#10, #22, #36, #53, #58, #88, #99

#10--read 10 autobiographies or biographies--listed to the audiobook of Kurt Vonnegut's A Man Without a Country.

#22--watch all of Ebert's 102 movies to see before you die--watched The Maltese Falcon.

#36--build my emergency fund to $1000--is complete. I actually think I have $1250 in there. And that fund came in handy in December when I was sent a property tax bill for my new car and given two weeks to pay it.

#53--find an exercise I like doing and do it three times a week for three months--I'm calling this one done with walking/jogging. Between this and trying to eat better, I've lost a couple of pounds since the beginning on December.

#58--I've got the morning routine, just haven't kept it up for two consecutive weeks yet.

#88 is done--all my MP3s are now WMAs and on my microphoto.

#99--write 5 letters to local politicians about issues I feel need addressing--I sent an e-mail to the entire Raleigh city council today expressing my disappointment that they voted down a much-needed dog park in the northwest side of Raleigh and chiding them for continuing to cater to the people in the neighborhoods surrounding the park sites, who think the park is just for them.

#10, #19, #22, #42, #97

#10--read 20 biographies or autobiographies--read Dog the Bounty Hunter's autobiography.

#19--watch 10 foreign films--watched a Japanese horror film called "Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman."

#22--watch all the movies on Ebert's 102 movie to see before you die list--watched Frankenstein and North by Northwest.

#42--shoot the rolls of black and white film I have for my 35 mm camera--I shot one of the two rolls last weekend when I took engagement photos for my brother and his fiancee.

#97--participate in a Christmas charity program using entirely my own funds--done, see LiveJournal post here: http://amjackson.livejournal.com/249192.html

#22--DETAIL

#22 on my list is to watch all the movies on Ebert's 102 Movies to See Before You Die list. In order to help myself keep track, I'm reproducing the list here and striking through them as I watch them, as well as marking off the ones I've already seen.

