Maxi Danger Uncut

Sunday, March 06, 2011

Goal Tracking - Feb '11 Status Report

So it's been a month since I jotted down a few of my goals for this year, thought I'd do a quick review of progress. One line summary is that Reading/Writing and Listening are going well, however Health and Fitness and Work Life Balance have taken a massive hit this month due to a heavy work schedule.


  • Writing: Green. Especially considering what your reading now contributes to achieving the goal. Punched out a couple of non-published posts as well, on track to hit my 24 posts this year.
  • Reading: Green. Have knocked off two books in the first couple of months of 2011, Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey and Heart Stopper by Joy Fielding. Heart Stopper is pop-trash, not even worth talking about, however Jasper Jones was a good read. Set in rural Australia in the 60's, it narrates the journey of a young kid who gets mixed up in a criminal situation. Compelling and funny at times, I give it three and a half pages out of five, and recommended status.
  • Listening: Green. Went to two concerts this month, the first being Sia at the Palais. This concert was a bit of a joke, I thought we had good seats, but it turns out they were in the back row. That was bad enough, but made that much worse when Sia comes out on stage in some fucked up costume, with a black board strapped to her back, and also wearing black face make-up, making seeing her virtually impossible. I've read a little bit how she gets anxious on stage and stuff, and she only performs live when she has to, not sure if the costume was anything to do with that or not. Have to admit though that her performance was actually pretty good, although found the whole not being able to see anything at all a massive vibe kill. Her voice is amazing. Second gig was an up and coming indie-acoustic-folk group called The Paper Kites, who we went and saw at the Evelyn. I've seen them before and loved their show, so when they announced they were doing another gig locally, with 10 buck tickets, I jumped at it. This gig was better than the first, the female vocalist sounds like she's improved after their recent tour in New Zealand, really impressed with this band. One to watch, they're about to record their first album, if I was a betting man I'd lay some cash down and wager that they'll make it big one day. If you want to check 'em out have a look here: [http://www.myspace.com/thepaperkitesband]. These guys were supported by Avalanche City on the night, a New Zealand dude who has given up playing in heavy metal bands in favour of something a bit more mellow. With an amazing voice (apparently he taught himself to sing) I'd definitely go see him again [http://www.avalanchecity.com]. One bans I'm keen to see in March is Sparkadia at the Hi-Fi Bar, also making it onto the watchlist is Two Door Cinema Club - their song What You Know is my tune of the week [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXwYJyrKK5A].
  • Save: Amber. Think I saved some cash this month but only by accident - I've been working so much that I haven't been going out that often. Aim for this month is to get some sort of budget together, so I have a better idea of whether or not I'm making progress.
  • Contribution: Amber. Got back in touch with an organisation that I've done some stuff with before, but again due to work haven't given it that much time. Will make it a priority in March.
  • Health and Fitness: Red. Hardly went to the gym, went for a couple of runs but that was it. On a positive note right on the money with my AFD to NAFD ratio - as of today, I'm at exactly 50%. Will re-start my gym regime this week. I did go see a dude called Paul Taylor give a talk in Feb on general health, and if I can find my notes I'll summarise them in a separate post.
  • Work-Life Balance: Red, however this is as expected. Even working at 23:00 tonight on the verification of an upgrade we did yesterday. There's a couple of high priority issues facing my platform that need to be sorted in March, however the workload of the last three months should be cooling off a bit from now. Think I've worked at least one weekend day, if not two, for the last five weeks in a row. Might take a bit of time off in lieu this month to swing the balance back my way a bit.