It has almost been a year since this blog went live. Almost a year since I challenged myself to learn new skills within a two-year period. It is time to take stock of what we have accomplished so far, then make adjustments to make achieving these goals realistic.

The farthest I have come is in the field of photography. I received a Christmas gift by my Wife and kids, a Nikon DSLR D5500. It came with kit lenses but even with that I have been able to experiment and practice the theories involved. I have a better understanding of the relationship between ISO, focal length and shutter speed. At this point, I am in need of more practice and figuring out where my interests really lie. I always felt more inclined more towards macro photography. But I also want to experience photographing people in more formal settings. But first things first. I ordered basic telephoto and macro attachments, and basic filters. Nothing expensive. Just enough to get me started.

Learning Spanish is proving a little slower than I thought. I joined duolingo so I could practice a little every day. I joined a Spanish-speaking group that met every weekend, but I found myself unable to fully take part because I could not remember the words to use. So rather than attend weekly, I decided to spend 2 hours each weekend practicing on the website www.learnpracticalspanishonline.com. I will also watch an hour of Spanish shows and read a Spanish newspaper.

I do not know if I am further along with learning a new language, or creative writing. I have a few short stories outlined for creative writing, and I keep a fairly regular journal that holds thoughts, situations and ideas I can fall back on while writing my stories. I’ve even purchased a lifetime license to prowritingaid to automate the grammar checking process. But nothing much has happened outside of the journaling. Even Toastmasters has taken a hit. I had planned to complete one speech every month. I have yet to start the 3rd. I am finding it difficult to decide on a topic. It should not be but indecision continues to hound me.

The good news is that I am working on a book. A sort of “I lost Weight and so can you” type of book. It is more of a memoir.

So, how do I proceed? First, I have to acknowledge that the two-year goal is not likely to happen. At least, not with all three projects. Being employed gets in the way of getting things done. The goal is still to accomplish one of the three, but if I miss, no sweat. I will also need to be more disciplined in following schedules. Finally, I need to have a realistic schedule. So trying to jam everything into one day with no allowance for fun, family, work, or getting sick, is now out.

It has almost been a year since this blog went live. Almost a year since I challenged myself to learn new skills within a two-year period. It is time to take stock of what we have accomplished then make adjustments to make achieving these goals realistic.

The farthest I have come is in the field of photography. I received a Christmas gift by my Wife and kids, a Nikon DSLR D5500. It came with kit lenses but even with that I have been able to experiment and practice the theories involved. I have a better understanding about the relationships between ISO, focal length and shutter speed. At this point, I am in need of more practice and figuring out where my interests really lie. I have always thought I  am inclined more towards macro photography although I also want to experience learning to photograph people. But first things first. I ordered basic telephoto and macro attachments, and basic filters. Nothing expensive. Just enough to get me started.

Learning Spanish is proving a little slower than I thought. I joined duolingo so I could practice a little every day. I did join a Spanish-speaking group, but I found myself unable to fully participate because I could not remember the words to use. So rather than attend every weekend, I thought I would spend 2 hours each weekend practicing on the website www.learnpracticalspanishonline.com, watch an hour of Spanish shows and read a newspaper.

I do not know if I am further along with learning a new language, or creative writing. I have a few short stories outlined for creative writing, I keep a fairly regular journal that holds thoughts, situations and ideas I can fall back on while writing my stories. I’ve even purchased a lifetime license to prowritingaid to automate some of the grammar checking process. But nothing much has happened outside of the journaling. Even Toastmasters has taken a hit. I had planned to complete one speech every month. I have yet to start the 3rd. I am finding it difficult to decide on a topic. It should not be but indecision continues to hound me.

The good news is that I am working on a book. A sort of “I lost Weight and so can you” type of book. It is more of a memoir.

So, how do I proceed? First, I have to acknowledge that the two-year goal is not likely to happen. At least, not with all three projects. Being employed gets in the way of getting things done. The goal is still to accomplish one of the three, but if I miss, no sweat. I will also need to be more disciplined in following schedules. Finally, I need to have a realistic schedule. So trying to jam everything into one day with no allowance for fun, family, work, or getting sick, is now out.