"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) Stanley Kubrick
"The 400 Blows" (1959) Francois Truffaut
"8 1/2" (1963) Federico Fellini
"Aguirre, the Wrath of God" (1972) Werner Herzog
"Alien" (1979) Ridley Scott
"All About Eve" (1950) Joseph L. Mankiewicz
"Annie Hall" (1977) Woody Allen
"Apocalypse Now" (1979) Francis Ford Coppola
*"Bambi" (1942) Disney (Saw previous to list)
"The Battleship Potemkin" (1925) Sergei Eisenstein
*"The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) William Wyler
"The Big Red One" (1980) Samuel Fuller
"The Bicycle Thief" (1949) Vittorio De Sica
"The Big Sleep" (1946) Howard Hawks
*"Blade Runner" (1982) Ridley Scott
"Blowup" (1966) Michelangelo Antonioni
"Blue Velvet" (1986) David Lynch
"Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) Arthur Penn
"Breathless" (1959 Jean-Luc Godard
"Bringing Up Baby" (1938) Howard Hawks
"Carrie" (1975) Brian DePalma
*"Casablanca" (1942) Michael Curtiz
"Un Chien Andalou" (1928) Luis Bunuel & Salvador Dali
"Children of Paradise" / "Les Enfants du Paradis" (1945) Marcel Carne
"Chinatown" (1974) Roman Polanski
"Citizen Kane" (1941) Orson Welles
"A Clockwork Orange" (1971) Stanley Kubrick
"The Crying Game" (1992) Neil Jordan
"The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) Robert Wise
"Days of Heaven" (1978) Terence Malick
"Dirty Harry" (1971) Don Siegel
"The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" (1972) Luis Bunuel
"Do the Right Thing" (1989 Spike Lee
"La Dolce Vita" (1960) Federico Fellini
"Double Indemnity" (1944) Billy Wilder
*"Dr. Strangelove" (1964) Stanley Kubrick
"Duck Soup" (1933) Leo McCarey
*"E.T. -- The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) Steven Spielberg
"Easy Rider" (1969) Dennis Hopper
*"The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) Irvin Kershner
"The Exorcist" (1973) William Friedkin
"Fargo" (1995) Joel & Ethan Coen
"Fight Club" (1999) David Fincher
"Frankenstein" (1931) James Whale
"The General" (1927) Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman
"The Godfather," "The Godfather, Part II" (1972, 1974) Francis Ford Coppola
*"Gone With the Wind" (1939) Victor Fleming
"GoodFellas" (1990) Martin Scorsese
"The Graduate" (1967) Mike Nichols
"Halloween" (1978) John Carpenter
"A Hard Day's Night" (1964) Richard Lester
"Intolerance" (1916) D.W. Griffith
"It's a Gift" (1934) Norman Z. McLeod
*"It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) Frank Capra
"Jaws" (1975) Steven Spielberg
"The Lady Eve" (1941) Preston Sturges
"Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) David Lean
"M" (1931) Fritz Lang
"Mad Max 2" / "The Road Warrior" (1981) George Miller
"The Maltese Falcon" (1941) John Huston
"The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) John Frankenheimer
"Metropolis" (1926) Fritz Lang
"Modern Times" (1936) Charles Chaplin
*"Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975) Terry Jones & Terry Gilliam
"Nashville" (1975) Robert Altman
"The Night of the Hunter" (1955) Charles Laughton
**"Night of the Living Dead" (1968) George Romero
"North by Northwest" (1959) Alfred Hitchcock
*"Nosferatu" (1922) F.W. Murnau
"On the Waterfront" (1954) Elia Kazan
"Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968) Sergio Leone
"Out of the Past" (1947) Jacques Tournier
"Persona" (1966) Ingmar Bergman
"Pink Flamingos" (1972) John Waters
"Psycho" (1960) Alfred Hitchcock
"Pulp Fiction" (1994) Quentin Tarantino
"Rashomon" (1950) Akira Kurosawa
**"Rear Window" (1954) Alfred Hitchcock
"Rebel Without a Cause" (1955) Nicholas Ray
"Red River" (1948) Howard Hawks
"Repulsion" (1965) Roman Polanski
"The Rules of the Game" (1939) Jean Renoir
"Scarface" (1932) Howard Hawks
"The Scarlet Empress" (1934) Josef von Sternberg
"Schindler's List" (1993) Steven Spielberg
"The Searchers" (1956) John Ford
"The Seven Samurai" (1954) Akira Kurosawa
"Singin' in the Rain" (1952) Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly
"Some Like It Hot" (1959) Billy Wilder
"A Star Is Born" (1954) George Cukor
"A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) Elia Kazan
"Sunset Boulevard" (1950) Billy Wilder
"Taxi Driver" (1976) Martin Scorsese
"The Third Man" (1949) Carol Reed
"Tokyo Story" (1953) Yasujiro Ozu
**"Touch of Evil" (1958) Orson Welles
"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948) John Huston
"Trouble in Paradise" (1932) Ernst Lubitsch
"Vertigo" (1958) Alfred Hitchcock
"West Side Story" (1961) Jerome Robbins/Robert Wise
"The Wild Bunch" (1969) Sam Peckinpah
*"The Wizard of Oz" (1939) Victor Fleming

*=saw it before I started my 101 things in 1001 days
**=saw it as part of my 101 things in 1001 days

#19, #53, #96

#19--Watch 10 foreign films. I watched a Japanese horror film called "Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman."

#53--find an exercise I like to do and do it 3 times a week for three months--I've decided I like to jog, whether on the treadmill on the fitness center or around the lake or neighborhood. I've been doing it at least 3 times a week since September 12.

#96--volunteer during the 2008 elections--I'd almost given this one up as a loss, since the election is in a few days and I hadn't done anything about volunteering. Fortunately, I was presented with the opportunity to volunteer for the McCain-Palin campaign today when Sarah Palin came to speak in Raleigh. I spent most of the day volunteering with the rally squad and had a great experience--this is definitely something I want to do again in the future.

