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December 31, 2005
December In Review
Exercise - 6 Green Marbles
I lost four inches in my waist since the beginning of the year. Four. Inches. That's fantastic. My double chin has disappeared. I don't have fat rolls anymore. But, the best thing of it all, is that I finally beat 25 years of bad habits. That's one way I positively changed my life this year. This is one of only two categories where everything got moved.
Day Job - 1 Black Marble
I had my year-end review yesterday, and my boss told me that it was merely a formality, because I've exceeded every one of their goals to the point where they can't set any for me. I get along fantastically with my employees, and I enjoy every day going into work. This is the other category where all marbles got moved.
Finance - 1 Blue Marble
This was my weakest area this year, I'll admit. I was passively letting things get under control, but there was very little actual proactive-ness. This is going to be my biggest focus in 2006.
Comix - 7 Red Marbles
What can I say about the year in comix that I haven't already? I went from amateur to pro. I went from barely able to draw to in demand. I accomplished everything I'd set out to do, and exceeded even my own expectations. My plan was to get myself to a position where I can start really bringing in some income from comix in 2006. I honestly believe I've done that, and it's going to happen.
Personal - 6 Silver Marbles
Read The Man Who Fell To Earth and A Scanner Darkly. Kept the apartment clean-ish. Made a new good friend. Had a couple pleasant surprises.
So, let's take a look at what didn't get done:
2 Blue Marbles - I didn't pay off the two cards I'd intended to. But, it will happen next year, so these are getting moved over to next year's jar.
8 Red Marbles - I'd originally envisioned Comixperience as an online journal/magazine, and had set for it to be a quarterly release, with one marble for each release. Ah, well. There were two anthologies which I had hoped to get made, but neither came to fruition. Ah, well, again. And, of course, becoming CCN prez became a non-issue. Ah, well, again, again.
11 Silver Marbles - The three marbles set aside to do things with my now ex-girlfriend obviously didn't go through. Que sera, sera. For some reason I never started learning Chinese, but that's going to get moved over to the next year. And, of course, I didn't expect to really have 25 unexpected good things happen. You can't plan for that, but I thought it was a good thing to strive for. It made me appreciate life a lot more, you know? I think we take those sorts of things for granted, and this was my way of breaking out of that mold.
So, what was accomplished this year, overall?
I'm in the best shape of my life, physically.
I'm comfortable and secure at my day job, which keeps a roof over my head and my cat fat.
I'm not in the hole to the point where I can't see the light.
My goals for my career in comix are now within grasp.
The quality of my life overall has raised immeasurably since this time last year. New Year's Eve of 2004 was a real low point for me, and I thought to myself, "Self, we need to change the way we're doing things." I think the results speak for themselves.
I've got a strong, steady, level foundation now. Time to build something on it.
Posted by Schamberger at December 31, 2005 08:06 AM