip chess)
107. Avoid the Rapture and stop it from happening again this year
108. Make some beef jerky
109. Stop complaining and stop making excuses
110. Actually go somewhere for our anniversary

This is not the full list. Sure, there are some big things here, but most of the items are small, easy-to-do things that I’ve thought about doing, and put off year after after because they are small, easy-to-do things. I keep thinking I’ll do them later. Then, one day, you realize you’ve been meaning to “make beef jerky” for the past 15 years.