Corner of Bourbon & Division

I didn't get my grocery shopping done, but otherwise I had a thoroughly productive weekend. I caught up on my laundry, mostly (I still have some leftover), and I got a TON of stuff done in the garden. Another week or so, and I'll really get the garden into shape.

Hey, does anyone around here know where I can get rid of excess garden debris? My poor compost bins are overflowing, but I don't want to add to the local landfills if I can help it.

I've been revisiting my list of 101 Things To Do In 1001 Days, and I'm kind of running behind, I think. There are a few things on that list that involve longer spans of time (1 month, 1 year, stuff like that), which I think I'll start on in June. In another week I'll have completed my challenge of posting once a day for a year, so if I could manage that, I'm sure I can manage some of the others.

Here's what I'm going to start in June 2009:

6- knit a blanket (I'm knitting a baby blanket for a friend, so I'll finish it in June)
15- make all my food from scratch for a month
16- cook 1 new (preferably exotic) dish every week for 3 months
23- read 10 books outside my "comfort zone" (I'll be reading one)
25- read 20 "classic" books (ditto what I said above)
32- send a birthday card to all of my friends in a timely fashion every day for a year (whose birthday is next month? This may be a glaring flaw in my plan. ;) )
35- host three barbecues over the summer
51- get certified in first aid & CPR by St. John's Ambulance (or equivalent)
52- obtain PAL & learn to shoot
70- bike to work every day for a month
88- write one poem a week for a year
89- maintain a paper-letter correspondence with someone for six months (bodhifox has volunteered to send me a letter already)
90- schedule writing jams with a friend once a month for a year (tcaptain is coming by when he gets back from his honeymoon)

That's 13 things to either do, or get started at the very least. Concrete goals.

I'm not doing too badly with my list, 6 months down the line. There have been major modifications to the list since I first came up with it, to reflect my own changing interests, but no modifications made recently. The idea is not to "cheat" but simply to come up with things that I want to do and that will be challenging and enable me to expand my horizons.

So far most of the stuff is still "in progress." The most notable achievement so far has been posting at least once every day to LJ, in spite of computer breakdowns and international trips. I'm pretty pleased with myself for managing that, given that my posting habits had become pretty sporadic over the past couple of years.

It amazes me that it's already been six months. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by.

I have to look into some of the things I want to try. Six months down, roughly two years to go, and those things aren't going to do themselves, you know.

I am stressed out of my mind. I don't know why the fact that this place is untidy causes me these levels of stress, except perhaps because I was indoctrinated young by my mother that no one should be allowed inside a home unless it's spotless.

Spotless it ain't, and won't be when I leave on Saturday. It may be vaguely presentable by that time, but it still causes me undue stress.

I have no time tomorrow to clean. I have to be up at the crack of dawn to be at an event for the RCMP (safety awareness for kids), at which I'll be volunteering all morning, following which I'll be at work all evening (and missing an anniversary party *and* the Invisible gig) until 22:30.

I have to be out of here by noon on Saturday.

I am going out of my mind. In theory, I don't know if I'm making more out of the current mess than it really is (it's a habit), but I'm still freaking out about it. Of course, the more I freak out, the more I procrastinate. Hence the LJ entry.

Gah.

This is the very last part of my life that I don't have under control. It's on my list of 101 Things, so I plan to have it licked by the end of this calendar year (establish routines, stick to them until they become second nature).

I don't understand how I can be lacking in this fundamental skill. I really don't. It's not like it's rocket science.

I've decided that I don't have enough stuff to do with all the oodles of spare time I have. So, starting June 1st, 2008, I am going to attempt to do 101 things in 1001 days. That's 101 goals to reach within about 2.75 years.

Here's the description from the website that started it all:

The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

My end date will be Sunday, February 27th, 2011.

Things accomplished will be struck through. Things in progress will be in italics. So, for posterity, here's my list:

( 101 things )

I will eventually get around to putting them in some kind of order, probably by category. Also, since I only have half a list right now, I am open to nifty suggestions. I won't take them all, but I promise to consider anything people suggest. :)

:::ETA:::

August 26th 2009: I have made some drastic revisions and reorganized the list to better reflect what I want to do these days. The list remains fundamentally the same, but has changed in structure a bit and has had a few items replaced with others.