IT'S A NEW YEAR

Well, well, well. Happy 2004.

I could post a review of 2003, like everyone else is doing. But I don't read the papers or watch the news, and any news I DO hear goes out of my short-term memory and straight into oblivion, so any major events that happened in 2003 I don't remember.

And personal stuff that happened to me is, well, PERSONAL stuff that happened TO ME so who the hell else would care?

Nah. 2003 is over, we were all there, don't need me to re-hash it.

2004, though: Now that has potential.

This is the time of year that we're supposed to make our New Year's Resolutions; promises to ourselves that we have no intention of keeping.

Gym memberships sell more in January than at any other time of the year; the whole post-Christmas-goodies guilt setting in, no doubt. And by March at the latest, most of those memberships will be getting dusty from lack of use.

Smokers manage-- I'll have to check with my ex-smoker friends-- to quit for, what, a week or two?

The INTENT seems to be there, all good intentions of course, for self-improvement and general well-being, but ultimately they just sort of lose their lustre and the intentions are quickly forgotten in favour of one's comfortable routine.

One guy I spoke to had decided to give up fast food as his resolution. "Hey," I said, "It's not LENT. And you're not Catholic." And as he's an animator working 18-hour days I bet that won't last, either.

No, the goals I have in mind are career goals:

1) Shop scripts around to real comic companies. I want to have a story PUBLISHED by the end of the year by a major company. Furry stuff shall NOT count, since anyone with one hand and lacking a total lobotomy can get published in Furry circles. (Yes, Mrs. M and I once got published in a furry comic. Don't make me re-live it. Okay, maybe later.)

2) Become a cartoon. I've made inroads into getting AUDITIONS for voice-over gigs in the animation industry-- but it's all well and good to say that; I won't be satisfied until I actually am DOING the VOICING.

3) Improve my craft where possible. That means learning. That means taking courses-- voice, acting, whatever-- anything that would make me more marketable, more professional. Call it Professional Development, Improvement, whatever-- one should never stop doing it. And I've learned that it pays off.

My current short-term plans: New Head Shot and New Voice Demo. Those cost money, so I have to wait til I HAVE money-- but that's what I'll be spending my cash on. Rolling it right back into the business, as it were.

There. Three serious, attainable, professional goals. And if I accomplish them before the end of the year, I'll just make some more.

It's ongoing, Agents. You don't STOP when you achieve a goal. You have a celebration of achievement and then you make the next goal and go for that. I'm hoping 2004 will be the Year of Momentum.

Gathering speed, gathering mass, until I'm the veritable Juggernaut of My Own Life.

Happy New Year, 2004. Now I gots to get ready to kick your ass.

Posted by Agent M at January 05, 2004 10:49 AM