Day 1, Part III: What Am I Fighting Fooooooooooooooooooooooooooooor!?

So, having put forth both my thesis and my method for this journal, it's time to dig into the meat of the project: the actual goals.

Now, let's make something clear right up front, here. This is intended to be a lifetime list. As I described in my method article, many of these goals are not things that can ever truly be 'completed.' Furthermore, the list is quite extensive and widely varied, and many of the items on it are plenty challenging on their own. I have limits to my time, the same as anyone else, so I fully expect to still be chasing some of these items--or the 'stretch goals' that extend them--to my last breath.

Given those limitations, though, I obviously need to prioritize my pursuits, and in selecting them, I will weigh each according to my interest, their viability in my current circumstances, any prerequisites they may have, cross-applicability to other pursuits, their innate urgency and how they can be made to fit in my schedule. With that being said, let's have a look at the list, shall we?

General
Livable income off creative endeavors alone
Learn to play Go
Read 1 book per week/Re-read classical literature/philosophy/theology
Travel the world
Improve typing speed/learn keyboard shortcuts
Memorize metric system conversions
Improve cooking skills
Cut all artificial ingredients from diet/120g protein per day
Learn about, create and operate an aquaponic farming system
Develop a video game
Total adherence to daily schedule

Writing
5,000 words/day
1 poem/day
1,000 words fanfiction/day

Music
Composition/Production/Sound Design
Singing
Guitar/Bass/Violin/Banjo/Mandolin/Upright Bass/Viola/Cello/Ukulele/Oud/Harp/Dulcimer/Shamisen/Huqin/Sitar
Nyckelharpa/Koto
Piano/Mbira/Harpsichord/Celesta/Organ
Drum Kit/Bongo/Djembe/Taiko/Castanets/Wood Block/Conga/Doumbek/Darbuka/Timpani/Tabla/Tambourine/Maracas
Chimes/Bells/Wine Glasses/Tubular Bells/Tibetan Singing Bowl
Marimba/Xylophone/Steel Drum/Hang/Handpan/Glockenspiel/Lithophone
Harmonica/Flute/Bagpipes/Accordion/Clarinet/Oboe/Bansuri/Danso/Dizi/Ocarina/Shakuhachi/Piccolo/Pan Flute/Shinobue
Trumpet/Saxophone/Trombone/Tuba/French Horn

Coding
HTML/CSS/Javascript/D3/Web Design
Python/Ruby/Java/Scala/Processing/C/C#/C++/Haskell/PERL/Clojure/Rust/Go/D
R/SQL/Bash

Fitness
82 kg, 9% body fat
Pistol Squats, Handstand Pushups, Planche Ups, One Armed Pushups, Front Lever Pullups, Claw Pushups, Muscle Ups
1 Minute of Double-Unders on Jump Rope
Grip Strength
Ring Training
1 meter Vertical Jump, 2.4 meter Standing Long Jump
15 minute 1 kilometer swim
Improved Flexibility, Splits
15 second 100 meter dash

Self-Education
Mathematics
Physics/Chemistry/Biology/Material Science
Mechanical Engineering/Electrical Engineering/Computer Science
Architecture/Construction
Linguistics

Visual Arts
Graphic Design/Data Visualization
Drawing/Painting
Pixel Art/3D Modeling
Cartography
Photography/Cinematography/Video Editing

Material Arts
Industrial Design
Sculpture
Tailoring
Costume Design
Interior Design

Performing Arts
Acting/Voice Acting
Swing/Blues Dance/Tango/Waltz/Salsa/Hip Hop Dance/Modern Dance
Stand Up Comedy

Languages
Danish, Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian, Swedish, Old English
Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Russian, Lithuanian, Romanian
Bulgarian, Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian, Turkish, Kazakh, Greek
Albanian, Slovene, Macedonian, Slovak, Polish, Czech
Armenian, Georgian, Latin, Dutch, German, Afrikaans
French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Hebrew
Welsh, Irish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic, Arabic, Amharic, Berber
Yoruba, Swahili, Zulu, Farsi, Punjabi, Hindi-Urdu
Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Sanskrit, Nepali, Mongolian
Korean, Mandarin, Tibetan, Burmese, Vietnamese, Lao
Khmer, Thai, Malay, Indonesian, Tagalog, Japanese

Martial Arts
Muay Thai
BJJ
T'ai Chi
Wing Chun
Boxing
Wrestling
Pencak Silat
Kali/Escrima
Shaolin Kung Fu
Capoeira
Krav Maga
Aikido
Shotokan
1 Amateur Fight

Oh. That's . . . quite a lot. You may notice that this list is not only massive, but that it is inconsistent in its organization and not particularly informative. Or informative at all. Looking over many of these items, one cannot help but ask the blindingly obvious question: what do any of these mean?

Well, my friends, that is the first goal I'll track to completion through this journal: detailing the process by which I take these unwieldy, ill-defined goals, suss out their meaning and determine what sort of paths I'll take to them. Tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, I'll be chipping away at that challenge, and by Sunday's end, I intend to have a meaningful and comprehensive list that shall become the main reference point of this journal.

Still learning,
~L