Resolutions: checking in and checking out (reprisal)

Here’s how this went last year.

And now, checking in on those resolutions made for 2012:

Do awesome photo projects

Started the Brooklyn Bathroom Blog and have been going on fun photo outings. Also bartered grantwriting help with a photography lesson. Definitely giving space for photography exploration, though I’d like to enjoy what I do in physical form instead of just digital, too. 

Maintain strong connections with important friends and family

Very much so! I was proud of doing a better job than ever making space for people I wanted to spend more time with and spending that time in what I felt were meaningful ways. CARRY FORWARD the goal to continue this!

Continue to explore professional and personal growth opportunities

Did a lot of informational interviewing (aka chatting with people who do cool things about what they do), so that was exciting. Big victory too was developing and teaching four courses at the Brooklyn Brainery that have been successful as professional classes and also for me personally. I went to a few workshops and conferences to build professional skill sets, and jumped on various consulting opportunities that came my way. Oh, and I think getting a blogger profile with Huffington Post is a positive thing!

Function better in unplanned, last-minute scenarios or blips in plans

Yes. I like that this was a goal, and I think I overall executed. I got a bit less crazy when people were late, and went with the flow more in general. Accountability buddy Sam was a key part of this, and I hope to keep that partnership in place in the coming year. 

Make this blog or another writing venture something more public, as long as I keep enjoy doing it

See two bullets up. Also, I think more people read this blog than I think, because people randomly mention a post that stood out to them in conversations. Also, on the point of “as long as I keep enjoy doing it,” I am 1) aware that this was not an example of good editing and 2) still very much enjoying writing, and have realized that I love it because I can write in the exact style I’d like and about the exact content that strikes me. For now at least, this is the primary type of writing that excites me. I will CARRY FORWARD a more polished version of this goal!

Wear makeup a little bit more, but never spend more than 120 seconds on it.

Fail. And fine with it. Though I have taken more time to put together ‘a look’, which accomplishes a similar thing.

Take more improv classes, and continue to formulate what I want to do with it as it relates to longterm goals

I took Level 3 at Magnet and was also on a team this Fall. I continued to guest on PreRecorded.com as it worked with my schedule. I think the aspects of improv that are most appealing to me are groupwork, listening skills, creativity, and sincere fun. I’d love to integrate improv that truly embodies each of those elements into my life this year. Also, I took a storytelling class this year, which was profoundly impactful both because of the people I met and the power of the craft. I want to grow stronger roots in that this year. 

Become a member of a nonprofit board

Sadly, no. Silver lining #1: wouldn’t have had the fair amount of energy to give to it this year. I’m currently on my last planned year of co-chairing Young Friends of Tufts Advancement, which will hopefully free up some time for board membership. Silver lining #2: I spent a lot of time thinking about what my ideal role on a board would be, and what sort of organization that would work best at. CARRY FORWARD!

Cook more in cost effective, healthy, and fun ways

Embarrassed to say no. I think I didn’t accomplish it because I had no real driver and truly didn’t make the time for it. Chalk it up to city living?

Work on building a sustainable skillshare of some sort among friends

Didn’t end up doing, but mostly because of the wonderful community I found at the Brainery.

Get Anderson Cooper to come for dinner

Let’s just leave this one alone.

2012 was a good year. There were other successes on non-explicitly stated goals, Obama got re-elected, home feels even more like home, and I am overall quite simply excited to be doing everything I’m doing with the people I’m surrounded by. 
Onward to the new year! Here are some 2013 goals:
  • Maintain strong connections with important friends and family
  • Explore and activate professional and personal growth opportunities
  • Continue writing, publicly and privately, with enjoyment and while pushing limits of what I think I can do
  • Be more vulnerable
  • Seek out improv and storytelling opportunities that capitalize on personal creativity and fun, or that allow for meaningful group work
  • Send more snail mail to friends
  • Become a member of a nonprofit board
  • Travel at least once for me (and not just for four incredible weddings)
  • Read books in time that is otherwise wasted online
  • Exercise regularly while pushing myself a little bit harder
  • Learn to fix a bike if something simple goes wrong

Cheers! Happy New Year!

