Summer Goals 2020

As of Monday, June 8th at 4:00 PM my summer started.

It was an odd transition.

My normal end of school year crash hit. Normally, I'd want to visit people, travel, and get out and about to re-energize and savor life, but that's off the table right now. I want to go to the beach to reconnect with family, but that's a couple weeks off. We need to self-quarantine if we do go due to Pop's health, and hopefully infection numbers don't spike due to protests.

Staying at home without work and without social calls feels molasses slow. There's a lack of a sense of urgency about nearly everything yet I feel like there should be something.

Summer Goals

For me:
1. Read!
2. Write!
3. Learn!
4. Keep Active!

Did the exclamation points energize you? I was trying to energize myself, but I could have missed.

Breakdown:
1. Read - I want to read more. The Wheel of Time book club has been fun, but one guy is way behind. I stopped reading for 2 or 3 weeks to not pull too far ahead. I didn't pick up anything in between. I want Shane to read for pleasure more, so I'm hoping he'll see me reading more and take the hint (so far, he hasn't!).

2. Write - I need to catch and keep up with the blog....and I'm thinking of trying my hand at fiction again. Brandon Sanderson teaches a university class on writing sci-fi/fantasy and posted the lectures online. I've been watching one a day. I used to dream about being an author. I've moved on, but it could be healthy to stretch my creative muscles. I wanted to run a GURPs campaign for my friends, but that never started.

3. Learn - Learning helps prevent boredom. I'd love to learn more about writing, a language, and riding.

4. Keep Active - Speaking of riding, that would be good exercise. I live around horses, so I should probably know how to ride them, right? I tried to start an exercise routine months ago, but gave up. I'm fit enough to do what I want and didn't see the point in more strength training. My weight has already hit my normal summer level instead of my school level, so I don't want to slide any further!

For Shane:
1. Typing skills
2. Language skills
3. Social skills

Breakdown:
1. Typing - Shane hunts and pecks. He doesn't like to write, and I bet it's because he's like me. I didn't like writing when I was younger, because I couldn't get my ideas down (legibly) as fast as they flowed. Keyboarding was a boring class, but learning how to type opened me up to writing and has made my whole life easier. I'm using those skills to write this! I want Shane to learn how to touch-type some so that he will have that tool in his toolkit.

2. Language - Young brains learn languages better. I wanted to work on my Spanish with Shane, but he wanted to learn Japanese because Pokemon. I decided it was better to let Shane have his say in the matter and signed him up for a free Rosetta Stone trial. I have no idea if this will stick or not. I don't know any fluent Japanese speakers, but I guess there's anime.

3. Social Skills - Shane's not built to stay at home without a social outlet. It would drive him, Carrie, and me all crazy if he was forced to. I want to see cousins and friends and let him learn how to communicate and compromise!

For Carrie:
1. Horses!
2. Horse people!

Breakdown:
I asked and Carrie's goals were simple: Get out and get connected in the horse community. She wants to trailer places off property, meet riders, fox hunt, and get plugged in. She thinks it would be good exercise for her and the horses!