May Report Card

All right! It's time for the May Report Card, where I tell y'all how well I kept up with my resolutions over the month! This entire blog series is inspired by Kellie over at She Learns as She Goes. Thanks to everyone for reading!

Save $400 towards BCT Graduation

I think I did really well with this one!

Paycheck #1: $104.73. Saved: $70.00. [April 31]
Paycheck #2: $94.58. Saved: $74.58. [May 7]
Paycheck #3: $160.76. Saved: $130.00. [May 14]

Paycheck #4: $86.92. Saved: $66.00. [May 21]

Paycheck #5: $155.83. Saved: $50.02. [May 28]

Total Earned: $602.82. Total Saved: $390.60.

Grade: A+

I'm not going to need this goal any more. Oh, well. But I saved a ton of money, right? I was only $10 short of my goal. If I had still needed this goal, the money I deposited on the 29th would have been about $100 instead of only $50, thus sealing the deal and leaving me with $440 or so in the bank. So, technically, I did finish this resolution. I just won't be spending it in the way I want to.

Read Four Books

I managed to read six books this month, meeting my quota and surpassing it by two. Still, it's nowhere NEAR what I used to be able to read in a month, but then again, I was working my tail off this month, both at TreeTop and at my house.

Nobody Noticed the Cat [Anne McCaffrey]
Inside the Magic Kingdom: Seven Keys to Disney's Success [Tom Connellan]
Inkheart [Cornelia Funke]
Inkspell [Cornelia Funke]
Inkdeath [Cornelia Funke]
So You Created a Wormhole: The Time Traveler's Guide to Time Traveling [Phil Hornshaw & Nick Hurwitch]

Grade: A+

The Tin Flute

Um... Can I say "guilty" on this one? Maybe I put up my expectations too high. Or maybe I didn't remember that I'd be getting my wisdom teeth removed halfway through the month, which means I can't play a wind instrument for quite a while, for fear of getting a dry socket. (Ouch!) Maybe I'll try this one again in July, because June'll be too busy for this, too!

Grade: F

Walking

Most of my walking, unfortunately, was done at work. But hey, when you're pacing back and forth in the café all day, running to get drinks; when you're dashing between prizes and children at the prize center; when you're pacing at Water Wars just so you'd have something to do; when you're roaming around as Utility... Those steps really add up quickly! (I guess I should start wearing my Pokéwalker more often, so I can keep track of all the steps I take!!)

However, my mom & I were supposed to go walking after supper every night. That hasn't happened yet, but hopefully I'll be able to do better next month.

Now if you'll excuse me, my feet are killing me.

Grade: C

Writing

Meh...Last month really was the better month for writing. I finished two short stories last month - one for my English class, and one for my own entertainment. They turned out much better than I expected.

As for my novels, however... I haven't gotten much farther than what I started with. Ugh. It's so difficult, figuring out ways to let things come together. It's like a completely-white jigsaw puzzle. I can see where the pieces are supposed to go, or at least where I think they're supposed to go, but I have absolutely no idea how to get them to fit into those positions. It's going to take a lot more writing on my part.

I did get the entirety of my first few chapters typed up, although I wrote those a few months ago. I think I'll have to go back and edit them before I can move along, though: just to make sure everything fits together properly and whatnot.

I've managed to get more than 5,000 words added to my original story, though (remember my Books & Their Titles post from a few days ago?), upping the word count from 10,588 to 15,096. I need to finish this story, print it out, and hand it to my sister to read. I think she'd enjoy reading it. Or maybe I could send it to Kellie. I read her book, after all, and made annotations about it (with sticky notes!). Maybe she'd be willing to do the same for me. I really need some help with this story. Of course, I need to finish it first, before I let anyone read it. It'll be a rough draft of a rough draft of a rough draft, but at least it'll be done. It's going to need a lot of help to get to where it needs to be.

Grade: B

Overall Grade: C+

I still think it's better than I thought I would do, to be honest. And hey, People of the Internet! You're supposed to be the ones encouraging me, too! (And I'll encourage y'all right back.) But seeing just how badly I failed this month makes me realize that I've got a long way to go. I'm still going to try to improve myself in any way I can before Sophomore Year starts in the fall. I've just got to keep trying harder.

I do believe these Monthly Resolutions posts will become a regular thing! (That adds three extra blog posts a month to my blog, and I need all the help that I can get at some points in time!)

How did y'all do on your resolutions? Did you pass? Did you fail? Did you 'derail,' like I did with a few things? Tell me about it in the comments! Discuss things with me! Let me know what you're going to do differently next month! And do you have any ideas as to how to keep myself on track? Thank you! Look forward to tomorrow's June Resolutions post!