Goals

I got an email yesterday, via a thread on Facebook, asking if I was keeping any of the goals I'd set for myself in this new year. Personally, I don't think I've set any because sometimes when I do I stress myself out so much that life is not longer enjoyable (at least for those around me). In another way, goals are good. They are what push me to get things done. I think that ultimately, it's important to look at what our priorities are, set goals according to those, and then strive for those goals. For example, I really want to communicate with Indonesian speakers. I'm not crazy about the language (I am especially fond of Spanish and there's not much Spanish in Indonesian...only a bit) but I have to learn it in order to be able to speak it. That allows me to follow an even stronger desire I have to meet and get to know, possibly teach, some of the people I am meeting both in my neighbourhood and later, when I actually go regularly, the slums. It helps with shopping, too:)

I find that sometimes I set unrealistic goals for myself, like how I am going to know my camera inside and out in 6 months. I'm still on the first few chapters of Digital Photography for Dummies, because it's a lot to learn! I'm not a book learner; I'm hands-on. I've had to give that up a little and just do what I can when I can. I am learning, but at a much slower pace than I had envisioned.

One of the things I had really wanted to accomplish while I am here in Indonesia is to sort my photos by year, into specific files and then burn them onto cd so that I have copies in case of computer disaster. When our harddrive died on and off for 3 weeks it forced me to start this sorting, and now that I've started I'm on a roll. Last night I officially burned all of my photos from 2004 to 2007. What is hilarious is that the files for my 7 months here in Indo are bigger than all of those put together! There are some really, really good photos that I just love and am going to try and post on here. Landscapes and object photos are good; people shots are best.

Thanks for reading.