Five Year Plan: 20% done
  Part One – What/How I’ve done

So, I’m now one year through that five year plan. Which means that – fucking hell! – I must now be thirty-six. The last six months haven’t been quite so productive as the first six, but that’s because there also turned out to be a lot of other stuff occurring that wasn’t on the initial set of plans. You know, things like “buy house”, “work on house”, “work on garden”, that kind of thing. It’s meant that in some ways I hit a bit of a pause, but in others I’ve been productive as hell.

Of course, the first year was always going to be about groundwork, getting a load of the basics out of the way so that the next two or three years can make more progress. Well, that’s the concept. Whether it’ll work out like that or not, I don’t know.

Anyway, here’s the list that I wrote up for last November 5th, so let’s see how it’s all gone – the comments are in italics, in case you hadn’t guessed…

• Photography
  1. Get a Macro Lens
  2. Get a Wide-Angle Lens
     still deciding whether I really need one. Maybe soon.
  3. Finish the Portfolio website
     Completed, and with extra uploads on a fairly regular basis
  4. Sell/Publish some stuff
     Working on it, submitting it, and had one used in the Killarney page of an on-line guide to Ireland, although not for any money.
  5. Join a local club
     Still haven’t really found one. There’s a local club, but *shrug* I dunno.
  6. Get a decent flash
     Done, a Speedlite 580EX
  7. Start aiming to get work and projects
     Started, and ongoing. I’ve sent out some initial letters to a couple of places regarding projects, and I’ll be sending out more over the next month or so.
• Writing
  1. Finish at least one piece of writing
     still working on it, although not all that quickly
  2. When a piece is finished submit it to the right people
     Reliant on #1 being completed
  3. Just see how things go
  4. Write more on d4d™? Maybe.
• Work / Websites
  1. Build and work on the other ideas I’ve got in my head
     working on it, and getting some of them sorted
  2. Work (as always) on smaller sites, and do as many as possible
     so far, three new sites launched, as well as the photography portfolio
  3. Sort out permanent job for the first part of ’07 while we’re house-buying etc.
     All done, and no need to get that nasty ‘proper’ job after all
  4. Redesign d4d™? It’s about time…
  5. Merge lots of hosting accounts into one reseller account, and onto one server
     done
  6. Start getting better at invoicing for work done
     in progress, and all being done a lot more efficiently
  7. Develop some ideas in partnership with others, and see how they do
     In progress – I’ve formed a couple of small collaborations, and they seem (so far) to be working well
• Education
  1. Sign up with Open University
     initially for a refresher course, and work from there
  2. Look at an official course/qualification in Photography?

     Yeah, OK, ‘Education’ is going to be the category that falls off the radar for ’07/’08, I’m afraid – mainly due to motivation issues, but also down to the fact I’m permanently busy doing other stuff. As such, any progress on this one is going to be a way off in the future

• Other
  1. Restart the Archery once we’ve moved
     Made all the enquiries, booked to go and do it, but not yet got round to attending. I suck.
  2. Move to Norfolk
  3. Sort out work in Norfolk
  4. Buy house
  5. Start work on house, garden
     • I must say here, Herself has been the prime organiser of most (if not all) of the stuff below. We’ve got a long way so far, and there’s still a long way to go, but most of it is down to Herself’s organisation rather than mine
     • Wood Burner
     • Wood Pile
     • Making house initially liveable-in
     • Initial sort out of garden, lawn, veg patch
     • Dealing with various electrical issues etc.
  6. Get Planning Permission for house alterations
  7. Get Building Regs for hourse alterations
     all done
  8. Buy a car
     Bought, insured, taxed, driven it for about 10,000 miles already