resolutions

ok, so the last part of my last post wasn't completely true.  the sunday after i wrote it, i made my sixth graders make resolutions for the new year, so i jotted a couple down as well.

1. be more proactive - (i tend to keep my resolutions very broad so anything remotely resembling progress toward one is a positive thing).  proactivity is something i lack unless i'm extremely motivated or galvanized by a task set before me.  i'm too content to just, "let things be."  after college ended, i've become more aware of the fact that nothing will probably ever be handed to me again.  if i want something, i need to find a way to take it or make it happen.  opportunities rarely just present themselves unless i do something first.  i think this might be my hardest goal to accomplish, mainly because there's no way of really measuring it.

2. budget my money better - early on, when i first got my job, i made a mint.com account and set up a "budget" for my money.  x amount of dollars allocated for food, shopping, gas etc. every month.  what i didn't realize was that budgets are hard to keep.  i ended up just increasing the amount of money allotted to each category every time i went over budget.

ex.  "hm, this says i spent 40 dollars on fast food this month when i should have only spent 25.... i must have under allocated."

after a couple months of doing that, i said, "to heck with it.  i'll just wing it" and i've been doing that for the past however many months.  my finances aren't in complete shambles or anything, (i pay off my credit card in full every month, tithe, even manage to pay some of my student loan back here and there), but i've realized i am woefully lacking in the area of saving.  any money i have left over after all the necessary expenses goes toward food/clothing/gizmos/musical instruments, basically things for my enjoyment and pleasure.  i've set a goal of being able to put a down payment on a car by the end of the year, so i need to be saving money.  if it keeps going like this, i will be money-less and car-less at year's end.

3. eat healthier/exercise more - pretty self explanatory, but important nonetheless.  i've made the decision to eat "just a little bit healthier" for every meal i eat.  whether it's substituting a salad for fries at wendy's or skipping out on rice and a tortilla at chipotle (extremely difficult) or just eating less than i usually do, something needs to change every time i eat.  i kinda got started on this before the new year began so i hope i can keep it up.

4.  build relationships - this one is kinda funny.  i wrote it down with my timothy kids in mind, but my kids took it to mean "build relationships with girls."  that's all they ever want to talk about.  also kind of interesting is that j. birk actually preached about this very topic last thursday night at impact (the emphasis for this semester won't be so much on doing 1000 different activities, but building lasting/deep relationships with those around us).  i didn't even realize i had written this down as my #4 until afterward, when i decided to write this blog.  kind of neat.

as a result of this, i've decided to try to spend more time with my class.  earlier this month, my old 8th grade class got together with our teacher (ms. rachel park) for a dinner.  not everyone was there, but enough to make it seem like a reunion.  you could tell even though we'd been separated by distance, we were still part of a family.  i want that in the future for my kids.

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so, i guess you could say i'm close to perfect, but not there yet.

new year

i guess the new year is a good enough reason to update again.

i guess by most accounts, 2010 was a pretty crummy year.  economic collapse, unending war/joblessness, various disasters (both natural and man-made), and a pervading sense of doom and gloom seemed to rule the news headlines.  it's not that good things didn't happen, it's just that the problems seemed so much bigger.  i don't know; maybe that's just how i tend to perceive these sorts of things.

of course, we tend to dwell on the past.  it's natural.  but fear not, my friends!  God makes things new!  (thanks p. jamie)  i'm not usually one to wax philosophic or even religious in my posts, but this thought really hit me during the message this morning.  what a refreshing (and relieving) idea.  i'm locking this one up in my mind for 2011.

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as far as family activities related to this day goes, not much has changed ever since i was a kid.  church in the morning, dad's family during the day, mom's fam at night.  sae-bae and dduck gook along the way.  while not much changes, i'm glad some family traditions have stood the test of time.

one very important thing was different, however.  since i'm now "a working man" (as my mom likes to say), i no longer get money for doing sae-bae.  while i was just a little bummed about it (not really), it was good to bow to and honor my elders without the financial incentive.  it's almost like not getting presents for christmas. you get to reflect on what's really important without any of the distractions.  it was funny seeing some of the baby cousins learn the ropes though.  bow, mumble something in korean, profit!  a few were reluctant at first, but once they figured it out, the change in their attitude was like night and day.

i guess this is one of those "seasons of life" things.  one period has ended (my poor un-self-sustaining era), and one has begun (not as poor, a little more self-sustaining).  soon, i'll be filling those little bank envelopes with cash and wondering where all the time went.  not until i have kids though.   so hopefully, not too soon. :)

(for my non-asian readers who have no idea what i'm talking about, koreans get together with family on new year's day to pay respect to elders by bowing and saying something along the lines of "may you be blessed in the new year."  it's tradition for the elders to give some cash in exchange.  yeah, we're just a little bit materialistic.  but we don't put as much of an emphasis on christmas, so i guess we're even.)

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resolutions?  i don't have any.  i'm perfect.