Another Year is Gone
May 27th, 2006 by MarkTomorrow, I turn 28. That means that one more year of my life is gone, and that I can’t have it back, ever. All my decisions, conscious and unconscious, have taken what was once an infinite tree of years that could have been, and ruthlessly pruned them down to a single year that was. Some things were good- I made some great friends that I will likely know for many more years to come, I managed to save about a thousand $US a month, and I found a great way to express myself and organize my thoughts in blogging. Other things weren’t so good- I’ve gotten even more out of shape, I haven’t learned too much Chinese, and I haven’t made so much progress in terms of career development. As such, I need to choose goals for my next year, now.
Before I turn 29, I’ll…
- Improve my Chinese: I’ll learn how to read and write 500 more Chinese characters, and I’ll also read at least five kid’s books in Chinese.
- Lose 50 pounds: I know I don’t look it, but I’m 225 pounds. I know I’ll be losing a fair bit of muscle as I drop down to 175; I’m aware of the trade-offs, and I accept them.
- Be a good friend to at least two more people than I am now.
- Give more: instead of just giving a tenth of my income to charity, I’ll also give some of my time to help those less fortunate than I am. It’s a small start, but I’ll do at least 20 hours of volunteer work.
- Enjoy the good things: I’ll think less about what I’m unhappy with, and more about what I have to be grateful for.
May 28th, 2006 at 12:35 am
生日快樂^____^。
您好，這是我第一次逛到這兒，我目前正在上有關如何教華語的課程，所以在網路上搜尋相關資料就逛到這裡了，希望不要嚇到你:P
看到外國朋友用中文寫文章覺得好感動，也激發了我好好學英文的動力，謝謝C:
在你的”英文部落格”留中文，希望你不要介意喔!Anyway，生日快樂!!祝你未來一年一切順心!!(我們好像年紀一樣?)
May 28th, 2006 at 10:28 am
Mark-san,
Congratulations on your twenty-ninth birthday. If you were Chinese, you would be in your thirtith calendar year now. I do not know which age you feel happier with, but of course I prefer a smaller number for my age.
When I turned twenty-nine many years ago, I also set goals for the next year because the last year of my twenty’s sounded a little special for me. To my regret some of them are still on the list of my this year’s goals.
From my experience, it is possible to lose weight with minimum loss of your muscle unless you already have an athletic build. As you know, just dieting is not enough. You have to train your muscle every day while dieting.
May 28th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
Happy Birthday Mark. Good luck with your goals.
May 28th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
Mark,
Long time no see. Happy birthday! It sounds like a worthy set of goals. It is also apparent (to me anyway) that you have done well for yourself this year. I always try to measure in terms of how much I have impacted other people’s lives for the better. It’s certainly easier said than done (for me at least), but I think this is the only yardstick worth anything, if one is to measure in the first place…
May 28th, 2006 at 6:16 pm
Happy birthday to you! Good luck with your goals.
May 28th, 2006 at 9:13 pm
Happy birthday!
Do you give to charities in Taiwan or elsewhere?
May 28th, 2006 at 11:22 pm
Happy Birthday!!!
Don’t stress so much about getting older (this coming from a much younger person!); just concentrate on enjoying life!
But it does sound like you have some great goals for this next year!
May 29th, 2006 at 12:57 am
Happy Birthday.
(Hmm… very close to my 28th birthday (01/06))
May 29th, 2006 at 1:38 am
John, I haven’t ever given anything to any Taiwanese charities. I’ve pretty much kept on giving to the same charities I had been when I was in America. Most of them are international organizations anyway, but I suppose I should spend some more time and learn about the charitable organizations here.
May 29th, 2006 at 6:19 pm
hey Mark..
happy birthday anyway…
enjoy every day ~
June 1st, 2006 at 11:30 pm
I know the feeling of days going past like leaves of grass… You do have to take pleasure in what you’ve done, and what you’ve got.
June 6th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
Hey Mark,
Happy Birthday! I wouldn’t worry too much about hitting 28 (I’m staring down 29 myself)… Not everyone can say they were successful in moving to a foreign country and learning Chinese!
Anyway, just thought I’d chime in with my two cents… and wish you luck with your goals as well.
September 14th, 2006 at 1:46 am
[...] Related Post: Another Year is Gone. Tags: diet, exercise, goals, health [...]
October 10th, 2006 at 5:07 am
[...] Related Post: Another Year is Gone. [...]
January 3rd, 2009 at 2:17 am
Comment to self– pretty good overall, but goal #2 still not achieved!