Goals for me in the Roaring 2020's!

Ten years is a long time. Anything can happen.

Ten years ago, I just graduated from college with a degree in education, looking to enroll in Grad School, unemployed, having no real savings. Now, I'm in the field of banking with a steady income, growing slowly everyday. The progress isn't much, but it's mine.

However, I managed to let the 2010s slip by me without much happening in my life. I did a few things, but everything just sort of fell into place.

If I want real, tangible results, I'll need to set real, tangible goals. I need to look back on this list on December 31, 2029. But will I look back on this list with pride and satisfaction or the empty promise of "just needing to give myself one more year!"

Here's a list of ten goals, I want to accomplish in the 2020s

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1. A website

(Looks around thatdonparker.com)

Well, that's good enough for me!

Always needed a professional home base and in recent years, I have been becoming increasing leery of social media.

Especially on the professional wrestling side of things. Here's a increasing common dilemma on Facebook I've been seeing with heels (professional wrestling bad guys). Heel wants to promote shows that he is on and build his brand. Heel does heel things on Facebook (saying rude things). Someone reports heel. Heel is in Facebook jail for a set amount of time. Heel becomes cautious of posting to Facebook, and quite honestly, I don't blame theme. If they can't make money applying their craft to Facebook without being punished, then why post to Facebook? Why give them any sort of traffic?

Social Media had their moment in the sun, but the more they act like brats, the more we should second guess them. Homepages for everyone!

2. Travel

At this point, I'll take anything. I need to get on a plane (or train). Go see something awesome or do something cool in a place I've never been to before. Looking back on my 20s, I should have traveled more. I was too idealistic to travel (idealistic meaning I was too stupid to realize that I was being paid well below my earning potential and that I needlessly devoted to career that would have chewed me up and spit me out).

If I have the money, I should go. I work hard. It actually kind of scares me to get to a point in my life where I may be financially secure enough to travel, but physically my body won't let me go or do thing the things that I would like to do. I should have went to more amusement parks. There are three places that I specifically want to go to before the decades end.

1. Las Vegas - Sin City. There's an app called MyVegas, where the more you play, the more points you get for real Vegas comps. I have enough for numerous trips, but no time actually feels like the right time to go. I'm not even that big of a gambler. As a matter of fact, I don't like it all that much, I just want to go eat and see crazy stuff.

2. Walt Disney World - I was supposed to go as a kid, but let's just say the plans fell through. A few decades after I was supposed to go, I really didn't care to go again. Hell, when I was down in Orlando for Wrestlemania 33, we drove past the entrance to Walt Disney World and it didn't strike me how really close we were. I'm not sure how I caught the bug to go, but it's been at least two years now where I am just completely enthralled with the idea of going.

3. Wrestlemania, again - There is just something being in a crowd of 70,000+ people that is just an absolutely wild feeling. I'm not big into concerts, but I imagine it's what Woodstock felt like. I don't think I want to do another WWE show again, but there is something special about WrestleMania. Unfortunately, it came down to finances on why I didn't go to Wrestlemania 34, but I was pricing flights that Friday. Fly down Saturday, get whatever ticket and room I could, Wrestlemania Sunday, fly back immediately home. If Wrestlemania is in Orlando or Las Vegas, I would definitely go.

3. Over 200 Samples of Work on YouTube

As much as I don't like social media, I really need to use YouTube. Hosting all my media on one website would be a lot of money. YouTube just keeps everything centralized. "Here's my list of videos I've acted in." or "Here's a series of videos where I read copies of radio commercials." I just feel like it's convenient to have.

4. 200 blood donations

This is something I feel is important that not a lot of us in society does. According to Cedar-Sanai, about event two seconds, someone in the United States needs blood and though 38% of the American population is eligible to give blood, only 2% actually donates.

Now, if I were to shoot for two hundred whole blood donation, I wouldn't be able to accomplish this goal. However, You can donate platelets every 7 days, up to 24 times a year. Which is something I choose to do with my blood type. One blood donation a month may take me up to December 2029, but that's a sacrifice I am willing to make. Plus, each platelet donation takes up to 90 minutes?

Yes, please!

Believe me, I could use the down time.

5. I want to be paid for something in my career

Going with what I said earlier, there was a good portion of my professional career, particularly in education, where I was underpaid. That I was supposed to take my $15 per hour job with no benefits with "undying gratitude". Unfortunately, student loan creditors don't take "warm and fuzzy feel good stories" as payment.

I need something tangible. I need something worth my time. And I need to be happy doing it.

6. I want to be known for a character

I really like Fire Emblem Heroes. It's a tactical role playing game, kind of like Chess but imagine the rules are being more open ended and with a Game of Thrones style story. Try it, you might like it. But there's a point about FEH that I would like to bring up. The amount of voice actors they used for the game is staggering. and to be honest, I want to be a part of that. I like clicking on an actor and scrolling through their listed work, I don't want to take over being the next Mario or Goofy, but being recognized as being as talented as Charles Martinet, or Alan Young, or Phil Lamarr, or Xander Mobus (Xander Mobus, who the hell is that? Play the Radiant Historia remake for 3DS. He played Locke. Loved his work)

I understand that there is a lot of work in commercials and getting work as a character is very difficult, but I would like to attach my name to at least one character .

7. I want letters from WWE, Nintendo, and/or Disney

I don't need to have a bright, shining career but I do want answers. Am I good enough to hang with the heavy hitters and to work with the companies that captured my imagine as child or it just wasn't meant to be. With hard work... anything can happen.

8. Corporate connection

Have you ever gone to some other websites for actors and they have a carousel of companies that they worked for? I want that There is so much to learn out there and why not build that partnership with professionals in that field?

9. Record an audiobook

I am enthralled by this art form. Just to even attempt a go at a book would be a challenge that I would undertake with the utmost seriousness.

10. Make a few Let's Plays

This is going to sound strange, but I don't believe in the whole notion that gaming culture is bullish. That may be a trend that I am going to lose out on but that is a trend I am willing to let pass me by. eSports may be growing in popularity, but I still really enjoy just a relaxing, single player experience or local co-op with three other friends. I don't need the rush out an upgrade my computer every 3 years and I especially don't feel the need to "train" at a game.

But I did get this one idea, I want to share the games that captivated my imagination with the people I care about. I want to show to my girlfriend why I love Zelda so much, I want to show all my D&D playing friends what they are missing out on when they say "I've never played Chrono Trigger". And I want to record that experience. Maybe I'm a romantic, but I'd rather keep gaming communal, rather than competitive.

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And that'll do it. Some personal, some professional for the 2020s. I'll see you on December 31, 2029.