Bringing in the New Year!

Up and at em! A new day is dawning. The year is waiting. Enter it one day at a time! Next year will only appear by successfully completing monthly units 1 thru 12, weekly sub units 1 thru 52 and daily modules 1 thru 365.

What do you hope to accomplish this year? Do you have a list? Or is it all in your head still? I encourage you to write it down and prepare for an exciting pursuit of dreams being realized, goals being accomplished, new friends being made and perhaps some new hubs being written and published!

Many of us have procrastination tendencies, and with everything from writing, to house remodeling, to accomplishing personal goals, it’s easy to leave it all for a better day, or just push it off until tomorrow. But truth is, the early worm feeds the bird of imagination, and most great writers, inventor’s and artsy creators have to start early, and let those imaginative juices flow before the birds even start singing.. If we wait too late, today’s busy chores will interfere and take us off in different directions very quickly, leaving us with one more day to have to catch up on if we want to stay ahead of the game, and be productive, while not letting the year slip away from us, especially since it is our best opportunity, starting right now!

Ok, so I have made a rough list of things I want to do. I have some objectives, one being to publish this hub by 8 AM. In order to inspire myself, I looked at the webcam of my favorite newspaper up close to the Arctic Circle. It always inspires me. Not having looked at it in a few months, left me surprised when I clicked it up with my lively little laptop mouse. It was a different view! I wondered, how can they change the scenery if the camera is in the same place? Well, on closer examination I saw that the road leading across the Chena River was not the same. Right in front of the newspaper office, the road now splits, and one lane looks to be a one way coming off of Cushman street, which was there before, but not all the way across to the west side of the bridge as it is now. As the road splits on this side, going east there looks to actually be a second bridge now, that diverts the east bound traffic over to Barnette Street, and hence, a new Barnette St. Bridge. They were talking of doing this before I left Fairbanks in 2006. Amazing that municipal and borough plans have been carried out and this improvement has been made. Maybe that could be added to the list of why you need a list in order to accomplish goals! Someone had to draw up the concept, and present it to a governing body and many arrangements had to be made prior to a project of this size to be accomplished. I do remember it took the city a long time to resolve such issues as acquiring the property that many remember as the Sampson Hardware complex.

As I looked over the webcam, it is icy, cold, and snow is plowed up on the sides of the road. I can remember years ago, walking with a teenage friend from over by Gaffney Road where she lived, all the way down Cushman street together on a quiet evening, and as it grew towards sunset, we shared our evening with the geese by the Chena River, talked about our lives and what we planned to do in that warm summer solstice setting. Now there is a new hotel standing by the river, and an integrated water park along the shore, across from the busy Spring Hill Suites, businesses, and cafes. Also I could see the University of Alaska extension building in the distance across the river where I studied business law, and accounting a few years ago. Another memory I had of this scenery was when I was driving snow plows and highway sanders for the State of Alaska in 2002 and 2003. We paid close attention to how we left the snow berm’s along the edge of the road, so traffic could flow without obstruction. I thought, my, how many memories I have about this one panoramic view, and how many connecting thoughts it would drift up of long, long ago, yet still be in continuance with today, the present, and apparently headed towards more years of useful and even imaginative future!

Now, this helps me to focus on the job ahead, of making sure I have my individual bridges built and traffic lanes of my trip through this year outlined, not in propensity of detail, but in a rough draft of where I would like it to go. It’s my life, and if I don’t make some plans, it could quickly disappear into oblivion, or into the river so to speak, where I certainly don’t want it to go. (and I saw the story where the vehicle actually did end up in the river!) Well, so how do I do wrap up this goal-setting resolution thing? I know Athletes set goals to run faster, weight lifters to lift heavier amounts, moms want to be better mom’s, and kids, well they always want to do better in school, and we all want to plan for vacation, and we try to set realistic goals of achievement; but this time I want it to be special; I want to really write it down, and really check my list day by day, ( or at least once a week) and see if I am doing the proper steps to get me towards those goals!

What are you planning? What’s on your list? Do you have day to day plans, goals that are attainable? Are there some things you want to do on a weekly basis? When I was going through an otherwise negative time of my life, In 2004, I encouraged myself to take a year of drawing classes with a well known Fairbanks water color artist, and being in college, I elected to take a metal-smithing class, in which I learned some simple steps for Moca- Mae process of bonding gold to Silver, and have two rings size 11 to show for it, and several months of square dance lessons out at the North Pole Grainge. In 2005 I built on my house in North Pole, and finished it so that I could leave it rented while I made a trip out of Alaska to see my mother in Alabama, I did a lot of things in one year. YOU can do a lot of things in one year! In 2006 I attended a self help group for one year, And read 15 personal growth books in one year. In 2007 I worked as an airport administrative assistant in North Dakota for one year. While I was doing that I disassembled a 36’x 54’ ranch home from its basement, framed walls and re-attached the house to a new basement after it had been moved to a new location inside of 3 months, while working at the airport. In the same year, I traveled to Duluth Minnesota and attended the Superior College Aircraft Firefighters Academy Certification, and became recertified to stand by for commercial aircraft as the airport safety officer. I am not bragging about what I have done, but pointing out that if you stay focused, you can do substantial damage to the list you made in your new year’s transition! This past year (2012), I drove a tractor-trailer truck all over Alabama , Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana, attended training about 5 weeks this past year, and received credentials in the trucking business. And not happy with the initial endorsements, went back and got more licenses so I could be more versatile in this trade. So I ended the year with having the ability to haul LP gas tankers and was trained to load and unload the product at the collection and delivery sites. There is a lot that you can do in one year if you set your mind to it..

If I plan things right, I CAN slow down a little and perhaps get more done. I would like to reach the 100 mark of hubs on my hub page. I would like to begin to make a few dollars at this task, and it be enjoyable as well. I don’t want to forget to be inspiring as well as to be inspired, and to maintain diligence on who I am and why I am. Each of us has a different twist and a different personality, which causes us to set different goals; however in certain genre’s we DO have similar likes and dislikes, and wish to attain similar things, so it’s easier to help each other and be a resource for others who are in the same life stream that we are.

Being in Alabama now, I have to find new avenues to achieve success. I have to explore and discover what is out there for me. I do know it can be rewarding and exciting, if I put the effort out to just find out! One of my general thoughts, growing slowly is that the culture here inclines towards research, and the cities have interesting places to explore. The south is rich in culture and historical events. There are many venues of inspiration to pursue as I ease into the new year. What gear I engage is purely up to me, I can jalopy or vette through through the year and I dial up whatever economic indicator I choose for this year of my life. What do you hope to do? What are your goals? Are you setting low or high standards for yourself? Whatever you have control of, and desire to achieve, I suggest a prayer for inspiration, coupled with simple determination, and dismissal of old fears will help you achieve more than ever before!

Oscarlites

It is so soon that another year approaches! Gosh, can you believe it moves so fast? Someone stop the calender, Please!! What? NOOOOOO!! Don't do that! That would be tragic! Right? Sigh! You just got to believe that time will go on.. that it will not stop. But please don't let it go by too fast! We have too much to do! Light the fire, turn on the lights, we aren't done yet!