Goalie

September 13, 2007

For some people, setting goals is driven by their situation. They are less free – in my opinion – to make decisions that contribute to their happiness and more prone to choose ‘tasks’ or paths that others strongly influence.

If I were still married, I imagine that many of my decisions would follow the whims and wishes of my wife. I’d be less free to jump on opportunities like a free Six Flags Day from Scion or Podcamp Boston.

Doing tasks around the house would become a stronger focus and the me generation might face extinction.

Fortunately, I’m extremely easy-going and not at all obsessive. My journey through life is in no large way adjusted because of external drivers…it’s essentially a live life and enjoy it philosophy.

That’s why the cat decision is very difficult.

While I might joke about skinning and dining on cats, that isn’t how I really feel about these cute creatures. From Rags to Nick to Huckleberry, all the cats in my life have been (or will be) full-fledged members of the family.

I can assure you I won’t creating a Michael Vick-esque den of catfighting (I’ll let the women in offices all over this great country of ours do that). But a new cat is definitely going to be a change for me.

Primarily, a cat is a little more needy than a goldfish or plant and slightly less needy than an infant. So dropping everything and riding my scooter to Florida for three months is going to be a little less realistic. And my penchant for shutting off the heat in the house will probably have to stop during the winter months.

But the things I gain will more than make up for the slight crimp in my lifestyle. My main concern is that my cat will want more attention than me or have an OCD mentality.

So prepare yourself. In this space you’re soon going to hear about cute little kitten adventures and be subject to innumerable photos of kitten cuteness.

But while kittens are fun, this column is about goals. To that end, on Tuesday I listed out a few 2007-2008 goals and I’d like to share the majority of them here. The world-domination plan gets a little convoluted, so I’ll save that for its own post.

1 – Invent a device that is similar to an iPhone but just plays music

2 – Write a joke for David Letterman

3 – Keep up with all my blogging and podcasting (this current post kills two birds…NO, there is no killing of pets in this blog)

4 – Cultivate some more clients who want me to write Dave Barry and David Sedaris type columns

5 – Win more cash via assorted lotteries (last night I hit Keno for $452, really!)

6 – Buy a scooter (you didn’t see that coming?)

7 – Take some serious steps toward home renovations (would like to go from 923 sf to 2300 sf…maybe I just need to put some mirrors on the walls to open up the space)

8 – Land a writing assignment for the 2008 Tour de France

9 – Be more visionary in nature and convert that to billions and billions of dollars

10 – Pay a tiny bit more attention to the world around me (contrary to my miniature amount of self-focus, I would like to remember the birthdays of my nieces and nephews and siblings and parents and girlfriend as well as major holidays like Yom Kippur and July 4th and Talk Like a Pirate Day)

So, with those lofty goals in mind I’m off to play poker tonight and generate funds to help me achieve my dream. I urge you to do the same.

More to come…