osteichthyes's posterous

Plans, always plans

Have I mentioned that I'm a planner? Perhaps dreamer is a better description. Flakey is oft ascribed to me (not inappropriately). My big dreams? Travel the world, be financially secure, find love and all that crap. But those don't seem even vaguely attainable. My more immediate, possibly smaller dreams: a better job (preferably a day job) with health insurance, sick days & vacation; savings to cover six months of expenses (hell, a month of expenses); new glasses; new wheels & tires for my car; veterinary visits for my kitties; to wear a size six pants; and maybe meet a nice guy that I actually like who likes me back and with whom I can spend time (that part all too often never works out). I have micro dreams too: a new shower rod & curtain (one of those curved rods to make the shower feel more spacious), blackout curtain for my kitchen doorway (I have the curtain, actually; I just need to put up a tension rod for it) to help my day sleeping, the wherewithal to get the shit done on my to-do list.

But those are my dreams (the big dreams aren't explicitly laid out here as I'm a bit superstitious). My quotodien plans are part and parcel of me, yet I tend to ignore them. Do I sabotage myself or am I just lazy? Is it both?

Plans, in no particular order:

  • Blog again. This is an effort. I'd probably do it from work if I remembered how to post from email (I know it's possible on this site). So there, that's another plan- email myself instructions on email posting. I can get to email from work, which would facilitate this plan.
  • Use facebook less. I'm not doing too well with this one.
  • Get my RN license. For that, there are various tasks required:
    • Get my transcripts and send them to Excelsior (the distance-learning program with the best reputation- really, it's good- for this).
    • Find a lawyer and get my "Obstructing a Public Thoroughfare" conviction expugned. While not strictly necessary, it'll expedite the licensing process.
    • Take (and pass, though about that I'm not worried) the tests for Excelsior's program.
  • Get my "credit" report from Group 1, the people who blacklist nurses (in Texas, at least). It's one of the credit reports checked by big hospitals around here. They (the hospitals) won't tell you when you're blacklisted, they just say "you don't meet our requirements." One is, however, entitled to a copy of this report by law. I've requested a copy before and never heard from them (Group 1), so my plan has been (for about a year now) to take the request directly to their office and sit my ass down in there until they give it to me.
  • Keep my apartment neat- I pick it up and keep it for a while, then sleep a lot and it gets messy again. Many people do this, perhaps minus the excessive sleeping.
  • Use the gym membership I pay for monthly (I can cancel it at any time, at least). I feel exponentially better when I work out. It's a matter of motivating myself to go.
  • Walk to the store rather than drive. I give myself a pass on this one from May through mid-September: it's too hot to walk anywhere.
  • Stay quit smoking.
  • Do South Beach Diet again. I've already started this and stuck to it, mostly. I'm five days in now. One day this week I stayed awake for 23 hours and didn't feel like eating much, but I stuck with the principles of it. A day later, I slept for 15 hours. The time between (I slept for five hours and then was awake for all of nine hours) I ate part-skim mozzarella cheese sticks, a pint of grape tomatoes, a couple of sugar-free fudgecicles, and half a tub of sugar-free low-fat aldi brand cool whip. It was what I craved. But hey, I didn't eat anything forbidden by the diet.
  • Cook for myself/avoid processed foods. This kind of goes with South Beach, but also with other plans for saving money and eating healthier in general. 
  • Pack my lunches for work for this weekend. I'm working on that even as I type. I made lamb meatloaf (recipe altered slightly to make it phase 1 SB friendly) and it's in the oven now. 
  • Fill my own waterbottles. I do that, generally. But it's a plan, nevertheless, because empty bottles are cluttering my kitchen counter. 
    • Pick up a funnel to make filling the bottles easier. I can't seem to find a decent one. I know they're available at the Container Store, but I keep forgetting to go. When I remember, money is too tight to spare for an unnecessary object.
  • Go to the eye doctor and get new contact lenses. I know, glasses are on the list of "dreams," but contacts are a more immediate need. I have one pair left. I'm too blind to see how I look in glasses without contacts in so I must have both. I won't be able to afford even this for another month, maybe. Work at the temp agency has been slow. My regular (albeit also part-time) gig barely covers overhead; it leaves no room for savings, much less an eye exam. A good job with health insurance really is a dream.
  • Call the accountant recommended to me by a colleague to help me file my tax returns for the past four years. NO, I am not a tax-evader. They owe me money- or did by my calculations each year. I just didn't have a bank account to direct deposit the money into and didn't trust my mailbox- my roommate had too many shady people in the house; I feared the check(s) being stolen. Now I've lost that damned paperwork. I have no idea if I owe money for last year. I don't think I do. I usually have extra taken out just in case.
  • Renew my passport. That's been on the list for two years (kind of like the tax returns on the list for four, the RN license for three- at least). That one might be easier than the others. Or not. It's hard to say.

Another plan, one much more immediate: get to bed within the next hour.

 

 

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