Happy New Decade!

It's 2010...Holy hell, it's 2010... Not only a new year, it's a new decade. When I first started writing this posting, I thought I was going to be giving an update on my life since my last posting in September. But I've thought of something better to do. A lot of people make New Year's resolutions. I've made them in the past. I think I may have actually kept one once for a whole year. This year, however, I'm going to do something different. It's the start of a new decade, and really the start of my true adult life, since I'm graduating this year. So I thought, why not make the next ten years' worth of New Year's resolutions in one go? So here it goes, my New Decade resolutions:

2010 - Graduate!!!
It's coming up on four years since I started college. I'm miles away from where I began in Pre-Med. But I'm happily rushing to finish my B.A. in International Relations by May 14th, 2010, Graduation Day, and my 22nd birthday. It's a lofty goal for me, but I think straight A's would be a great end to my undergraduate education. In addition to graduation, I've also named this decade the Decade of Languages. That means, another year = another language. I mean getting at least conversational, not just learning some words and phrases. This is absolutely crazy, I know, but you have to aim high. So for 2010, get fluent in Russian, and learn Polish. I'm learning Russian in college still, so it's not that much of a stretch to imagine being able to do both.

2011 - Save and Invest!
In 2011, I want to be working and making money. Whatever I'm doing, in the bank I want to have saved at least $10-20k. I thought I would want to have more, but thinking more about taxes and cost of living, I think this is a good range to shoot for. Hopefully I'll be able to pass this up easily, but I consider this a good solid reachable target. In addition to savings, I want to have two things started by the end of 2011: a Roth IRA and a long-term stock portfolio. These I'm going to have to research, but I have friends that are my age that have both, so I think that two years from now, I ought to as well. As for languages, get fluent in Polish and relearn Spanish. I think it would be possible to gain fluency in Polish this year while relearning Spanish, which is why I have both in one year. I think I might even be able to gain fluency in Spanish too, since I have somewhat of a base already.

2012 - Visit Asia
In 2012, at some point, I want to visit Asia. Doesn't matter which part (Central, South East, China, Japan, Russia), doesn't matter for how long. My only rule, it has to be the destination. I can't do a trip to Australia or something and do a connecting flight. I think the most likely scenario would be if my dad got a job with a client in India or Japan, or if my dad becomes mayor and schedules a trip to Alameda's sister city in China. But that's my goal by the end of the year in 2012. For languages, I want to add Japanese. It'll be the first dive into an Asian language, and from the small amount of research I've done of various languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, etc.) it seems relatively easy. One of my cousins studied it in college, so at least I know I'd have someone to practice with. I suppose I should mention that I want to keep up with my other languages as well.

2013 - Own Some Property
By the end of 2013, I want to have some property. This means a few things: I have to have a steady job to be able to pay a mortgage. I have to be living and working somewhere where the housing market is "entry level." Central east coast, maybe? There are some decent housing prices in Kentucky, where my aunt lives. But my dad made a good point, that the cost of heating and cooling a house is higher in those places. But, depending on my situation (i.e. if I'm the only one living there), I know I'd be fine without too much heating and cooling. Whatever the case, I'll be 25 years old, and I want somewhere to call my own. As for languages, I've decided German for this year. I think I've ignored a lot of Central Europe in general. I don't know a whole lot of the history before WWI. I hope studying German would help fill parts of that gap in knowledge.


2014 - Learn How to Play the Cello
The cello is one of the most beautiful sounding instruments in the world in my opinion. I know how to play a lot of instruments, but not any of the bowed ones. The "sounds" I can get out of a violin are horrible. I just want to be able to play some of Bach's cello suites, which are some of the most relaxing and emotional pieces of classical music that I've heard. So for this goal, by February, I want to have enough money saved up to buy a cello (not rent). Then if I haven't gotten to where I want to be by August, take two months of lessons, just to learn the basics, then go back out on my own. For languages, I'm taking on Mandarin. It's a tonal language, and since my life goal for the year is learning something musical, I might as well stay in the category. I know that Mandarin is crazy hard, therefore I'm giving myself two years to learn this one. As such, I expect myself to really keep up my other languages in these two years, either reading, writing, or speaking them on a daily basis.

