Curious Notions

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Because an unexamined life is not worth living, here is my progress report for this year’s resolutions.

Financial

* Rebuild year’s worth of emergency fund.
* Transfer over my 401K from my previous job to my Roth IRA.
* Do my own taxes.
* Keep outings with my little from Big Brothers & Big Sisters of America on a budget. (So far so good!)

Leisure/Cultural

* Continue doing 1 new thing a week. (So far so good!)
* Visit a new state from my list. (Hmm, it’s not looking good.)
* Read 40 books. (The count is at 24)
* Organize a book club. (If you’re in Austin, Texas and are interested email me. First meeting is scheduled for 1/31/2010.
* Be more or less abreast with updates on 202 things in 1001 days. FAIL.
* Leave the country. (Not looking good.)
* Write 15 letters.
* Try out 20 new recipes (15/20)

1. sausage and rice
2. beef stroganoff (fail)
3. honey and garlic drumsticks
4. lasagna
5. Apple Dews
6. new recipe for meatloaf
7. marinara sauce
8. spinach quiche
9. bacon and cheese quiche
10. coffee jello
11. mango pork potstickers
12. shrimp fried rice (new recipe)
13. garlic noodles
14. meringue cookies
15. smashed avocados and potatoes

* Update movie, gratitude, quotations, and collage, and reading journal at least twice a month. (So far so good.)

Community

* Run a 5k for a charity. (November?)
* See my little from Big Brothers & Sisters 2-3 times a month. (Mostly good)
* Donate to every sponsorship for charity my friends take part in. (So far so good!)

Personal

* Try at least 3 times to mend a relationship with a family member.
* Not leave drawers and cabinet doors open. (I don’t know how this bad habit started!)
* Go to Houston ten times this year to visit friends and family. (4/10)
* Be more organized. (Blog post to come on how I’ve become more organized)

Today is the last day of VEDA (Vlog Every Day in August) and the suggested topic is to give a toast. Thanks again for riding this out with me. I did a whopping total of two video blogs before doing VEDA so I was pretty much a vlog noob. I’ve learned a few things and enjoyed myself. Follows is a list of lessons I’ve learned doing VEDA and after that I posted the video of the toast.

1. You should turn off your cell phone and video chat when video blogging.
2. Video blogging regularly (try everyday in one month) helps you be more comfortable with the way you look and sound.
3. Music pulls together montages.
4. The shorter the video blog the better. The duration of the video is almost like your first impression. I learned this because as I went through VEDA vlogs of others, I noticed I put off watching the longer videos as long as I could.
5. When video blogging often (try everyday in a month), changing settings keeps things fresh.
6. Practicing vlogging is very much like practicing public speaking. Public speaking is a good skill in life. Therefore, vlogging is a good skill in life.
7. Watching myself on video routinely makes me aware of my physical ticks. I rock forwards and backwards, stutter and mumble, and say “um” a lot.
8. Windows Movie Maker is a good and free video editing starter software, however it is also very limiting.

ONE MORE DAY OF VEDA (Vlog Every Day in August)!Today’s vlog is a montage of bloopers. Enjoy. The last bits got me laughing. Cindy’s bloopers were the best.

Thank you for riding it out with me this month :).

This week’s writing prompt is:

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*** What is Monday Writing Prompt? A brief explanation.

The weekend ends in ONE hour. So sad. I had a lovely weekend and am especially not ready to go to work tomorrow. Today’s topic for VEDA is Top 5 Laminated Lists (Friends reference) or Top 5 unrealistic crushes. Mmm. I gush a bit over men. In case you don’t have video capabilities sitting at work, here’s my 5: Ryan Reynolds, Johnny Dep, Eric Northman (yes, I’m using his fictional name. It helps with the fantasy), Robert Downey Jr., Ryan Gosling. If you do have capabilities, you get to hear me gush for 2 minutes and 5 seconds.

Mine was having Cindy visit Austin, eating good food, and shooting a how to not miss a high five video.

The title pretty much says it all. Today’s VEDA vlog is a how to video. How to Never Miss a High Five

Hi. I recorded this VEDA vlog last night and uploaded by 9pm to youtube, so I did make the cut! Am sharing it on the blog. The topic for yesterday was people who inspire me on the internet. Basically, if I comment on your content, you inspire me. Thank you for letting me read and watch you and letting me into your life. This means, you, readers. Thank you. Yes, you!

Sorry for the tardiness. No excuses.

This week’s writing prompt is:

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*** What is Monday Writing Prompt? A brief explanation.

Today’s VEDA (Vlog Every Day in August) topic is pets. Meet my doggy pals.