Yesterday I somewhat randomly popped over to the FARMS (Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies) website at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute to see what they had. I wasn't really sure what I would find there, but I knew I needed some reading material to keep me occupied while I was scanning a whole bunch of documents at work.
What I found completely fascinated me. I printed out two articles to read at my leisure: an article on the records kept by the Jaredite people, and another article on Moroni, more specifically comparing and contrasting his three attempts to close the record of the Book of Mormon.
I especially enjoyed the article on Moroni. As I read through the final pages of the Book of Mormon, his life really came alive before my eyes, and I understood a lot about his narrations and his commentaries on the stories he was telling. I came to understand how he, like us, was a spiritual wanderer in a strange land, unsure of what the Lord had in store for him, but having complete faith and trust in His plan. The main difference between us and Moroni is that Moroni knows exactly what we are to "get" from the Book of Mormon. He saw our time, and knows the important lessons that we are to learn. And fortunately for us, he recorded them all in Moroni 10.
I've always seen Moroni 10 as the "conclusion" to the Book of Mormon. Well, what I managed to forget in this case is a basic principle of good writing: the conclusion needs to re-state the thesis statement of the work, and summarize it clearly and concisely. Reading the final chapter of the Book of Mormon as both introduction and conclusion, I was able to gain a large amount of insight as to what is important to look for while reading the Book of Mormon, and I am extremely excited to re-read the Book of Mormon yet again, and really focus on the things that Moroni emphasized in his final exhortation to us.
I've been trying really hard recently to study the scriptures, but not only that, to be a student of the scriptures -- really apply them to my life. I picked up a study manual for the second half of the Old Testament, and began reading about the rise and fall of King Solomon (1 Kings 1-11). The manual helped point out that the fall of King Solomon was mostly due to three things: pride, mismanagement of wealth, and a strong desire for acceptance by the world around him. I started thinking about my own life, and the past couple of months. I've really seen a lot of that in my personal life as well, I'm ashamed to say, and I've almost completely gotten away from the things that helped me identify myself as, well, me. So, I made a list, and I carry it around with me on my PDA, and I'm going to be referring to it frequently as I try to keep myself on course. I think this is a good thing to start the new year off with, seeing as how last year was made up mostly of ambiguous goals and scattershot attempts to be 'productive' and 'improve myself'.
Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 13
Monday, October 23
Me vs. National Novel Writing Month
NaNoWriMo.org
It's almost November, and it's National Novel Writing Month! 50,000+ words, a finished novel by midnight local time on November 30. I'm getting set up and gearing up for this; with a huge deadline and the motivation to get it done, I have no doubt that I can succeed.
One of the main themes in my life is "apply myself", and I'm working on actually "applying myself" so I can continue to get good things done in my life, grow, develop, and oh yeah, not have 230948108 bazillion different unfinished projects laying about. It's time to still the needle of the compass.
It's almost November, and it's National Novel Writing Month! 50,000+ words, a finished novel by midnight local time on November 30. I'm getting set up and gearing up for this; with a huge deadline and the motivation to get it done, I have no doubt that I can succeed.
One of the main themes in my life is "apply myself", and I'm working on actually "applying myself" so I can continue to get good things done in my life, grow, develop, and oh yeah, not have 230948108 bazillion different unfinished projects laying about. It's time to still the needle of the compass.
Sunday, October 22
Me vs. Boggle
I am inching closer to completion of the Boggle program. It still has some behaviors that I'm unable to pin down, but I've been able to spend the past few days squashing bugs rather than just chasing them and scratching my head. I've already got a list of things to take care of, in true Getting Things Done fashion, thus keeping myself focused on a bunch of "next steps" rather than just sitting here scratching my head, wondering where to go next.
I'm excited for the completion of this, as it has helped me re-learn a lot of the stuff I've forgotten since "giving up" computer programming over 11 years ago, and is preparing me well for college in the spring. I'm also learning a lot of new stuff, and will hopefully get the hang of this Windows programming stuff. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have the main engine bugs solved, and then I will be able to start on the user interface stuff -- which means porting the code to Windows, which means no more having to shell to a DOS window (aka a command prompt) so I can run Turbo Pascal 5.5 in emulation mode.
I'm excited for the completion of this, as it has helped me re-learn a lot of the stuff I've forgotten since "giving up" computer programming over 11 years ago, and is preparing me well for college in the spring. I'm also learning a lot of new stuff, and will hopefully get the hang of this Windows programming stuff. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have the main engine bugs solved, and then I will be able to start on the user interface stuff -- which means porting the code to Windows, which means no more having to shell to a DOS window (aka a command prompt) so I can run Turbo Pascal 5.5 in emulation mode.
Me vs. my scripture reading goals
I didn't think "me vs. the scriptures" was an appropriate title. :-)
So, I figured out my scripture-reading goals for the rest of the year, and I don't really see how there can be a way that I come up short... well, unless I fail completely to apply myself. Don't really see how that could happen.
Anyway, since a goal isn't a goal until it's written down, I have to read at least one page in the Book of Mormon every day, and at least six pages of other scriptures every day, in order to meet my goal. That's actually not too bad... well, I'm about five or six weeks behind in "other scriptures", so that's disappointing, but let's face it, my old strategy of "do it all Sunday morning" failed miserably a few months ago, and I was rather loath to cast it off. So now, every day before work, read scriptures. That's the long and the short of it. And I will complete my goal!
So, I figured out my scripture-reading goals for the rest of the year, and I don't really see how there can be a way that I come up short... well, unless I fail completely to apply myself. Don't really see how that could happen.
