Wow. I can’t believe I’m here. One year of trying to achieve things. All of it documented here on The Sarah Project. Day by day (almost).
Why did I start? See here: About The Sarah Project
This post is just a concise summary of everything I set out to do at the beginning of 2018, and achieve by today (Dec 31st).
The Plan. Oh the Plan. Oh the Plan and its many rewrites. How I’ll miss you.
Here is a link to the very first post, and everything after, here: The Sarah Project
And the page from my notebook, where it all started.
Resume / start a new dance class – No start
Attend the Queen’s Park drum circle – No start
Buy 75% of clothes from charity shops – I bought 100% of my clothes from charity shops
Break the Addiction to Salt – Yes I did
Be kinder to mum and dad – still bad, but the only solution is to hurry up and move out.
Earn a regular wage – I did, but only enough to live day to day, rent free at home
Enjoy regular nights out – I did, at least once a month
Get a better computer – I didn’t buy one, but I’ve got one on loan from my Mustr business partner
Do 10 press-ups every day – I’m sure my average number of press-ups daily meet that, but my commitment to workouts comes and goes. I’ll need to be more specific about these kind of goals next time, like have an event to train for. Either way, I like being active, and what I’ve lost in body-weight exercises, I’ve made up for and enjoyed with many hundreds of miles walked this year.
Make £10-15 per month on ebay – Again, the average income over the year means I have hit that, and it’s all stashed away in a Paypal account, ready for a rainy (or sunny) day.
Eliminate that fungal infection – that’s still there, and my bumbling around with missed appointments, denial, mis-diagnoses and subsequent mis-treatment means I’ve lost about a quarter of a big toenail. But the medication I have now should fix it – a year from now.
1000 Instagram followers @maurigramz – I think the highest I ever got was 220. Seems like a funny thing to set as goal, looking back. A vague dream of selling Mauritian themed clothing was something to do with this.
Help someone learn English – Nope. Well, I had a few conversation exchanges with a girl in Tunisia, and did a livestream QA for Turkish learners of English.
Document this plan – the biggest win. Everything that is written on this blog goes towards that goal. Without this blog, I would have nothing to show for the basic premise for all of my 2018 goals, which was to dedicate all my undertakings to Sarah. This whole year, was for Sarah. This blog and everything in it, is for her. It was my way of channelling my grief, fusing it with her spirit, and making sure that I valued every day, took risks, created, lived. Documenting this plan made me pin meaning on almost my every waking moment. I’ve a few updates to make, but I think I managed a post every day, as planned.
Conquer the fear of making a fool of myself (this is big) – Absolutely. I made big gains here. This was something of a fundamental internal redress – make changes here, see changes all over my life. I’m now very happy sharing my writing, my innermost thoughts, acting in front of a camera, performing to a theatre audience, and showing my vulnerability in a truthful way. I have a renewed sense of confidence.
Learn a new synth – Nope. But I think I’ll be getting back into synths and stuff as of early 2019 – the course I am going to teach will have a module specifically for music production, so I’ll need to brush up.
Self-publish a book – Nope. But I have my completed manuscript for ‘I Am Not A Paki’ short story (15,000 words I think) ready, thanks to the help of the Watford Writers. I’m excited to get stuck into the rewrites, drafts, and perhaps going through the experience of seeing if someone will publish it. Tim has offered to illustrate it as well.
An online store selling jeans – no online store, but many pairs of jeans sold on ebay. Yes.
Model for money – Nope. A bit of a cringey nope too.
Articulate and destroy those self-sabotaging stories I tell myself – Yes. I’ve laid much of my inner world bare here. I’d have been reticent about all those inner dark stories and secrets a year ago, but now I find that with them being here for the world to read, I’m even able to bring them up in conversation, and found that I’m not the only one. Thanks to anyone who listened to me – my friends, my family, colleagues, and my go to tele-therapists, the Samaritans.