It’s Yom Kippur again, and I am reflecting on the last year. There’s certainly been a lot I’ve done well, a lot I haven’t, and some things I just couldn’t change. I would like to take this opportunity to ask forgiveness from those who I have wronged this year and to work on being more patient, thoughtful, and understanding next year. To my family and friends, thank you for your support this year; you’re awesome. To everyone fasting, have an easy fast. Gmar Hatima Tova. I’m feeling good about 5773.
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It’s Yom Kippur again, and I am reflecting on the last year. There’s certainly been a lot I’ve done well, a lot I haven’t, and some things I just couldn’t change. I would like to take this opportunity to ask forgiveness from those who I have wronged this year and to work on being more patient, thoughtful, and understanding next year. To my family and friends, thank you for your support this year; you’re awesome. To everyone fasting, have an easy fast. Gmar Hatima Tova. I’m feeling good about 5773.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard by bike (is awesome)

I was going to do my own post about the awesome bike tour I did this weekend through Turnstile Tours and the Brooklyn Brainery, but Jen at the Brainery did a fantastic writeup that’s easier to reblog! So that’s below, and some of my own photos are on Instagram.

bkbrains:

Yesterday, we were spent an amazingly beautiful afternoon touring the always awesome Brooklyn Navy Yard with Cindy, Founder of Turnstile Tours.

In two and a half hours, we covered the history of the Navy Yard from the 1600’s to today, exploring everything from Admiral’s Row (alas, from beyond a fence), to the Vinegar Hill neighborhood and the Yard itself, all via bike. For most of us, it was our first peek behind the oh-so-secretive Navy Yard gates, and I’d recommend getting in whatever legal way you can manage. 

Within the Yard, we got a glimpse of a still-working dry dock where a tug boat was in the midst of bring repaired, 

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                                               a tug boat in dry dock

a whole new perspective on the East River, 

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         Wallabout Bay and the Williamsburg bridge from an angle I’d never seen

and even the old Naval Hospital, soon to be transformed into a media arts campus. Now, it’s home to some ghostly old buildings, like the hospital itself, dating from 1838 and looking fairly pristine minus some peeling paint and broken windows. 

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           looking in through an open window at the Navy Hospital, built in 1838

One of the coolest buildings we saw was tucked behind the hospital—the old Navy Motion Picture exchange. During WWII, they sent out films to be screened on boats off at seat, and the original signage remains on the door. 

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                                        the Navy Motion Picture Exchange

Totally and completely worth it.

Narratively, a new digital publication devoted to original, true & in-depth stories about New York, is going to be big. They have an experienced team with fresh angles to journalism and a clear vision. I have often lamented how the news glosses over the most incredible human interest stories because there’s something flashier to be told; Narratively will return the focus to the minutiae that together make New York the best city in the world. There are certainly fun storytelling nights and blogs and exhibits and other fun outlets that celebrate the city and the people in it, but nothing to date that has used “new media” to tell stories and achieve scale.

To get this project rolling, they’ve gone the Kickstarter route. The benefits for donating are really neat, and I have no doubt that the content they will put out as a result will be fantastic. Help support this project today, and capture the stories of New Yorkers forever. (Is that too cheesy? I suppose that’s why I’m not a ‘real’ journalist.)

I’m not a huge fireworks person, though I do enjoy shared experiences with people in my community. So, on July 4th, I found myself happily on the roof enjoying a beer and the white noise of people on surrounding rooftops combined with the randomly distributed boom of fireworks in 5 different directions. Best of all, I was treated to a heat lightning storm and had one of those I-love-where-I-live moments.

This video is what grew out of it on a lazy, unplanned Friday night.

I went on a magic hour photography adventure with Anna* (top right photo; a brilliant photographer with a similar love for the city and the people here), and these were some of my favorites. Surprisingly (given the amount I talk with and observe strangers), I had never asked anyone if I could photograph them. Some folks were flattered, others indifferent, and others of course refused. When you have permission, you can really take the time to frame the photo, and that interaction can better inform the tone and feel of the end result. But, I also love capturing a moment without anybody’s knowledge, because it is completely natural. There is no feeling of posing or expressing oneself a certain way so that it ‘looks good’. The resulting mix of planned and unplanned photos is one that I am thrilled with and hope to do more of.

Click on any photo to view in high res.

*On Instagram, Anna is anna_goldberg and I’m jenbo1. Follow us!

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