Blog Reboot, Big Fun Scary Adventures

In an effort to revamp my web presence, I made a commitment to return to blogging, which in all honesty is more for my own benefit than for any readers that I still may have out there, because I feel it keeps me on track and focused on learning, exploring, and is a nice record of life experiences. It's like a more public version of my journal, (which I have been keeping regularly since 2005). 

Anyone have any good New Years Resolutions? Well, I really hate the term. So I've been sticking to an ollllllld term I picked up from my National Novel Writing Month days, called "Big, Fun, Scary Adventures", or BFS Adventures, which are like resolutions, but they must be big, fun and a little scary; something that takes you outside your comfort zone and grows you as a person. 

I'd like to share a few of mine!

• Get back into archery
• Complete 30 paintings (up from last year's 20)
• Read 30 books (same goal as last year but only read 17... FAIL)
• Start blogging and YouTubing again. Goal: 50 blog posts and 20 YouTube videos. (My channel is www.youtube.com/user/DTHRocket)
• Transcribe 50 children's stories from YouTube in Chinese and learn the vocabulary. This is a new method I've been using to further my Chinese proficiency. My girlfriend Lulu has been helping me a lot!

I have a few others, but one of them I'm a little hesitant to share online!!! Suffice to say big life changes are on the horizon!

Speaking of life, what am I up to these days? I'm currently living in Midland, Texas, and still work at XCOR Aerospace, now as a full-time engineer! Life is pretty good. Lulu is attending grad school in Austin, and I try to drive down to see her a couple times a month. It's pretty hard being so far away, but it sure beats an America-China long distance relationship!

I'd like to touch on one thing I've been struggling with in the past few years. If you've been following this blog since it began in 2008 you probably have a clear sense of how ambitious I've been about reaching space and going far in my field. But to be honest, starting midway through college I've felt a pull in a much different direction. Don't get me wrong, aerospace is a deep passion of mine. But it isn't my everything. After my experience in China and making so many Chinese friends, I really felt God calling me there to serve Him. I don't know what that looks like, but I'm still praying about it. Is there tension between my love for aerospace and my love for China? Sometimes I feel there is, but not necessarily.

The bottom line is that I'm staying the course for now but I'm open to wherever and whatever God leads me to. Life is an adventure, and I see now that the greatest adventure may not be in the direction of my boyhood passion. But it might.

So what's this blog gonna be about this year? Honestly I don't know. I found as an intern that I couldn't really post about aerospace because everything I was doing was proprietary, and that's still true for the most part. Perhaps the deep theme has yet to unfold. You'll just have to keep reading to find out.

School's Out for the Summer -- Time for Summer Goals!

1. Get certified for level 2 high-power rocketry!
2. Create a video game (that's another post)
3. Make a short film (we're thinking Steampunk :)
4. Earn lots of money by getting a good job.
5. Apply for lots of scholarships.

The last two are the most boring but are also probably the most important.

Got any good plans for the summer?

Big, Fun, Scary Adventures for 2011

Unlike New Year's resolutions, BFS Adventures are something that last all year. They are akin to resolutions, but are more... adventurous. So here are mine:

• Get level-2 certified for high-power rocketry
• Earn at least $5000 dollars by working, and at least $5000 dollars in (non-ISU) scholarships
• Invent something cool.

What are your adventurous goals for the year?

2009 Goals

Aerospace is a complicated subject, as any rocketeer would readily admit. Thus, I have set a few challenging goals for myself this year, to help boost me into the field.

• Get Junior Level 1 certified for high-power through the NAR.
• Get a purple ribbon in Aerospace at the MN State Fair (I've already done it once, so it's not so daunting)
• Prepare for college (I'm hoping to major in aerospace engineering)
• Start a website and a business for DTH Rocket Endeavors
• And one more thing... I'm thinking about renaming DTH Rocket Endeavors. It's just my initials! So far, no good names have struck me. Perhaps I should wait a few years and see what direction this "company" takes! (Credit card companies are sending offers to "Dth Rocket Endeavors," so I sort of feel like it's already a real company).