(P.S. I've been writing this post for a few days now, from when I was home over break until now, the Sunday before school starts again... and probably until later this week unless I can write 5 more years before going to bed.)


2015 - Get in Major Shape!
This is a big one. I generally don't have a problem being fit, but I need to get in major shape this year... This year's entry is short... You'll understand the goal in the next one. Also, continue Mandarin of course.


2016 - Attend the Olympics!
Whether as an athlete or a spectator, I want to go to the Olympics. I guess this makes 2015's goal clear. If you don't know, I'm a rower. Rowing (or crew) is the best sport in the world. Period. I fell in love with it in the summer before high school and know it's going to be part of my life forever. I'm not exactly the right body type for it (not 6'0" or taller), so the target is lightweight pair, double, or single scull. In any case, in 2015 I'll train to get into the national team selection camp, and if I don't make that, train up to go to qualifiers as an independent athlete. If I don't make that, then oh well. It's a story of a lifetime, and promises to be a rewarding experience nn its own. To go along with this, I want to learn Portuguese (the Olympics are going to be held in Rio de Janeiro). I'm sure you agree that it just fits.


2017 - Visit Africa
I think Africa in 2017 sounds pretty good. Not sure where in Africa I'd like to go specifically. It's more of that I want to see it all. I'd like to see northern Africa (I really want to visit Morocco and Egypt), but I also want to visit Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Uganda, and pretty much all of the other ones too. It's definitely too big of a continent to fit into one year, unless I'm working there. Which is a possibility, because I'm very interested in development theory and would love to help some African nations develop. If I'm just going to be taking trips, then I'll have to split it up between northern, central, eastern, western, and southern. I think each of those regions deserves a trip. As far as languages, I think I want to spend the next two years learning Hungarian. It's super difficult, but seems like a good challenge. At the same time, it sounds slavic, french, and nordic. It's a really interesting language because it's like none of the languages around it. Since it's so difficult, like Mandarin, I'm giving myself two years to do it.

2018 - Get Published!
I'd like to get published at some point in my life. I may as well get it done early, right? There are a few options: get an article published (in a newspaper or magazine/journal), or actually get down to writing a book. If you don't know, I have an idea tossing around in my head about a children's book series. I'm brainstorming for the first book at the moment, and have been writing it on and off for about a year now. It's kind of hard with school, but I imagine it will only be harder when I'm actually out working in the real world. But still, I think it's a good idea, and I'd like to pursue it, even if it's not until I'm old and retired. But the goal for 2018: Get Published! As I mentioned above, I'll be continuing Hungarian into this year.

2019 - Reevaluate
Honestly, I was kind of at a loss as to what to do for this last year. So I'm cheating. I'm taking this year to see if my life is what I want it to be. I'll be turning 30, and I think that I'll still have enough time to change if I don't like what I'm doing. I still think this is kind of a cheap way out, but I'm sticking with it. I'm also going to be lazy in my languages: gain fluency in them all. I guess I can't really say I'm being lazy; 8 languages in 10 years is pretty nuts. So really, I deserve this year.

Well, that's it then. Ten years of New Year's resolutions. Let's see how it goes! Here's a final recap of things:

2010 - Graduate; Russian (fluency) and Polish
2011 - Save and Invest; Polish (fluency) and Spanish (fluency)
2012 - Visit Asia; Japanese
2013 - Own Property; German
2014 - Learn to Play Cello; Mandarin (first year)
2015 - Get in Shape/Train; Mandarin (second year)
2016 - Attend Olympics; Portuguese
2017 - Visit Africa; Hungarian (first year)
2018 - Get Published; Hungarian (second year)
2019 - Reevaluate; general fluency (Russian, Polish, Spanish, Japanese, German, Mandarin, Portuguese, Hungarian)

These goals are designed to be attainable wherever I'm living, whatever I'm doing. There are a few that are kind of restrictive, such as owning property and training for the Olympics. I won't be able to buy anything in the Bay Area (unless there's a severe drop in prices again, which there won't be), and I'll need some sort of still water to train on, hopefully at least 5-10k of water, not to mention a pair or doubles partner. Everything else, though, I believe is doable. So let's get it done!

Cheers,
-Peter