Smash Bash Spring 2009

I haven't been able to blog about anything for most of this month. I was a little busy as usual -- the highlight of this month was definitely Smash Bash 2009, a badminton tournament held during the spring time in Arizona. Me, and my partner, Parag, ended up winning the Open Men's Doubles Event!!! Hooooooray!! Well, I must admit, I had to cut down on all the tricks and just play straight and simple -- my partner is too good to take care of the rest. I just had to make sure I don't make any silly mistakes, so that I could be depended upon to do the simple things right. I've mentioned earlier that I bought a digital camera already -- and one of the reasons that I bought it so hastily was that I wanted to tape some of the badminton games I was involved in, so that I could constructively look at them at a later time -- I am really glad I got the Canon SX200. The video quality is amazing -- and I've uploaded the finals into youtube (www.youtube.com/nabeelrahman11). Thanks to a friend of mine, Krishna, for videotaping the finals! The finals are just one set, to 22 points, with the traditional scoring system.

Here's Part 1 of the finals:



and here's Part 2 of the finals:



Here are some of the pictures I've taken from the event:

SmashBash 2009

I only got as far as the semi-finals in the Men's Singles Half Court event, and I lost to Parag. Right now, he's just much better than me and it was a foregone conclusion that he'd take me out -- and it was just a matter of speculation as to how much of a fight Krishna could put up in the finals. Just for the record, I failed miserably, and Krishna fared a little better, but still, it was just too disappointingly easy for Parag. We need to pick our games up to whole new levels to compete against him during the next tournament. 

I fared miserablely in the Mixed Doubles event though. After the high of winning in the Tucson Smash Cats tournament, we were brought down back to earth the last two times. Once in Manhattan Beach, and again here. We just beat ourselves in the games that we lost. We definitely need to fare better, and I still think we were good enough to win the past two tournaments.

Short Term Goals

In one of my earlier posts, I've blogged about having short term goals, along with mid-term goals and long-term goals. I can't emphasize enough the value of having these goals. Developing clear goals with easily measureable progress is vital for any type of personal development. Essentially, if you're unsure about what you want to do or what you want to be, you will never be able to focus your energies towards that achievement. In this post, I'm going to list the Short Term Goals that I've listed. They are listed in their order of importance:

- Figure out Monthly Budget
- Start helping out parents on a monthly basis
- File away all my paperwork in an organized manner
- Save up for a Digital Camera

Figure out Monthly Budget
This is by far the most important item in my list. I'm looking at this as my stepping stone towards financial freedom. Without this planned budget, I would have no idea how much I'm saving/spending on a monthly basis. And without that information, it is impossible to plan for the future in terms of how much money i'll need to retire (preferably retire young!), or what I'm going to do even in the next 6 months or so. I am going to figure out a monthly budget, and make sure I adhere to it, and balance it out, with extra cash leftover to hedge against my future costs. The main aim: SPEND LESS THAN WHAT YOU EARN!

Tasks:
- Track spending for a couple of months in order to have an idea about my spending habits and where my money goes.
- Develop a budget spreadsheet, and develop a sample budget, and compare how I did the last few months by tracking my expenses.
- After seeing how I did -- develop a golden budget for myself, something that is realistic and achievable, and something that will give me enough left over to build my future.

Start helping out parents on a monthly basis
I've always sent money to my parents -- just never on a consistent basis -- and therefore, they've always looked at that money as 'bonus money': something that's good when it comes, but not to depend on it. However, I think I should do my part more responsibly, and start sending them money at the same time every month -- it doesn't have to be a lot, but enough.

Tasks:
- After figuring out budget, see how much I can afford for my parents

File away all my paperwork in an organized manner
I literally have piles and piles of paperwork all scattered around my whole place. They're mostly bank statements, bills, and other miscellaneous items along the same lines. In order to have a more organized life, I need to start filing away important paperwork properly -- so that I can always find what I need when I need it -- you never know what situation may arise in the future, and staying organized will help out immensely when the need arises.

Tasks:
- Get some cheap folders, and start filing away all important incoming mail from now on.

Save up for a Digital Camera
Now this is a little tricky, mainly because I couldn't resist the urge to wait for one, and decided to get it already. I'm now an owner of a brand new Canon SX200 IS Digital Camera. When buying things, I always go by my personal rule: Buy good stuff, and from good dependable manufacturers, to get the best value for your money. Although this camera cost me around $300 bucks -- I dont think i'll ever need a camera ever again for quite some time, and hence, that kind of justifies paying that much for it to me.


As you can see, I've listed 'Tasks' for each of the items in my Short Term Goals. They aren't that impressive, but at least they are smaller sub-goals, and stepping stones that will help me achieve of my short term goals. They give me a plan to succeed, and by following the tasks one by one, I should be able to achieve the goals. Lets see how this works out. I hope it will work -- or else, I'll have to figure some other way to motivate myself to achieve my goals!