GOALS (long term and long ish term) (that are at least semi-achievable in this moment)

* make hand drawn birding life list book (referencing my own photos, if I was able to take them)
* be good at pixel art
* be able to sightread piano
* make a full game
* make my personal website
* learn embroidery
* learn guitar to an intermediate level
* learn knitting
* learn quilting
* be good at crochet
* make a crochet granny square cardigan or blanket
* make a crochet sweater
* be able to draw people from imagination
* be able to draw scenes from imagination
* be a better writer
* for the most part, stop watching short form content (reels shorts etc)
* make a big crochet tapestry
* learn to make my own crochet patterns
* learn to freehand crochet
* learn to sew my own clothes by hand and with machine
* do the entire drawabox course
* be able to sculpt little clay creatures
* learn spanish
* learn japanese
* learn hindi
* learn ASL
* get better at watercolor
* get better at gouache
* draw/paint my dreams
* make cool videos
* be a good cook
* learn how to bake
* expand my birding life list
* write an entire book series
* make more original art pieces regularly
* organize my data
* write a graphic novel and/or webcomic
* make my own music, videogame or otherwise
* be OK at singing
* make useful pottery
* have a productive garden
* read all the books that have been in my bookshelf for years
* journal more
* transfer up all my old pokemon
* learn a lot more regarding full-stack web development
* finish (+publish?) my iOS app
* do programming project ideas I've had
* be mostly plastic-free
* start lifting weights and doing stretches daily
* learn to make my own notebooks (with scrap paper)
* forage
* learn how to ID sparrows in my state (I can't tell them apart)
* get close up pics of all the birds I already see all the time
* get a freaking job


KEY
in progress
There are a lot of things I want to learn how to do. This is despite me being not a very good learner. I will try anyway, because I am human and I am alive, and I have time on my hands that can be spent learning new things instead of scrolling my phone.

Will I be good at all of these things? No, of course not. I will suck at most of them. But I have learned to accept a degree of mediocrity. I am fine with the idea of being a jack of all trades and a master of none, I guess. Of course some of these are also just things I want to do that I've been avoiding.
GOAL: Be good at pixel art

Somebody recommended this on a Reddit post for learning pixel art so that's what I will go with for now. I think I'll start with the more fundamental stuff and ignore the portriatature stuff until I get better.
So far, watched videos: 1-5
In video 1 he mentions this thread as a good resource.
I want to draw both a scene and a character before I practice with the course to see my baseline skill level. Will put that here if I get myself to do it.
GOAL: Be able to draw people from imagination

Someone I watch posted this and I wanna watch it
Also need to review the Loomis Method probably first
I need to find good resources on drawing full bodies from imagination as well.
GOAL: Be better at watercolor

I hate how bad I am at watercolors because they're the least annoying to use. So I want to be good at it.
This is the kind of style I want. Painting I made in my 4th? sketchbook. Prob best watercolor I've ever done :(



Going to check out this channel and this channel.
GOAL: Learn to make my own crochet patterns

I'm starting to take notes while I do patterns to make sense of what is going on instead of blindly following them. That way I can hopefully pick up on some patterns (no pun intended) as to how people form shapes.
This website may be useful to test out whether my hunches are correct about certain shape formations without having to phsyically crochet them.
GOAL: Learn how to ID sparrows in my state

Sparrows all look the same to me so I want to figure out which ones I've actually seen and how to tell them apart in the future.

House sparrow
I see them all the time.
Males: gray crowns, black bib, white cheeks, black streaked back
Females: dull brown with black streaked back

Song sparrow
These are the ones I see with the streaky breast. They also have a brown crown with gray streak

Swamp sparrow
Don't think I have seen this. They are reddish brown everywhere except breast and neck. I'm surprised I haven't seen one since I live near wetlands. Will be on the lookout

Vesper sparrow
They kind of look like a song sparrow but their base brown is lighter?

White-crowned sparrow
They have black and white stripes on their head and are otherwise grayish / brownish
I believe I have seen this in California

White-throated sparrow
White throat patch and yellow around the eyes

Savannah sparrow
Yellow around the eyes and a streaky white and brown body

Lincoln's sparrow
Gray face, tan body, bold brown stripe on the head

Dark-eyed junco
Easy to tell apart; They are all gray except a white belly and a pinkish beak. I have seen them on the west coast only though

Chipping sparrow
I swear I have seen them in NJ, but maybe not by the house because I don't recall seeing them all the time?
They have the rusty reddish crown, light gray body, and reddish brown wings

Fox sparrow
I don't think I have ever seen this before! They have a cool mottled reddish fox color on top of a more normal looking sparrow coloring

Grasshopper sparrow
Their bill looks interesting; more shaped like a crow's? but the size of a sparrow's. Yellow streak on the wing and above the eye. Otherwise brown and dark brown coloring

American tree sparrow
Looks like a chipping sparrow except the eye streak is black on a chippping sparrow and reddish brown on the american tree sparrow. But they got the same hat

Eastern towhee
I have seen one, I think while camping but not by the house. Black and orange or brown and orange for females. Don't think I have seen a female

Nelson's sparrow
Have definitely not seen this. Orange face and sides, white underbelly, brown and black towards the top

Saltmarsh sparrow
Restricted to the saltmarshes of the Atlantic coast... Apparently in NJ year round? Would be cool to see one; I've been on saltmarsh trails and such.
They look like Nelson's sparrow. I'm not sure I would be able to tell them apart!

Seaside sparrow
Located by the sea (duh). Don't think I've seen one though.
Yellow streaks by the eye, very spotty breast and belly

Field sparrow
Pale looking with pink bills. Backs have black streaks. White around the eyes. Cute

The grasshoper sparrow does not seem to have been sighted anwywhere near me recently
A lot of these birds seem to be sighted in Sandy Hook

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