I need a Sunday routine...

So many of my Sundays lately have been so unproductive. Heck, I could almost call them counterproductive. I wake up late, tale my time to get moving... Eat too much, watch too many movies, and barely touch the things that need to get done.

So, my plan is to plan out my Sundays a bit better. Here's the new goal:

1-) Be up by 10am. 10am is plenty of sleep.

2-) Have either a little cardio or a lift finished by 11. The movement will keep me on path towards being productive.

3-) Have things cleaned up by 2pm. The bathroom, dishes, laundry. The things I let pile up. Even small steps in these areas should help.

4-) Enjoy my day through 8pm (depending on what I have planned)

5-) Have whatever needs to be prepared for the next day done by 10pm, whether that's packing for a flight, cooking food, or planning my Monday at work.

6-) Bed by midnight. Anything later, and I'll start my week off on a weird schedule. Not good.

Anyway, these aren't too har of goals, and these are really just a minimum. I'll keep you updated on my Next Sunday. Let you know if I can stick to this.

Student Loans.

For being a guy who was always good with math and financials, I sure did do a number on myself when it comes to student loans.  It's probably time to buckle down and get those out of my life forever.  But a debt pushing the size of my yearly income isn't an easy thing to overcome. 

You'd think I'd have my degree by now if you saw how much I owe.  Atleast eBay will take care of the rest of my degree for me.  But seriously.  Ouch.
I've got to say, getting my first degree at American Intercontinental University was great and all, but it didn't really get me anywhere.  It really just got the ball rolling on spending too much on education.  I really really regret registering for classes through them.  I should have gone to school the traditional way, at a physical campus, and learned all I could about the Financial Aid Process.

Now I'm old, too late for scholarships, make too much for really any aid.  Luckily,  like I said, eBay will help finish off my Marketing degree, and I am sure they'll help with any supplemental education I want to get when I finish with that.  But, until I push hard and get this mountain of a student loan taken care of, I'm probably not going to be really happy with my financial status.

But hey, working TOWARD paying it off will feel good.  The checks won't be a happy thing to write, but, I'm going to write them.  And when I write that final one, I am going to throw a giant party.  And at that party, I'll have worked too hard to be ballin' on a budget.

Deciding to perfect myself.

Had an interesting thought tonight.  I'm proud to say it's not a chemically induced one.  I was thinking about death tonight, and how close I could be to it, not knowing what each moment holds.  Obviously it's not just me, anyone of us could be gone tomorrow.

Everyday we're getting one day closer to death.  If all I do is have fun all the time, where will I be when I am 70?

If I only live to be 35, and I've worked too hard to have been happy with the short time lived, how will that feel?

Since we can't know what will come next, after this life, it's important to make the most of this one.  I can't imagine sitting around over-contemplating death is the best use of my time.  So I started over-thinking life.

If I were end up having a shorter-than planned life, I'm not going to know it too far in advance. So maybe the feeling of setting goals, and accomplishing them to be on track to be that person I am proud of when I'm 70 will be the best I can feel. And who am I kidding, it's easy for a guy like me to find time here and there to really enjoy myself.

I need to "get started". Right now, I feel like I've just gotten lucky.  Fate favors me for some reason.  Maybe I'm just extra likable, which some people would claim, or maybe I have so much potential, that the successes I have seen so far is a reelection of a rough, uncut and polished diamond. 

I like the diamond analogy.  While the rough, uncut diamond still has value, and can stand out compared to other rough, uncut stones, it's value greatly increases with time, effort, and a highly focused hand perfects it.  Maybe some that have been around me have seen my potential, as a diamond expert would of an uncut stone, but it's up to me to perfect myself.

What I really have to do now, is commit to doing it.  Not just know I have to, and plan on it.  I have to decide to do it.  It's overwhelming, but not more overwhelming than I am underwhelmed with where I am at now that I am 26.

I'm going to revisit this Sunday.  Tomorrow is Saturday, and I'm headed to Lagoon with some friends.  Tomorrow will be a very nice "uncut" day.  Sunday will be a good chance to sit down, think, plan, research, plan, set some goals, plan, and most importantly, decide.  A decision takes 2 seconds.  I'm going to decide. The fun part is, perfecting myself could end up being a whole list of different things. I'm excited to see what changes I want to make. Don't be surprised if you get to know a different kind of Derek. Don't be scared of him. He'll be just as new and different to me too.

So much to blog about... So little drive to actually blog...

This post will have to do.  I'm going to tease you readers, yes, all 3 of you, with a few things I could blog about.  You get to decide what I'll post next.

Here are your choices:  (I'm sure I'll blog about them all eventually)

1-) My Sunday in Portland.  Saw a lot of great stuff.
2-) Clear Lake, and becoming a pirate.
3-) The irony of tonight's Chinese food
4-) A profound conversation I had in text with John the other night regarding the meaning of life and things of that nature.  It's a good one, because I had a couple of beers in me.
5-) A thought I had about how I could change how I think about my job to inspire myself to do better, again, a result of a couple of beers.  This could actually help you if you're looking to work harder in your jobs too!
6-) The MS Mud Run 10k
7-) My Rogaine Frustration/Mishap

So there we go.  There are 7 things I want to write about, but haven't yet.  Take your pick, and that's what I'll post next!

I do cool things.

I realized this is my first post since after my birthday. I've actually done quite a lot since then, including skydiving with Joel after a 7 hours drive the morning of the 30th.

But that's not why I'm here after my de facto break from posting or reading blogs. I'm here to share some bad news.

My first blog account, the one that was associated to my MSN profile is gone. I used to read it all the time, to remind myself of who I was, I supposed at this point, 8 years ago. It was fun. I'm actually pretty sad. Sure, most of the stuff on there was about a girl that I switched courses for. Moved to Utah and became a Mormon... But tonight, I miss reading about and kind of feeling those old feelings.

The love.
The excitement.
The fear.
I was so naive. But, even though what I came here for wasn't really for me... I still like to remind myself what the heck I was thinking.

Damn you MSN live spaces for disappearing. I think I understand the inportance of a journal now. The Internet can't decide to delete a journal. That being said, I probably won't start a journal. I'm so lazy. And I bet someday... When i'm 34, sitting in my room, cursing the Internet for devouring www.derekiscool.com I'll remember tonight, telling myself a journal is a good idea, and still deciding not to do it. 34 year old Derek should kick 26 year old Derek's ass, but he's probably too old and tired to.