Aura's 2022 Goals
Posted 18 January 2022What do you mean I'm over 2 weeks late?! Nah! It's fine! It's still January!
Ahh, new years, that wonderful time of year where we celebrate incrementing a number on a calendar! Isn't it great? At long last, we've gotten out of the frying pan that was 2021 and into the fire that is 2022! Oh. Wait.
Yep. Per usual, no real expectations for this year being better. I mean,
hell, last year, I came damn close to predicting the whole January 6th
coup attempt! (Ahem, and I quote, "we haven't even gotten rid of [Trump]
yet. We'll see what happens later this month..." Like, I may not have
called it exactly, but points for that at least, right?) This year,
COVID will only continue to get worse since we've apparently decided to
spit in the face of all the public health measures we've learned over
the last few
Anyhoo, there's time to rant about all that stuff later. For now, goals for 2022! And, a little bit of accountability on 2021.
2021 Accountability
I'll admit, I did not make good progress on my 2021 goals. I did manage to stay alive. I got that one. I have a job, and it's not a retail or fast food job, but it's also not a foot in the door in healthcare, and the nature of it means it doesn't necessarily pay me enough to live off of. Whoops. I am back in Arlington, though also currently facing eviction. (Don't worry too much about that. The university's moving slowly on that and I do have a place to fall back to, even if it does put me back to square one.) I did get to a doctor about the hypothyroidism and it is now under control. In fact, I may need to go back to get the meds scaled back. Last blood draw, it was on the fast side, though not excessively so. That's about all the successes I had.
On the other hand, we're not done with last year's list. I did do well last spring. Finished with an A, 2 B's and a C. Not bad. But then I failed everything last semester and have no plans to return. In fairness, though, this is in no small part due to me reviving my plans to become an EMT. I'll talk about that more below. In medical issues, I got nothing else sorted. I still have no migraine prophylactic or rescue medication, I've not seen a sleep specialist, not that I could really afford to, and I haven't talked to my psychiatrist about the ADHD. So, still got some work to do there. I made very little progress on Kitsune Fight. I drew up one (1) sprite. That's it. I now have a block sprite for the kitsune. I've also decided her name is Skye. Well, I say decided. I thought it'd be a good name and haven't come up with anything better. And, well, FENIX is still far from a userland.
New goals!
So, then. What's the plan for this year? Well...
Stay alive
Listen. A trans woman was killed in the city where I live only but a few months ago. I don't make any secret of who am I. I gladly wear trans pride stuff. That puts a target on my back. I have no plans to hide who I am. So, staying alive may be a bit of an accomplishment. To this end, though, I don't plan to be reckless. I'm not an idiot. I try to avoid going out in the middle of the night, and am cautious when I do so. I don't currently have any decent self-defense weapons to carry, though I certainly have the money for some pepper spray. I'd probably do well to take some self-defense classes. And, well, if I ever have the money, the state of Texas does permit me to concealed carry...
But, at the same time, a lot of this is so far in the hypotheticals for me that I could probably make it though the year fine even without any of those measures. I mean, hell. I'm sure the fact that I'm white does a decent job of carrying me though on its own. It sucks that that's true, but that's a sad reality of the world in which we live. ... Eh... Why don't we get back to goals and out of this dark bit we've found ourselves in?
Become self-sustaining
"Self-sustaining" is a bit of a weird shorthand here. Let me explain. I now have a job. I work for a company that does inventory for stores and warehouses and stuff. It's not a bad job. The work is enjoyable enough. Really, the worst part is the foot pain from being on my feet 3 or more hours straight, but I condemned myself to that the moment I decided to go into emergency medicine. But it's highly unstable work. I may get a full week's worth of work, or I may end up with 3 short shifts in a week. That's not ideal for being able to, I dunno, pay rent, buy food, get gas so I can get to locations that may be up to 3 hours away... You know. The usual. So, I need to get that sorted out. I either need this job to be able to provide a reasonably stable income, or I need a new job. But, hey, this job is experience I can take with me to a different job, so there's at least that.
The income itself needs to at least be enough to pay rent and cell phone
bills, buy food, and get gas. Rent'll depend on where I go. My cell bill
is only typically around 18 USD a month. If I can get a job with a
steady location near where I end up, gas may be an incredibly occasional
expense, and I can live off 100 USD a month for food, even if I'd like
to have more. So, really, I need a job that can pay 120 USD plus gas and
rent costs. Surely, it's not
If I really manage to luck out, there are other things it'd be nice to be able to pay myself. My health insurance is currently provided by my father, who I'm not on speaking terms with. I could be dropped at any moment. I'd like to not have to worry about how I'm gonna pay for meds and doctor vists. I'd also like to have disposable income. That'd be nice.
Get started on name and gender change
Courts move slow. I don't know if I can do it before the end of the year, but I'd at least like to get the process started. I have some vague hints as to how to go about it, though it seems I may ultimately have to hire a lawyer who knows how to handle this stuff.
The entire reason I abandoned being an EMT was because I'm legally male and the dress code for men in those programs is beyond what I'm willing to take. (I'm not cutting my hair short. Ponytail, yeah, but not cutting it. Fuck off.) But, getting a gender change though certainly leaves me in a much better position in that regard, and would allow me to return to my original plans.
Medical issues, take 2
For a start, I need to find a doctor I'm more comfortable with. My
current doctor isn't awful, but I'm not exactly comfortable with him.
So, I need that changed. Once I've done that, I need to take to my (new)
doctor about the migraine situation. It'd be nice to get on a
prophylactic. I need to talk to my psychiatrist about
the ADHD. I really need some meds for that. And, well, assuming my
insurance and financial situation allow, it'd be nice to talk to a sleep
specialist. If my suspicions about non-24 are correct, there's not
really anything they could do. We barely know how it works and the only
available medicine is both absurdly expensive and only approved for use
in blind people, not sighted folk like myself. But, it would be nice to
know, at least, that way I have
Code projects
Yeah, sure, let's throw "finish Kitsune Fight!" back on the list. I know I can, I just have to actually do so. This may follow off the back of the ADHD thing with the psychiatrist. But, I could probably get it done by the end of the year.
I want to have a FENIX goal, but I'm really not sure what it should be. Like, could I get to a userland? Should I aim smaller? Bigger? I mean, given that I didn't get there last year, bigger probably isn't the way to go, but still. Where do I aim? I'm not sure. But I want a target. I guess I could set some target related to the core utilities or C library. Neither necessarily needs to be hosted to develop it, so I lay out progress there. Or I could focus on the kernel. Get it well layed out and with various features I'd need. That's something I'll decided on later, though.
So, there's my goals for the year. I'll see you here next year to discuss how everything went. In the meantime, I love you, stay safe, and have a good 2022. <3
Keywords: Personal