This is a "touch grass" counterpart to my post on the Summer Games Challenge that I put up earlier this year. Like that challenge, I want to make a specific effort to do a few things this summer. I am placing specific tasks in this list so that there are clear goalposts for me. Like the Games Challenge, I will put down more than I expect to be able to accomplish. Unlike the Games Challenge, though, my timeline is a little bit tighter because I go back to 5-day work weeks on the week of the end date.

The Challenge: #Permalink to this heading

List 10 specific goals you'd like to accomplish before the end of summer break. You are successful in the challenge if you accomplish four of them. The summer break runs from May 29th through August 9th.

My List: #Permalink to this heading

These are a mix of outdoor and online activities. I do admit I'm an online creature at heart, but I think this is a good set and I can probably reasonably complete most of the list. Especially since I kind of cheated and have a few that are basically gimmes here.

• Publish at least three blog posts focusing on photography: I love taking photos. Especially when I am manually controlling the shot. Like a lot of other interests, this feels like mastery of a skill to me, one that automatic metering takes away from. My vision is bad enough that I'll always need autofocus, but I enjoy the rest of the process, which I do fairly manually. That said, I haven't gone out for a photo walk in a very long time. I want to spend some time out taking photos again. As a means of proof that I've done it and I like the pictures I've taken, I am going to put together posts for at least three photo walks.

• Pass the CompTIA Security+ Exam: Last year, I took and passed the A+ exam, which gave me the opportunity to get the job that I have now and love. More certifications are an easy way for me to punch up my resume in my new career and Security is the one that is most widely asked for in my field, so it's next on my list.

• Complete a project for The Worst Game Jam 5 (Jul 24–Aug 2): I really enjoyed making Lost Stars for the last jam. I have an idea in mind for the next project. I'm sure I can make it fit the theme and it will let me flex my creative muscles without being as heavy code-wise. I've already started researching the tools I'll need to learn for it. I'm super excited!

• Complete at least basic versions of all major pages on TK's Web Quest. Selfishly, this one is basically done. I've been toying with the idea of a buttons page and going back and forth on whether I want to have that or not, but all of my other major pages have been added. They aren't super pretty, but the content is there and "making them pretty" is a fairly subjective thing, so I don't want to add it as a goal.

• Score an average of 36 points across 3 sets of 12 arrows in archery practice: The scoring I'm using is typical of indoor targets, with half as many scoring zones as professional archery. I'm using this scale because that's what the targets at my local range are set up as and can be adapted to the more typical pro archery targets as well. I'm not 100% sure of the distance I'll be shooting from, but it will be appropriate for the weight of my bow and my vision.

• Write at least 6 blog posts: This will be inclusive of the photo posts if they contain enough text in addition. I find often that I feel like I have nothing of import to write about, but I think the more I write, the more I'll find I want to say, so encouraging myself to write more is an important step.

• Create my own Hugo theme for the blog: Probably the most pie-in-the-sky goal on the list so far. I like the theme I use on the blog. I just feel like I could stand to make the blog and the main site cohere a little more closely in style. It would be nice to be able to embed the Hugo bloc content into a wrapper that looked exactly like the main site, but I don't really know how possible that is. I suppose that's something I'll have to learn.

• Make a cohesive graphical identity for TK's Web Quest: This kind of goes hand in hand with the last one, but this is more about the images on the site. I want to have at least an 88x31 button, a 99x56 stamp, banner image, and square icon that will work at favicon, large favicon, and app icon sizes. I already have a square icon, but since I've re-done the fonts on my site it doesn't really fit the vibe anymore. It's time to replace these with new ones.

• Do not miss a single TWCR recording or episode all Summer: I like the podcast, but the spaced out recording schedule has me more committed to never missing a show if I can help it. This one should be a gimme. I'll give myself bonus points if I can figure out a special bonus episode to do during these warmer months.

• Start and maintain the Multiplayer Games Club: Also a selfish goal because I've already begun. Our first session was Unreal Tournament 2004, but I really want to build some momentum with this and make it a real staple of The Worst Garbage Online. I would also like to write up or record after-action reports for TWCR or the blog. Hopefully more of the sessions work well for that.