The 2014 Project

Everyone's got their goals for the year. Whether it be to save more money, lose (or gain) some weight, read more books, watch more movies/series or write more stories, everyone has their own little goals to set for themselves, and by the end of the year, they consider whether or not they've accomplished heaps or fell short of disappointing themselves for not pushing themselves harder.

As for me? Well, goals are good to have, but I want to look at things as a whole, so I'll just wrap it up neatly and consider it all part of one big project for the year. Not so much physical (but that's not to say everything will just be up in the air!), but I hope you get what I'm saying.

The end product of this project can be summarized like so: CARPE DIEM.

That's what I want for myself, and everything can just fall into place as all these little goals. Mine are jotted down below:

1. Save more. Granted, I'm in a position where I love my job and get paid for doing it, which doesn't happen to most people. But if I splurge too haphazardly I won't be able to set aside anything for myself. So to remedy that situation, I decided to come up with a little saving scheme for myself (which eventually blossomed into adapting the 52-Week Money Challenge) on top of the 50-30-20 rule of thumb that I plan to invoke this 2014. 
• Last year, I made it a habit to always deposit a set amount when every payday comes along. But I always end up needing to withdraw a small portion of what I deposit shortly afterwards, and that's something I hope not to make a repeat with this time around. 
• As for personal goals, I want to have a goal to focus on with all these saving up. What do I want for myself anyway?
• A space to live in with Kai (one that gives an easier access to work prominently). A studio or a 1-bedroom will suffice. (We joke how Kai is eager to Feng shui it once we do find a nice spot.) It's a nice statement to mean that we're not joking around and are actually taking all this seriously. We wanna be together, and that includes living under one roof eventually. So be nice 2014!
• An iPhone 5 (I've caught the iPhone bug. But I've decided I want to get my own instead of relying on our carrier services.)
2. Plan, plan, plan. Not that I'm against spontaneity, but as far as keeping to budgets are concerned, I want to be able to properly assign an amount to spend on and nothing more (but less is better!). That's why it's always great to invest in knowing when things happen,so you can allot an amount of your spending budget when necessary. Say an upcoming movie watching day, so time it accordingly. 
3. Commence Active Blogging. Much of the reason I made a blog was because I needed an outlet to chronicle the little things in my everyday life. Every day has a story, so I would definitely have something to blog about, especially if something incredibly interesting (or irritating) has just occurred. 
• The great thing about technology nowadays is that I can write something on paper and just snap a picture of it and post it on my blog to serve as my blog entry. And because I frequently carry my trusty Moleskine with me, I have no excuse but a lack of time to write it.
4. Lose weight. Admittedly, I'm a little overweight, according to my BMI. I'm heavier than I should be for my height, so I want to try and get into the ideal body type without sacrificing too much. We (Kai and I) always keep telling ourselves to go out and do some jogging or go to the gym, but we never actually did that once last year, so now is definitely the time to do just that. Her rubber shoes are still rather pristine here in my shoe cabinet as if to emphasize the point. 
5. Read and read some more. Since I asked for quite a few books last year, now is the best time to crack some open and get to reading. The number of my "to-read" list has increased, and will increase by 1 since I'm (still) patiently waiting for a hard bound copy of Deadly Heat to arrive at our book stores. That might be the catalyst that sparks my reading bug to return, but we'll see.
6. Learn something new. Kai said she'd teach me to play the guitar, so we're eyeing to get a nice little one to replace the one she lost in the flood back in 2009, and as a way of teaching me the bloody instrument I never bothered to learn (unlike my siblings who are quite good at it).
7. Get inspired to write. I do this sporadically throughout the years until now, and most of my inspiration comes from talking through scenarios with Kai. My little fanfictions will always be here when I find inspiration, so I just want to get more of that forever. But a bigger project is always more interesting. That's not to say we're not already brewing one at present, but that's for us to know and you to find out, yeah? ;)

So much luck to me this 2014! And when February arrives, more luck should come in as it'll be the Year of the Horse! :D