Yesterday, I took out my journal and began to write again. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve journaled the way I used to in high school. When I was a senior in high school, I wrote in a paper journal every day. I slacked off my first semester of college, but I picked it up again second semester and the summer between my first and second year of college. Once I began sophomore year, though, I didn’t journal at all.
Actually, that’s a bit of a lie. I wrote one journal entry for the entirety of the year. I wrote it after a relationship exploded in my face, and I remember thinking that writing it out would help me put the situation in perspective. And it did, as writing always does. But what really irks me about that entry is that out of all the numerous events of the year I chose to document in my journal, I chose that one. Of all my successes and failures, I wrote about someone I no longer care for in the slightest and don’t even speak to anymore. I mean, really? The guy flat-out used me and that pretty much says all there is to say about the entire situation.
Anyway. Seeing as that I have some breathing space this summer, unlike my crazy schedule last semester, I figured it’s about time to put pen to paper once again. There’s a lot I need to get through, but it’s better to catch up now than later!
In the years to come, when I look back on my teen and college years, I’ll have various digital and online journals to reflect on, like this blog and my LiveJournal. But I know I’ll want something more personal to read, which is why I’m keeping a paper journal. It’s where I write about all of the ups and downs, the good and the ugly. It’s uncensored, unedited and written without an audience in mind. My paper journals are essentially me in paper form, and that’s something that will only become more valuable and more precious to me as I get older.
Question of the Week: Do you keep a journal? Is your journal in paper, digital and/or online form?
I’m not really a resolutions type of girl, because I either forget about/have failed them by the second week of January. Instead, I’m going to try and set some goals for myself this year.
- Read more (fictional) books
I have always adored reading but my life just got so crazy in 2009 that when I did have free time, I wanted to spend it either sleeping or doing mindless stuff like watching TV. I definitely want to read more this year cause I miss it!
- Complete Project 365
I did Embodiment successfully for the first half of 2008, and then I just petered out due to lack of time. I still want to document my year, so I’m going to try using photography instead of writing. I created a Flickr account for this, and my most recent photo is featured in this blog’s sidebar.
- Get into a year-long study abroad program of my choice for next academic year
I have my heart set on getting into a year-long study abroad program for the 2010-2011 academic year in Beijing, China. If Beijing falls through, I’m looking at other places as my overall goal is to go abroad for all of next year no matter what the place.
- Maintain good grades and get on Dean’s List for spring 2010 and fall 2010 semesters
I’ve been on Dean’s List for all of my semesters in college. This is something I want to continue and hopefully it will be pretty achievable.
- Finish first draft of my novel THE MOST HAPPY
Last summer, I began writing the first draft of my novel THE MOST HAPPY. I was aiming to finish it sometime last semester if I found the time, but that never happened. I want the first draft completed this year or else I’ll never finish it.
- Comment on more blogs/comment more often
I very rarely had time to comment on any blogs in the last half of 2009, and when I did, a lot of my favorite bloggers were on hiatus/disappeared. Assuming real life doesn’t get too insanely busy, I want to comment on blogs more often as well as discover new blogs to comment on.
- Focus more on the “now” rather than the future
This has always been a problem for me as I never see any point in following through something if I know it won’t pan out in the end. While that makes sense logically, it means I miss out on a lot of the little things, especially when it comes to friendships and relationships and being a teenager/college student in general. I’m aiming to be more relaxed and carefree when it comes to allowing myself to enjoy things now rather than discarding the opportunity altogether because it won’t work out in the long-run. Maybe that means I’ll be a little wilder and more reckless but hey, this is my last year as a teenager so I have to make it count! ;)
I definitely got the quiet, relaxing summer I hoped for back in May. I think I may have gotten a little too much of this particular type of summer, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Here are some of the few things I accomplished in the last few months:
- Failed my self-assigned summer reading
To be fair, it was a very ambitious summer reading list, especially as I don’t read as much as I’d like to anymore. I didn’t fail it altogether, though. I did reread all seven of the Harry Potter novels, read three quarters of the complete works of Sarah Dessen, and read two of the books in Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series. I just didn’t read any of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares or A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.
- Did lots of crafting
Those of you that followed my blog this summer will know about my various ventures into crafting. Sewing, knitting, cross stitching… I dabbled in lots of it this summer and have a lot of finished products to show for my work. It was definitely a way to increase my summer productivity!
- Actually began writing a novel
Longtime readers of this blog will remember a few casual mentions of “my novel” here and there. This summer, I finally got around to actually writing it and even launching my online writing portfolio, amandaosborn.com.
- Failed to find a job
I talked about how it sucked to be unemployed in May, and unfortunately I wasn’t able to find a job for the summer due to the increasingly poor job market. However, being unemployed this past summer wasn’t all bad. I made conscious efforts to not spend money unless absolutely necessary, and I was able to spend time doing things I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to, like crafting and writing.
- Experimented more with cooking
I’ve always loved cooking, and for a portion of this summer, it was my job to do the cooking and making sure no one in my house starved to death. I had lots of successes, like my seafood paella, red velvet cake, and mac and cheese. I had one disaster where a carrot cake turned into a carrot souffle… but I’d rather not talk about that :P
