Bad Decision Dinosaur, Goals, and Gratitudes

Who's Bad Decision Dinosaur? Why, my favorite character in my favorite webcomic, of course!

And well, he and I definitely tore up the town this Easter weekend. Enough to the point where I decided I needed to take a cold hard look at my life priorities, which in turn reminded me of my 101 in 1001. "How's that going, Kokoba?" you ask. I'll be glad to fill you in! I'll get back to the other priorities in a second.

Well, I've made some (but not a lot) of progress on the music slog. It seems that my initial thought to simply delete first and then sort went against my super-categorizing tendencies and I am organizing as I go through. It's not so bad, I suppose, but I really don't devote that much time to this goal—because really, how important is it, at the end of the day?

The documentaries is going really well, as you've seen on here. Same with the nonfiction. The foreign movies are taking a bit more time, because I have to actually take out a whole time chunk to sit down and watch because more often than not there are subtitles involved. I don't hate subtitles or resent having to read while I watch a movie; it's just that movies in another language take a different level of focus for me.

The Couch to 5K program is also going well, though I am taking the program much slower than it's laid out. I've never been much of an active person, for one, but also a lifelong case of asthma makes intense cardio workouts more difficult than they would be otherwise. Right now I'm in the middle of week five, and I'm going to stay there for another three or four workouts before I attempt the (gulp!) twenty minute run that comes at the end of the fifth week.

Even taking it as slowly as I have been, I'm impressed with how much endurance I've built up so far. I'm not the fastest runner, by any means—and genetics says I never will be—but the difference between then and now is drastic.

Now, back to the aforementioned priorities. I've made three significant decisions.

1. I've made a Bad Decision Dinosaur Box. Every time I make a bad decision (not going to the gym, drinking too much, putting off important work), I put money in the box, in either $1, $5, or $10 denominations. When I leave Korea, all that money goes...somewhere. I am inclined to give it to a charity I support (in particular, a North Korean justice-related one), but I think the box might be more effective if the money goes to a cause I loathe. So far I owe the box $31. Eventually I'm going to put a label and pictures on it, but for now it sits plain and brown on my floor.
    
2. Create more, consume less. This comes after just finishing Flow, whose whole hypothesis can be summed up: "People are happier if they engage in active pursuits instead of passive ones." I keep finding excuses to put off working on jewelry or polishing my writing; to just cruise the Internet instead. Net result? Feeling like I'm wasting my time.  This also will force me to be more thoughtful about what I do consume.
   
   
3. Write up a list of five gratitudes, every day. Or week. Or every other day. But regularly. I have been in a foul, weird funk as of late (probably why Bad Decision Dinosaur has had so much sway over me). Cheesy as it sounds, I think focusing on the positive can do a lot to change your overall attitude. To hold myself accountable, I'll also post at least some of them here.

So, without further ado, my five gratitudes for today!

1. A working computer that keeps me in touch with all of my friends and loved ones.
2. The health of my friends and loved ones.
3. The Boy <3
4. My own health and well-being.
5. A really delicious dinner I made and ate earlier tonight.

What are you thankful for?