So I started this last year, inspired by my friend’s list of things that she had accomplished in the past year when going into the new year… Since last year I had a list of items that I have completed in some capacity and what I was planning to do in an effort to continue into 2013 let’s see how my scorecard went:

1: Complete a full length play
2013: So I stared at the completed play and decided that I needed to do a major rewrite, but before I put pen to paper I was playing in my head of how I would like to story to go with only half of the cast. So while the original play included ten cast members, this I hope to bring down to only five.

2: Complete a ten-minute play
2013: Ironically, the whole “close to being public” got even closer. Close enough to the point that I am setting up a table reading soon. So why am I stalling? Well, I am currently editing another ten-minute that is tied with this one with two others simmering in my head. So perhaps that table read is going to have to wait til at least one other play is ready… preferably two additional.

3: Travel out of state more to visit friends
2013: Well, let’s see, I
– February: flew out to Anaheim for a friend’s Disneyland Birthday
– March: drove out to Rochester, Minnesota for FablesCon
– August: drove to Pennsylvania for MusikFest
– August: flew out to San Jose for a cousin’s wedding
And with more trips on the horizon, I think I am doing alright here.

4: Hit the community theatre audition circuit harder
2013: I did audition, but it wasn’t as much of a fruitful onstage year like it was in 2012, however, I learned a lot and worked on some things at home… so only time will tell if the work was worth it.

5: Work backstage
2013: And how… diving into Stage Managing, and with a planned trip to Los Angeles for a one-night only production… I think I found something that would be a worthwhile counterpoint from acting. However, I am also learning another skill set that only time would tell if it would be resume building.

6: Give someone a (second) chance when I felt they deserve none
2013: This, ironically, extended to a party this year that I did not expect and even though I felt I was being the bigger person and things were ok for a little while… everything kind of reverted back to square one and in the end it just wasn’t worth it. Ah well.

7: Reconnect with old friends
2013: Wow, this really took a 180 degree turn around in a lot of areas. It is true that you know who your friends are when you need help moving. Granted I did pick and choose people more this time around, but it was more because after I knew who was definitely going to help, who else could I invite where the personalities would blend… and if someone’s personality wouldn’t blend even though I knew they would help, I couldn’t bring myself to ask…

8: Polish my singing voice
2013: This still trip me up in vocal auditions, but I am slowly working towards being more confident in what I am capable of, let’s see what happens though.

9: Control my workload
2013: Even though this worked out for the most part in 2013, who knows if this would be the case in 2014. Time will tell I suppose.

10: Attempt NaNoWriMo
2013: Yeeeeaaaaah, this totally didn’t happen. Going to attempt again in 2014.

11: Focus on my secondary “career”
2013: Well, the secondary didn’t happen as much. However, a bunch of other irons that were in the fire are becoming rather ripe. So let’s see what happens in 2014.

12: Submitting writing works
2013: Just for the hell of it, I submitted a ten-minute play recently, though I doubt it would be picked up and that’s ok… as soon as I finish a few other things I’ll start submitting more and see what happens.

13: Spending more time with family
2013: After losing one set of grandparents in 2012 there is this need to spend more time with my parents and grandparents more this year than I ever did in the past. Although I managed to do this consistently throughout 2013 with my parents, that is not the case with my grandparents and that is going to have to change in 2014.

And what do I have planned for 2014?

Losing weight! Ok, no, not really… not exactly like that in any case, but more along the lines of bringing my size down to what it was back in early-2012 and I want to say that I am part way there, but who knows…

I will be at a point in my life that I am likely to want to get back into ballroom dancing and I think my ankles can handle it this time around… it is just the matter of timing, so I suppose my hope for 2014 would be to:

Expand my interests and hobbies… because one could never have enough.