Thoughts

Looking back at the The Year of the Rabbit, JJ and I spent most of the year studying, but we did get a chance to travel to New Orleans a few times, visit my grandparents in Kentucky twice, spend a week on the beach in Florida with family once, and spend an awesome two weeks in Korea with JJ’s family.  I started out the beginning of 2011 with a number of goals, and although many of these goals were not reached, I felt that I had a fairly productive year.

The Year of the Dragon brings a whole new set of goals.  JJ and I both graduate in May, and we are both trying to decide what we will do when May arrives. I only need to complete my portfolio and practicum this semester, and JJ has only a couple of classes and her thesis before she is also finished. At one point the plan was to apply for Phd programs, but after teaching one class at the USM English Language Institute, I realized how much I missed being in the classroom, and I have started looking for jobs at other university language institutes.  I haven’t given up on getting a PhD, but it would have to be the perfect program that incorporates a position at an English language institute into the program.

During the fall semester, I worked hard at watching what I ate, and religiously going to the gym till the last few weeks of the semester.  I dropped about 15lbs, but I have about 40 to go.  I learned that I must keep healthy food in the house because it is too easy to cheat and drive next door for McDonalds or Wendys.  Also, I need to schedule my gym days.  I cannot just say that I am going to go to the gym four times a week.  If I do not have a schedule, I won’t go.  This year I will schedule my gym days and work harder at eating healthier.

My language studies have suffered this past year; I have not made significant progress in Korean, and my Arabic studies stalled before I really got started.  I can blame the amount of work that I needed to do for my courses, but I know that I wasted too much time getting lost on the internet. This year I plan to schedule time for both Korean and Arabic studies, and I hope to start reading more in Korean.  My plan is to master the Arabic writing system and then to start working on vocabulary and basic phrases. If I have time, I may even schedule a few language exchanges with a couple of the native Arabic speakers I know.  I have already spoken to JJ about my Korean studies, and we both agreed that we need to spend more time speaking Korean.

I enjoy photography, but I really didn’t get out and take that many photography outings in 2011. This year my plan is to take one day a month to get out and shoot something new.  I plan on taking a day trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras and another trip to Honey Island Swamp for some gator pics.  I also want to figure out how to use off-camera lighting effectively; I really have no idea what I am doing and tend to play with settings until it looks right.

I enjoy blogging, but I also keep a personal journal, and often don’t feel like typing what I have already written in the journal. This year I plan on doing a better a job of posting more frequently.  I also want to post more about my course readings.   I have learned a great deal about second language acquisition and should post more about what I have learned.

A couple of months ago, I made a list of novels that I had never read.  I created my list by using a few different websites that listed the top 100 novels.  Later this week, I will post my list!  My goal is to at least read ten of those books this year, but depending on my time, I may have to cut that number down to five.

2012 Goals

• Finish my masters in May with flying colors
• Obtain a teaching job at a university ELI program or
• Get accepted to a PhD program
• Lose the 40lbs that will put be back to my early Korea weight
• Dedicate more time to studying Korean
• Restart my Arabic studies
• Plan and take more “photography” day trips
• Blog at least twice a week
• Read ten books from “The List”