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These are the list of goals I've made every year around my birthday. Looking back, a lot of the items are so cringe. Like... my first ever list is soooo cringe =_= ... but that just means I'm continuing to grow. It's very interesting to see what desires changed and what desired stayed the same!

I mix some main and side-quests in here so I feel consistent progression. I don't put too much pressure on myself to finish everything, it's all for fun!! Even the serious-sounding stuff :)

■ - Not Done
■ - Completed
■ - Unplanned

Level 31 - Beginning Again in Vietnam

    In this past year, I found that adjusting to Vietnam life took more of my time than I thought. My goals / desires also shifted the longer I lived in Vietnam. I did stuff I didn't expect I was going to do! So now I have a new category called, "Unplanned" that shows goals that I didn't have in the beginning of the year.

    I've also increased the number of quests!

  • -Buy an Ao Dai
  • -Go to the dentist in Vietnam
  • -Get a flu shot in Vietnam
  • -Go to ear-nose-throat doctor Vietnam
  • -Move apartments
  • -Travel to Hue
  • -Hike in Dalat
  • -Go trekking in Vietnam
  • -Go outdoor climbing in Vietnam
  • -Run a half-marathon
  • -Volunteer to clean trash 5 times (0/5)
  • -Climb a '10' route at Vertical District
  • -Take a private Lindy Hop lesson
  • -Cook 5 dishes in Vietnam (0/5)
  • -Have 10 drawing sessions (0/10)
  • -Learn 5 Vietnamese songs on Guitar (0/5)
  • -90 days of meditation (0/90)
  • -Host 3 show and tells (1/3)
  • -Perform an ambient show
  • -Host an exhibition of my friends' works in Vietnam
  • -Teach my cousins a new board game
  • -Release 4 little games
  • -Release Colors of Emotions game
  • -Teach a beginner's programming class
  • -Unblock my mom
  • -Forgive my mom
  • -Don't drink alcohol at two family events
  • ►No smoking for at least 10 months
    I quit for a year and then started smoking again for 2 months. I am quitting again...
  • -Visit China
  • -Finish playing Half-Life 2: Episode 1
  • -Finish playing Half-Life 2: Episode 2
  • -Finish playing Half-Life 1
  • -Participate in 2 game jams (0/2)
  • -Play 5 indie games (0/5)

Level 30 - Vietnam DLC

  • ►Move to Vietnam
    I am planning to be in Vietnam either mid or end of November!

    I have moved to Vietnam!!

  • ►Quit smoking
    I want to see how well I can socialize while avoiding the most common social device. I managed to quit for a whole year!
  • ►Host an artist event in Vietnam
    I hosted an exhibit at Reading Cabin named meGank and had an accompanying talkshow.
  • ►Host a dinner party in Vietnam
    I did not host it directly, but I helped with Hannah and Linh's dinner party!
  • ►Spend 7 non-consecutive days speaking only Vietnamese
    I think... This one is hard to measure.
  • -Get a tattoo in Vietnam
  • -Drive a moped or motorcycle Vietnam
  • -Do volunteer work in Vietnam
  • -Eat/meditate at a buddhist monstery
  • -Convince 3 different friends to film TikTok dance videos (0/3)
  • -Release two video games (1/2)
  • -Release a short film
  • -Playtest Last Seen Online 2
  • ►Do a live performance
    Kenny got me on stage to sing The Climb by Miley Cyrus!
  • ►Finish playing Half-Life 2
    This game is so scary.
  • -Finish playing Half-Life 2: Episode 1
  • -Finish playing Half-Life 2: Episode 2
  • ►Pay off one month of rent using money earned from video games
    I managed to use the money from my DJ Dave collaboration to pay off a month of rent.
  • -Learn 5 Vietnamese songs on guitar, and post them (0/5)
  • ►Log 60 days of food that I ate (14/60)
    I want to figure out what foods make my stomach hurt!
  • -Log 40 days of yoga (4/40)
  • -Log 90 days of meditation (84/90)
  • ►Log 5 days of trash cleanup (5/5)
    I volunteered for Saigon Xanh!
  • ►Log 10 days of calling my long distance friends (1/10)
    Hey Will, Juan, Dustin, Kevin, and Chloe! I wanna call you >:)
  • -Do a standing forward fold
  • -Bench 135 lbs
  • -Climb a V7
  • -Climb a V5 (Red Route)
  • -Say no to 5 events (1/5)
  • ►Play a friend's game
    I played all of Jackie Liu's games. I also played a lot of student games in Vietnam.
  • -Host a movie night in Vietnam
  • ►Collaborate with a Vietnamese Creative
    For my installation at Reading Cabin named mẹGank, I collaborated with Vietnamese students to showcase their games. I also collaborated with Oniks Le to produce a track for an exhibit I had in San Francsico.
  • ►Cook one meal in Vietnam
    I literally only cooked one single meal this entire year hahaha
  • ►Go on a trip by motorbike
    I drove from Saigon to Dong Nai :)
  • -Buy food from the market
  • ►Get water shipped to my apartment
    This was unexpectedly hard. I was not confident in my ability to understand Vietnamese + I had anxiety of talking to people on the phone. I talk about it in this video!
  • -Buy food from the market
  • ►Apartment hunting
    I found an apartment on my own and learned about what I wanted in an apartment in Vietnam
  • -Hosted HTML Day
  • -Start Lindy Hopping

