I have spent the past few days organizing my room for the new school term. As I was doing this I began thinking about what I want to accomplish in 2009 (in no particular order):

• Lose weight and become more active – A little cliché but it has gotten to the point where it is needed. Six years ago (in June) when I graduated from high school I weighed 180 lbs (~82 kg). Now I am up to 280 lbs (~127 kg). I tried snowboarding this winter and had to give up after my first time down the bunny hill. Having to undo and do up the bindings after each run would have been too tiresome and moreover, I was not able to do it myself since my stomach got in the way. Long story short, it is time for me to increase my fitness level so watch this site for updates on my progress.
• Raise my Cumulative Average to 6.5 or higher – My first year at Disaster University was great on the academic side. Since then however my grades have slipped and it is time to bring them back up, one course at a time. I have a good start this school year and I intend to keep the trend going. (In case you are not familiar with the grading system at McMaster, it is based on a 12 point scale reflecting the range from 50% to 100%. Check this page for a table converting from McMaster’s grading system to more widely used ones.)
• Complete my private pilot license – My flight lessons came to an abrupt end in November 2008 when Peninsulair was locked out. Since then, the only flying I have done has been in Microsoft’s Flight Simulator. I want to finish at least the private pilot level in the next twelve months which means I will have to start reviewing ground school and the flight briefings I have already done. I plan on posting my reviews on this blog which also plays into my next goal.
• Write more aviation and aviation training related posts – Not only will this help me review the material I have covered, I also hope it will start discussions and allow me to get light shed on topics which may be a bit fuzzy. (I am planning a follow up to my “Planes on Conveyors” post to further explain my reasoning and allow some of my pilot friends’ input to be heard.)
• Live the life I want to have, not the one I have – You have probably heard of the phrase: “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.” I plan to apply its spirit to my life and start living towards the life I want to have once out in the workforce (more or less).
• Read more both in English and Romanian – The last book I finished was back in March 2008 and is The Amber Spyglass (Wiki), the third book in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials (Wiki) series which includes The Golden Compass (Wiki). Since then I have started a few books but have not finished them. Alongside the books in English, I plan to read more in Romanian to improve my diminishing vocabulary.

It will be a great year!