Take an acting course – A huge win. I didn’t think it would happen. Too many schools, too pricey, too long a duration, too far away…and then the Actor’s Cafe finds me, practically knocking on my door, with a tailor made course for me. I’ve completed the course, I’ve widened and deepened as a person from all the techniques I’ve learned, and I might even have a part in a film next year. Thank you to John and everyone at the Actor’s Cafe.
Set up Sakiss Media – it’s there, it’s just not official. I’ve never run my own company before, but the last few invoices for video work that I’ve sent out have bore this name. Sakiss is what Humford calls me, but I’m starting to prefer Shak Media. Shak Media Ltd, 2019.
Go abroad for a week – the biggest no, only because I haven’t the money. I’m hoping to make up for it next year.
Lower body fat / build up muscle – It came and it went. I was super lean and strong at one point, but it became an obsessive thing in the end. I had my weight constantly on my mind, and morning weigh-ins were sometimes an unnecessary punishment. I took the whole thing very seriously. I took my feet off the pedals around November time. A little flabbier now but still on good terms with my wardrobe. The good thing is that I can manage my weight very effectively now.
Record a season of the ‘Hidden Jungle’ – no, but I played my first live radio show, which is here, and has inspired me to run regular shows, bringing out the best jungle records I have got hidden in my crates.
Build up maurigramz – gah, no more maurigramz goals!
DJ at a party – several wins! I played at parties, got the bar residency (which I’ve quit), and played on the radio.
Teach video/music/DJing – this is all coming up in the course I’ve been going on about (for this organisation http://www.wtbiglocal.org.uk/). I agreed it all this year, we just missed the deadline to get it running before the year was out.
Release a written article – I’m really not sure what I meant by this. I have co-written a few articles for Mustr though, I guess that’s half a win.
Learn some graphic design – yes, kinda, but absolutely the bare minimum I needed to get by with was learnt. I used free Adobe apps for both personal and commercial gain (memes and video graphic).
Sign up for some voluntary work – nothing formal came of this. I attended the Samaritans induction, which was not at a good time for me, mentally. I screwed up with the homeless food crew. But I still talk with the homeless, and donate to the coffee cups, and one day I’ll go back to giving them my old books #storiesinthestreets.
Make a short film – I made many videos, just none in the cinematic style I had in mind at the beginning. Well, I kinda validated my video for Graeme as a film because I submitted it to a film festival…I’ll take half a win.
Make a jungle / dnb track – nope. Lots of messing around with samples and Renoise, but nothing finished.
Do things I’m uncomfortable doing – kinda the same thing as conquering my fear of looking silly, see above, somewhere
Play a darbuka gig – I didn’t play to a crowd, but I did play over the phone for someone I was speaking to in an Egyptian call centre.
Do a photography gig – yes, I photographed for Mustr’s series ‘Beyond Business’.
Make £5000 by Dec 31st – well that definitely happened, except it’s all gone now. Really, I think I hoped to have £5k saved. Also, £5k as earnings through just working for myself was probably the premise too. I don’t know. I wasn’t clear about this because I probably wasn’t really being honest with myself. The subject of money and debt is forever a thorn in my side, which I will have to face up to, in 2019.
Continue not smoking – I smoke the odd shisha pipe, but cigarettes I’m done with.
Keep a spend diary – nope, didn’t. Bank statements aren’t good enough – I’ve got to track my spending like I tracked my weight.
Halve my debts by Dec 31 – they’re higher
Make a signature dish in 5 cuisines – I made some Mauritian dipain frire but that’s it.
And finally…make some drawings of Wordfart – ahh Wordfart. I’ll come back to this. I love making words up, and wanted to turn my collection of Shakisms into drawings. I created a different set of drawings and turned them into greeting cards instead. Most of my friends and family who helped me get through the year have received a card in the post, hand-made by me, and signed © artbyshak 2018.
And that’s it! The Sarah Project End of Project Report.
Here is the link to the start of the project, again: The Sarah Project
Happy New Year folks! Thank you to anyone who passed by this blog over the last year.
Tomorrow, a final, personal dedication to Sarah – Memories Of Sarah #12
The Sarah Project 