Anyway, since a goal isn't a goal until it's written down, I have to read at least one page in the Book of Mormon every day, and at least six pages of other scriptures every day, in order to meet my goal. That's actually not too bad... well, I'm about five or six weeks behind in "other scriptures", so that's disappointing, but let's face it, my old strategy of "do it all Sunday morning" failed miserably a few months ago, and I was rather loath to cast it off. So now, every day before work, read scriptures. That's the long and the short of it. And I will complete my goal!
Tolkien vs. me
Three weeks... ah... well, figured I'd start with the shortest post, so I can get myself back in the swing of things. Life is catching up with me as I struggle to catch up with life.
Book-reading? I've spent the last... six? weeks trying to get through Lord of the Rings -- just the first book, mind you -- and I just can't do it. Granted, for the past three weeks I've been driving to work instead of walking to work, because I couldn't afford a bus pass this month, so I've lost my time to study Italian every morning, and I've also lost my reading time on the bus. I've tried taking some time at work, but really, I just can't get into this book, and it's the third time I've tried.
J.R.R. Tolkien 1, Me 0. And that's how it's going to have to be.
Book-reading? I've spent the last... six? weeks trying to get through Lord of the Rings -- just the first book, mind you -- and I just can't do it. Granted, for the past three weeks I've been driving to work instead of walking to work, because I couldn't afford a bus pass this month, so I've lost my time to study Italian every morning, and I've also lost my reading time on the bus. I've tried taking some time at work, but really, I just can't get into this book, and it's the third time I've tried.
J.R.R. Tolkien 1, Me 0. And that's how it's going to have to be.
Friday, September 8
Things I want to do before 9/8/2007
Now is as good a time as any to revisit some goals and create new ones for the upcoming (birth) year. Hey, I'm a goal-oriented person looking to constantly improving myself, so... why not?
First off is going to be a couple of ideas from the "25/25/25" blog that I previously mentioned.
I have obtained from a friend of mine who had a collection of "essential knowledge" books a reading list, featuring many classic books that ideally should be read by the end of high school. Since I only went to high school for three years and did not get a lot of reading done while I was there, there is a lot missing. I do not know off the top of my head how long the list is, however, I can confidently state that I have not read at least 25 of those books. So, starting with books on that list that I have not read, I will read 25 books before 9/8/2007. I will even cheat, as I am currently reading a book on that list, and have been for a few days now. If I get more than 25, great, if not, well, then that's good too. I am going to throw myself at the mercy of the local library for this one, but I will also take responsibility to ensure that I have an adequate amount of books ready to read... i.e. I always have something checked out or ready to pick up on reserve.
I will also select 25 movies from the IMDB Top 100, again, ones that I haven't seen, and watch those. This may be more difficult for me, as I do not want to watch any R-rated movies, however, I'm confident that I can watch a movie every two weeks or so to accomplish this goal. I have some gift certificates, but I also have other resources to which I can apply myself to accomplish this goal.
The 25 cultural events I will not commit myself at this time, however, there is a wonderful local independent newspaper which advertises all of this stuff, so it is not beyond the realm of expectation that I should at least be informed of what is going on in this city. We will work as a family to attend as many cultural events as feasible, with an emphasis on Saturday afternoons. Besides, it's cooler outside. Much, much cooler. It's hard to get things done when one feels like they're standing on the sun.
I'll post the list of movies in the near future. Books, I think, will have to be done more by personal preference, as I am someone who tends to read according to my mood: I've never been one to sit down and force myself to read something, but if I enjoy reading something, you can't take me away from the book (just ask my poor wife).
I feel good about this. So good, in fact, that I can make the commitment to post a little blurb about the book, with insights and what have you, upon completion. I will do my best to refrain from reading others' reviews or "why I should read this book"s, so I can form my own independent judgment and see if I can make this a part of my own personal literacy.
First off is going to be a couple of ideas from the "25/25/25" blog that I previously mentioned.
I have obtained from a friend of mine who had a collection of "essential knowledge" books a reading list, featuring many classic books that ideally should be read by the end of high school. Since I only went to high school for three years and did not get a lot of reading done while I was there, there is a lot missing. I do not know off the top of my head how long the list is, however, I can confidently state that I have not read at least 25 of those books. So, starting with books on that list that I have not read, I will read 25 books before 9/8/2007. I will even cheat, as I am currently reading a book on that list, and have been for a few days now. If I get more than 25, great, if not, well, then that's good too. I am going to throw myself at the mercy of the local library for this one, but I will also take responsibility to ensure that I have an adequate amount of books ready to read... i.e. I always have something checked out or ready to pick up on reserve.
I will also select 25 movies from the IMDB Top 100, again, ones that I haven't seen, and watch those. This may be more difficult for me, as I do not want to watch any R-rated movies, however, I'm confident that I can watch a movie every two weeks or so to accomplish this goal. I have some gift certificates, but I also have other resources to which I can apply myself to accomplish this goal.
The 25 cultural events I will not commit myself at this time, however, there is a wonderful local independent newspaper which advertises all of this stuff, so it is not beyond the realm of expectation that I should at least be informed of what is going on in this city. We will work as a family to attend as many cultural events as feasible, with an emphasis on Saturday afternoons. Besides, it's cooler outside. Much, much cooler. It's hard to get things done when one feels like they're standing on the sun.
I'll post the list of movies in the near future. Books, I think, will have to be done more by personal preference, as I am someone who tends to read according to my mood: I've never been one to sit down and force myself to read something, but if I enjoy reading something, you can't take me away from the book (just ask my poor wife).
I feel good about this. So good, in fact, that I can make the commitment to post a little blurb about the book, with insights and what have you, upon completion. I will do my best to refrain from reading others' reviews or "why I should read this book"s, so I can form my own independent judgment and see if I can make this a part of my own personal literacy.
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