2023: The Infinity Dreams Award

So I don’t do a whole lot of “networking” on this blog, since I primarily use it as a personal outlet/journal sort of affair. I should probably do a bit more, though, particularly as I’m quite active on other forms of social media such as Twitter, where I’ve found a great number of people who are interested in the same sorts of things as me — which, believe me, is really important.

These blog “award” things are posting prompts that I’ve seen before, but never really participated in. They can be fun, though, so when Nick of The Skycorps Blog mentioned The Infinity Dreams Award on Twitter yesterday and was looking for people to pass it on to, I volunteered. So thanks, Nick! Me stepping up may not be quite the same thing as someone nominating me without prompting, but I’m grateful for you following through (and the links!) nonetheless.

So what is The Infinity Dreams Award? Well, unlike other blog awards that do the rounds, this isn’t a list of questions to answer followed by the opportunity to send on some of your own questions. Instead, it’s much simpler: all you have to do is list seven dreams — as in ambitions, not night-time dreams — that you have, and be as personal as you want about it. Well, you all know I have no problem in laying myself out there on this here blog, so let’s get intimate.

In no particular order, then, here are my seven dreams.

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Dream 1: Finish and publish one of my stories

Shamelessly stealing this from Nick here, but since his first couple of dreams resonated strongly with me, too, I thought I’d give my own thoughts on a similar situation.

I absolutely love writing, particularly creative writing, and so it would be fantastic to actually finish a complete novel-length story and publish it somehow. As long-standing readers will know, I have actually finished several stories in blog format on this here site, but those are largely improvisational and unplanned in nature, and as such would require some heavy editing in order to be publishable.

I do, however, have a number of different stories floating around in my head, some of which I’ve started writing and others of which are just an interesting idea. The main barrier to me actually knuckling down and finishing one is the fact that I can do Beginnings, and I can do Endings, but it’s the middle bit that leads from one to the other that I find myself struggling with a bit. My absolute favourite story that I’ve been writing for years now has a very clear beginning and a very clear end, but I have absolutely no idea how to join them up together.

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Dream 2: Find a good job

Nick’s second dream also very much applies to me, as regular readers will know. I’m currently in a situation where I know that “conventional” employment is not a particularly good fit for me, but where freelance work isn’t enormously forthcoming for one reason or another. As I noted the other day, there’s the possibility of going into business by myself as a Slimming World consultant, and that’s something that very much appeals — though the start-up costs for that are significant, and that, frankly, frightens me a bit. As the days go by, though, I’m starting to think more and more that I need to face that fear and just jump in; the job itself, I feel, is something I could do well at and be happy with, so I’m inclined to pursue it and see what happens.

This is, of course, assuming that they interview me and want me in the first place, which remains to be seen, so all of the above may be a moot point.

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Dream 3: Publish a successful magazine

Matt at Digitally Downloaded and I have been working hard on our first edition of our magazine, which we’re aiming to try and get out of the door at the end of this month. I’m really pleased with what we’ve developed so far, and I’m very, very excited about the future.

I believe there’s absolutely a market for what we’re doing, because it’s very distinct from what websites offer. I much prefer the sort of thing we’re doing — in-depth readings and criticism rather than questionable journalism — and I feel the whole “make the sort of thing you want to see” philosophy is a good basis for creating something. Because chances are you aren’t the only one to feel the way you do, as lonely as opinions outside the “norm” can feel sometimes.

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Dream 4: Build up my music teaching client base

I already have two piano pupils, with a possible third and fourth coming later in the year. That earns me a few quid each week, but by no means enough to actually survive on. I would love to have more pupils, though in order to do that I know I need to make more of an effort with promotion — it’s figuring out where to start with all that. This is one area where the Slimming World job could potentially help me out — a big part of that job is promotion, so it would give me some great ideas on how to get noticed.

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Dream 5: Become fluent in Japanese

This is a long-term one, but I’m making the effort. Since my evening classes are no longer running, I have to self-study, which at times can be challenging, but I’ve found the online courses at YesJapan.com work well with the way my brain works and offer a variety of activities to learn in different ways, so I’m going to continue with those as long as possible. The natural realisation of this dream is the point where I can import a game from Japan and be able to understand everything that is going on in it at the same speed I can do with an English game. In the short-term, I’ll just be happy with getting my head around both hiragana and katakana, the former of which I’m getting reasonably confident with, the latter of which is still a mystery.

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Dream 6: Reach my target weight and continue losing

I’m still a few stone off the “target” I set for myself when I joined Slimming World, but I’ve already lost over four stone since February and am continuing to lose, on average, at least a pound every week. I already feel way better about myself than I have done in years, and I can’t even imagine how much more self-confidence I will have with a few more stone off my body.

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Dream 7: Conquer my depression and anxiety

I don’t know if this one will ever come to fruition, but in many ways it’s the one I most hope will come true. Depression and anxiety have absolutely crippled and almost destroyed my life up until this point, and I despise them for it. I am better than I was, but my horrible experiences with my last job set me back a good year or two in the “recovery” process — a fact for which I will never forgive those responsible. One day, I would like to be free; for the moment, however, I’ll be happy with the odd day of contentment.

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I’m supposed to nominate some people now, who will then run with this and continue in their own way — or perhaps ignore it completely. Either way, then, I nominate the following people and blogs:

Pete Skerritt of Consoleation
awesomecurry of カレーまみれ勇者の冒険 Curry Chronicles
Chris Schilling of rudderless
Jud House of Jud’s Game Reviews and Jud’s Jottings

Not sure quite how many people I’m supposed to nominate, but four is probably fine for now. Drop me a comment or pingback if you decide to participate in this; I’ll be very interested to read what you have to say.