New Year's Revolutions

That's what my friend Cheng Hsien thought we were saying when he heard us discussing what we'd like to set as goals for 2012.  The word he was looking for was obviously "resolutions", but I think I like "revolutions" better; it has an epic feel to it, and I like that.  It gets me excited, as if accomplishing these goals will be life-changing, even world-changing.  I realize that this is doubtful, but I'm still idealistic (naive?) enough to believe that I can change the world (and myself) for the better, and hopefully these are some steps in that direction.  In the past I've only made a few goals, but this year I decided to go all out.  I want to live intentionally.

I'd like to accomplish the following in 2012:

Fitness:

• Run a 7:00 mile
• Bench press 200 pounds
• Run a full marathon
• http://www.desmoinesmarathon.com/
• Complete the 100 push-up challenge
• http://hundredpushups.com/
• Complete the 200 sit-up challenge
• http://www.twohundredsitups.com/

Spiritual:

• Read through the whole Bible
• http://www.esv.org/assets/pdfs/rp.esv.study.bible.pdf
• Memorize an entire book of the Bible  (Colossians?)
• Go to church every Sunday
• Go to Monday morning prayer every Monday
• Go to CRU every Thursday
• Read the Bible every day
• Go on a missions trip this summer (Hopefully Sudan!)
• (EDIT 2/6/2012) Read through the Qur'an.

Misc:

• Go to Africa  (Or somewhere else international)
• Consider buying a car
• Get a credit card to establish credit
• https://creditcards.chase.com/credit-cards/chase-freedom.aspx
• Apply for at least 3 jobs (Even if I don't plan on accepting them)
• Facebook
• Google
• IJM
• Fog Creek
• Microsoft
• Amazon
• Complete the Art of Manliness "30 Days to a Better Man"
• http://artofmanliness.com/2009/06/30/30-days-to-a-better-man-wrap-up/
• Write 10 blog posts
• Read 10 books
• http://miiiichael.blogspot.com/p/books.html
• Consume no pop
• Brush, Floss, and Flouride Rinse my mouth every day
• Keep track of every dollar I spend (report every month)
• http://miiiichael.blogspot.com/p/finances.html
• (EDIT 2/6/2012) Goal is to give away more money than I spend on myself.
• Intentionally go out of my way to say something nice to someone (once a week)
• Go to every required class
• Keep my email inbox clean and reply to all emails in a timely manner (subjective)

I also wanted to include some "hopes" for 2012 along with my goals.  These are things that I really do hope are true by the end of the year, but they aren't exactly goals.

• Get multiple research papers published.
• Get a direction for my life and pursue it.
• Find a girl I want to marry and pursue her.
• Be content in everything!

I've put some serious thought into these "revolutions" for 2012, and hopefully I'll be able to complete many of them.  I'll try to post updates every month, and the completion of a goal might earn a blog post as well. Any suggestions for new or improved goals are welcome! They may change slightly throughout the year, but I think they're fairly stable at this point.