"The only difference between a dream and a goal is a deadline."

I saw this quote on a bodybuilding website and it's been stuck in my head ever since. It's got me thinking all sorts of things. Revisiting my budget, revisiting my larger goals, looking at my health from a long-term perspective... It's the right combination of words for me at this moment to kick my butt in gear.

Last night I had a new experience. I went to happy hour at Morton's Steakhouse and I did not order an alcoholic beverage or eat any of the free filet mignon sandwiches. When I ordered my Diet Coke, the bartender nodded, started to walk away then turned back and said, "No Whisky Sour?" I said, "No, but thanks for remembering." It was a little hard, but at least I got to hang out with people instead of hiding because I lack will power. I need to get better about not feeling like I have to explain why I'm not drinking as if I'm ashamed of my sobriety, as if I won't be as much fun because I didn't toss back a few drinks. Truthfully though, I don't feel like I am as much fun, but that'll be our little secret.

I guess I'm feeling fairly healthy with all this exercising and eating right, though mostly I just feel sore and tired. Also, I have muscles in weird places, places I didn't even know I could grow muscles. Poor Jer. I haven't stopped asking him to squeeze my arms on a regular basis. "Dude," I say. "What?" he says. "Look at my guns!" And he sighs because I made him look at my guns five minutes ago, and my guns they have not changed. Outwardly I haven't actually changed much at all. I need to burn off some more fat before anybody will notice the new muscles, but it's happening. Slow but steady.

In other news, my current pipe dream is to look into studying to become a financial planner. As with most of my pipe dreams, the likelihood that anything will come of it is slim, however I am looking into night/weekend courses and distance learning. There's a 9 month program locally that I could do while working at my current job, except that I still enjoy my current job and financial planning would be an awfully big leap. Also, I opened a 529 account several years ago and have been saving money in case I decided to go back to school. The amount in it now would pretty much cover tuition. So, you know, my mad money skillz already be paying off, yo. Or heck, maybe I will just buy some books on the subject and leave it at that.