Level 29 - Game Dev Arc

Level 28 - Unmeasurable Optimism

  • ►No longer be a person that seeks approval of others
    This is probably never going away, instead I've become more accepting of the fact that I love making art and sharing things with people because it reaffirms my own identity.
  • ►Cut off contact from my parents
    I did not talk to my parents for a year. It gave me a lot of confidence to do things on my own.

    I backtracked this at 29 and decided to set better boundaries with them instead of cutting them off completely.

  • ►Set up a turbotax account
    I did my own taxes for the first time this year!
  • ►Figure out what a Backdoor Roth IRA means
    :shrug:
  • ►Have healthy spending habits
    This was kind of unmeasurable.
  • ►Be able to cook 3 dishes well
    Once upon a time I was eating only the food at Google cafe's, and I really wanted to get good at cooking! I learned:
    • Chicken, broccoli, and rice.
    • Teriyaki baked salmon, broccolini, and rice.
    • Chicken porrige. - This inspired me to cook Pho :)
  • ►Clean the bathroom every week
    Lol sorry to my roommate Mark. Very unmeasurable. I was a very unclean person before but I did slowly develop habits to improve.
  • ►Make my bed everyday
    I don't have any metrics to prove this but please just give me this. This habit is what I've kept up the most. Most of these goals are so unmeasurable, it inspired me to replace them with "Log 50 instances of ..."
  • -Get out of bed immediately instead of scrolling endlessly on my phone
  • -Live in 3 different cities, all more than 8 hours apart
  • -Organize 10 events (?/10)
  • -Plan a New Years party
  • ►Give a thoughtful gift to my cousins for one Christmas
    I celebrated Christmas alone when I cut off contact with my parents :(
  • -Climb a V7
  • -Snowboard a diamond
  • -Ollie on a skateboard
  • ►Wear contact lenses
    I got laser eye surgery! No glasses nor contacts :)
  • ►Develop a closer relationship with my sister
    I attempted to have a deeper talk with my sister. It did not go completely well but it did bring us closer together.
  • ►Release my dream album
    I lost all the original project files for my music...
  • ►Create an NFT
    fucking cringe
  • ►Release at least 3 large bodies of work
    I managed to do this over the 3 years instead of 1! Two video games and a short story :)
  • -Stop wearing all black
  • ►Use the right pronouns for people
    Unmeasurable, but hopefully is completed ?
  • -Become a clean person
  • -Be able to meditate easily
  • ►Be a better listener
    This year was when I journeyed into better communication and listening! I remember watching Snapchat stories where I can overhear myself in conversations with other people, and it was painful to listen to. I kept ignoring the other person and never replying completely to what they said.

    I read a book called "You're Not Listening" which I felt improved my listening skills by a lot. I'm putting completed since I am probably a better listener even if it's just by 1%.

  • ►Speak directly and not in code
    This is still very much ongoing and will never be complete, probably :)
  • -Be able to respond instead of react
  • -Accept all my imperfections
  • -Accept help from others
  • -Become a content creator
  • ►Ask a girl out
    This was hard! I threw my phone across the room when I sent her the text.
  • -Go to Coachella
  • -Get a flu-shot
  • -Get a COVID booster
  • -Get my blood tested
  • ►Get my first STD test
    Is this TMI?
  • ►Get my first tattoo
    All the previous quests were in preparation for this. Needles! Yay.

Level 27 - New Beginnings

  • ►Move to San Francisco


If you haven't noticed already, the list is so much more beautifully green when the goals are realistic and measurabel!!!