Since I'm coming down the backside of my season now, I thought it might be good to reevaluate a bit. At the beginning of the season, I had three active goals, and one monetary goal. I wanted to amp up my hiking mileage and get out with my backpack more; to create a social life outside of Bodie; to read a lot; and to get my student loans down below $7,000. Well, it's been about 3.5 months now, and let's see how I'm doing:
1. Eight miles is now a pretty standard hiking distance for me, and my new record for a hike in a day is 23 miles. I haven't been hiking terribly regularly, but the hikes I have been doing are typically a bit longer. I've also gotten out and explored a couple places in the Bodie Hills that have been on my to-do list for awhile, like Mt. Biedeman and Beauty Peak. It would probably be good if I got in the habit of doing these hikes more frequently, but at least I am doing them. The only downside to emphasizing hiking this season is that my cycling really fell by the wayside - I've only taken my bike out about three times this season. Very sad. But I blame that on losing momentum because I had hoped to get a mountain bike and then I didn't get one, so I was waiting to start biking when I got one and then that didn't happen. But on that note, I've got a model picked out that I want to buy when I get around to it. However, I don't think it's going to happen this year, anymore. As for backpacking, I used my backpack only the one time in the Bodie Hills at the beginning of the season (my infamous mail hike), and I went backpacking once with Alyssa. So I suppose that I'm a bit lacking on that end of the goal.
2. I have one hiking buddy in Lee Vining who I have met for hikes on a handful of occasions. It's been nice to get out of town and meet new people. I also became somewhat of a regular at the local billiards and the postmaster knows me by name. New this past couple weeks, I started attending Bridgeport Christian Fellowship on occasional Sundays. That is, I don't drive into town every week on Sunday, because I don't like to drive into town more than once on my weekend, and sometimes I have to get weekday stuff done (like going to the library). I've also gotten out of town for some trips, and am planning some more for the future. I went to Sequoia and visited Alyssa; this weekend I'm going to the west side again to see Columbia SHP and visit my cousin in Stockton; in October I'm taking a couple days off to go to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco. Overall, I think I've definitely broadened my social horizons from what they were in the past couple years here.
3. I've managed to read (and listen to) several books this season, which is several more than I have in the recent past (if you don't count textbook reading!). Since I arrived, I have read "Old Murders Never Die" (a goofy ghost town murder mystery thing), "The Secret Knowledge of Water" (which I HIGHLY recommend), "Zorro" by Isabel Allende, Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire", and am currently reading "The Last Season" by Eric Blehm. On audiobook I have listened to all three Hunger Games books and Pride & Prejudice, as well as a prequel and sequel short stories to accompany the Golden Compass series. That's a total of 4 (soon to be 5) books read, and 4 books listened to, 8 books (soon to be 9) altogether. So I would say that this goal is definitely being met with success!
4. My student loans are currently at about $8,700. I've been making payments around $200 twice a month, so at that rate, by the end of October when I make my month's-end payment and finish up my season here at Bodie, I should have achieved my goal of getting under $7,000 by the end of the season. I'm on track! Yipee!
So overall I think that my goals are being met fairly well. Hopefully the trend continues in the next two-and-a-half months!
Until next time!
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