I keep meaning to do these, and then I forget! And one goal is definitely to remember that DW exists and to post here, so....
Challenge #2
In your own space, set some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.Fannish (and related) goals - Keep learning Mandarin, and depending on how this is going, maybe take a formal exam (this would be HSK2, which I think I might be able to try in the summer or autumn). I made a significant step by signing up for private lessons in December, which are a pretty intensive 2 hours a week. It's been a huge boost to my confidence to realise that watching a ton of TV plus lots of Duolingo and minimal other apps means that I can say some things in Mandarin and my Chinese teacher understands them! I didn't think I'd ever be able to
speak Mandarin and it's very exciting to be able to say even a basic sentence. Also exciting is rewatching shows I watched this time last year, and finding that I understand simple exchanges and phrases. Sometimes now when I write a fic, I pause because I know what phrase the character would be saying in this moment, and it's not in English.
- Finish my WIPs, especially the long co-authored Guardian fic which is a lot of fun but also
long- Be better at leaving comments and appreciation for other authors, as I often read fic very quickly on my phone and then never remember to go back and comment on it.
- Maybe expand more into k-drama and learn more about what's going on there? The shows are good but the episodes are very long.
- Keep signing up for/participating in challenges! 2021 was the first year that I participated to this extent and it meant that I wrote things I wouldn't have thought of writing myself, and enjoyed them.
- Attempt to be marginally more sociable on DW and Tumblr and in larger Discord groups, maybe even Twitter. Very marginally.
- Consider learning to vid? I would love to be able to make vids, but it seems so far beyond my technical capacities that idk if I could. Maybe??
Non-fannish goals - Commit more to my current job and place of work, and stop feeling irritable at my colleagues/employer for reasons that are largely to do with being stuck working from home for nearly 2 years, which is not their fault. Recently I applied for other jobs, none of which I am likely to get (or would make me happy if I did get them). So when I don't get them, I need to let this go and stop fantasising that the grass is greener elsewhere, when the fact is that I have an interesting, well-paid job and the things that are annoying about it are sector-wide and endemic, not about where I work. I would say, I also need not to feel resentful when useless men failing upwards get the jobs I applied for instead of me, but that's not a realistic goal.
- Relatedly, re-engage more with work events and colleagues I like around the world, sign up for stuff, get things done rather than doomscrolling the news feeds and procrastinating, sigh.
- I managed to go to the gym and exercise more or less consistently all last year, for the first time ever, so keep this up.
- Try to be better at connecting with RL friends and making more of an effort to see them, and try to leave the house more. Covid-19 has killed my ability to remember what it was like to want to go to the theatre and cinema and concerts, and to make active efforts to do stuff with people. It would be nice to feel able to go to even a few live events again.
- Read some highbrow fiction occasionally as well as large quantities of popular fiction and fic. And maybe watch some of the many Western TV shows that everyone has been telling me to watch for years and I haven't got round to. (This is quite possibly also an unrealistic goal given my reading/TV habits in the last year...)
- Pay more attention to older kid's schoolwork and maybe find someone who could tutor him in something he'll want to engage with, like, idk, programming. Be more proactive in organising younger kid's social life.
- Find some new stuff to cook. Maybe experiment more with Chinese cookery?
- Give more to charity and/or invest savings in a useful and ethical way.
Honestly so many of my smaller goals are work-related, it's slightly depressing. But I'm sure there have been years when they were ALL work-related, so at least I have some non-work plans. Partly due to feeling unmotivated by work, I've been very motivated in fandom and 2021 was a very fun and active year. I'd like to keep that up <3
