“I am told you are a man with true grit”

Yesterday evening I saw True Grit at the Warren Theater in Moore. The subtitle above is actually a quote from Mattie, the main character. Overall, I found the movie to be very good, especially for a remake. However, this line in particular caught my attention as I was thinking about how the Autumn 2010 Tenlist turned out.

For those who are unaware, this is the definition of grit: firmness of character; indomitable spirit. Clearly, it is something most people would admire. As I thought about this definition, I began to consider the fact that I have never fulfilled one of my tenlists completely (my average is 7.5/10). This is in spite of the fact that I read my tenlist every morning when I wake up and every evening before I go to bed. Clearly, this proves that constant reminding will only get you a “good” result at the end of the season. To get “great” results, you cannot simply act on reminders, you must change your character. You must develop “true grit.”

With this lesson learned, I present to you the results of this past season.

Autumn 2010 – The Tenlist Results

1. Update Exeneva.com (this blog) monthly [COMPLETED]

I remember choosing to update this monthly since I was in school. With this final post of the year, I have accomplished this goal.

2. Read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss [COMPLETED]

I barely achieved this one. Throughout the school year, the constant piles of homework didn’t leave me much free time to read for pleasure. Thankfully, the semester ended a few days before the end of Fall, and I was able to read the majority of the book on my plane trips back. I finally finished at home on the last day of the season.

Overall, the book is very beautifully-written; a great account of a fantasy story in autobiography format. There is one quote from the book that has stuck in my mind ever so recently, and I have reproduced it below:

(Bast talking to Chronicler): “I’ve got it now. You meet a girl: shy, unassuming. If you tell her she’s beautiful, she’ll think you’re sweet, but she won’t believe you. She knows that beauty lies in your beholding.” Bast gave a grudging shrug. “And sometimes that’s enough.”

His eyes brightened. “But there’s a better way. You show her she is beautiful. You make mirrors of your eyes, prayers of your hands against her body. It is hard, very hard, but when she truly believes you …” Bast gestured excitedly. “Suddenly the story she tells herself in her own head changes. She transforms. She isn’t seen as beautiful. She is beautiful, seen.”

Beautiful, is it not?

3. Cover down payment for Zems Cardbase Browser [COMPLETED]

This goal simply consisted of pooling money to pay a large down payment for the first part of the Zems Project.

4. Commission artists to paint the remaining Zems Origins Set works [RECONSIDERED]

I practically completed this goal. Then after some time, I began to reconsider the project entirely: Zems is a fantasy card game. But what would separate Zems from other fantasy card games? The decision I settled upon was realism. Every fantasy card game I have played has relied on illustrative, fantastical artwork, which is also the style I originally had in mind, and what this goal was meant for. But have you ever played a card game in which the artwork looked very real, as if you would believe the creatures on the cards actually existed if you saw them in real life?

Simply put, this was the artwork style I originally had in mind: http://www.zems.com/forums/art-gallery/2-%5Bortor%5D-seers.html

This is the new style of art that will be in the project instead: http://www.zems.com/forums/art-gallery/177-%5Bfellune%5D-eveira.html

Quite different, right?

5. Maintain a P90X/Insanity hybrid workout routine [COMPLETED]

I came. I worked. I finished. One hour every day, that’s all there was to it.

6. Pass all of my college classes [COMPLETED]

Never again am I putting this on my tenlist as a goal. This should be obvious, and I feel like I cheated for having it on this past season’s list.

7. Finalize the Zems Origins Set cards [NOT COMPLETED]

My creative juices ran out. Or at least I thought they did, and that is probably why I wasn’t able to finish this goal. As of right now, only one color has all of its cards drafted, with the other three being largely incomplete. This goal has been moved onto next season’s list.

8. Attend every Thursday parkour session [COMPLETED]

I consider this completed even though it’s not entirely true – I injured my right wrist over Thanksgiving break, and that largely destroyed my ability to parkour for the last few weeks of school. But other than that, I came to every session.

9. Acquire an interesting website from a third party developer [COMPLETED]

The website turned out to be Gunwallet.com. It is a site I’ve had my eyes on ever since I first heard about it, and the wait has been worth it for the most part. The concept is quite interesting: Most people store their gun information at home. But what if something happened at home that would cause that documentation to be lost or damaged? In this case it is best to have a virtual copy of all your gun documents, and that’s where Gunwallet.com comes in – it stores all gun information you upload on a secure framework. From there, you can download as many copies as you need. In addition, if your gun ever gets stolen, you don’t have to go through the trouble of making copies of your gun information and distributing it to authorities – simply pass the information via Gunwallet quickly and easily.

But to be honest, the site doesn’t really fit my personal interests. I am not a very avid gun user, although I am an advocate of gun freedoms and not gun control. I might consider flipping it someday.

10. Deposit $1500 into my bank account and leave it there [NOT COMPLETED]

I approached this goal in two steps. First, get the money. Second, put it in the bank.

I got the money. Putting it into the bank via electronic transfers is a different story – the transfers didn’t complete by the time season was over. So while I did accomplish this goal to some degree, I am still not going to count it since I still missed the deadline.

All In All

Since one goal was reconsidered, I consider this tenlist more of a Nine-List. Final verdict is 7/9, which means I’m slowly improving (and my Tenlists aren’t getting any easier from season to season)!