#52, #19, #22, #36, #53, #77, #89, #95

As an update to #52, I've gotten to the point where on an average day, water is the only beverage available in my apartment. I'll grab a diet soda while I'm out or occasionally buy a 12-pack of something, but mostly it's water...or chocolate soymilk...or soon, as it gets colder, hot cocoa.

#19--watch 10 foreign films. I got Netflix a couple of months ago and have several foreign films in my queue. Currently the only one that's made it up to the top and to my door is Como Agua Para Chocolate.

#22--watch all the movies on Roger Ebert's list of 102 that I haven't seen---I watched Touch of Evil.

#36--emergency fund to $1000--my emergency fund is currently up to a little over $600.

#53--find exercise I like doing and do it 3 times a week for 3 months--since September 12, I've gone to the fitness center or gone on long walks every day but 2, and lifted weights every other day.

#77--go to a local community event--is done. I volunteered yesterday at Bugfest for the booth that my organization runs, and then spent a couple of hours wandering around the event.

#89--wash my car and rebumpersticker it--I'm calling this one done, because I ultimately traded in my car for a shiny new one, which has a new set of bumper stickers on it (and may one day be washed).

#95--donate blood 2 times--is done. I donated the first of these two times (second time over all) on July 17, and then donated again (my third time) on September 18. I have an appointment for my next donation in November.

#52, #60, #61, #74, #93, #95

Haven't updated for a while, but things are getting done!

#52 is done--drink water with one meal a day every day for a month. In fact, I've stopped buying my usual 2-or-more-12-packs-a-week of diet soda and instead have been drinking water from my Brita filter. True, I still buy a couple of 20-ouncers every week, but there have been entire days where I've had nothing to drink but water--and a few years ago (heck, a few months ago!) I would have thought that unthinkable!

#60 is still in process, but I'm calling it done--I have grown and successfully harvested two tomato plants. The ones I got free as seedlings from work all died, but I bought two Better Bush plants from the local K-Mart and they're now taller than hip-height and have produced probably a dozen tomatoes and are still flowering. Not bad for my first attempt at gardening.

I've done #61--visit the Farmer's Market--three or four times since the start of summer and I'd even go so far as to call it part of my weekly routine now. I get some cash from the ATM and head over to the State Farmer's Market after work and buy a week' s worth of veggies--usually tomatoes, onions, and potatoes, but sometimes others as well. It's cheaper than the grocery store and way tastier.

Progress towards #74--order 5 things from a restaurant menu that I haven't tried before. One of my coworkers has taken me twice now to a Mediterranean-style restaurant for lunch, and the first time I wussed out and got a turkey sandwich. The second time I tried some strange things I've never eaten before--like fava beans. Weird...

#93--wow, has it really been that long since I updated?--is done. I went back to Salem College for my first-year reunion during the last weekend of April. It was fun, but definitely a reminder of how different my life is now.

Progress towards #95--donate blood two times. I donated blood this past Thursday (7/17/2008), and I was petrified that they weren't going to let me do it because of my blood pressure or my pulse or temperature, but it went fine. I can donate again on September 11.

Mmmkay, I think that's all this time around...

#37, #60, #64, #93

Time for an update...

#37--Collect my loose change daily and add it to my money market account periodically: during my lunch break on Thursday, I took $18.50 in rolled coins that I'd saved and deposited it, along with $11 I'd been paid for taking surveys, into my Wachovia account. I then transfered $29.50 from my Wachovia account to my ING Direct Savings account, which is the account that I'm funneling money into at the moment--it's currently over $1100. w00t.

#60--Grow and successfully harvest a tomato plant: A coworker brought in some tomato seedlings to share with the office, so I now have 12 tomato seedlings in an ice cube tray on my bar. And 5 jalapeño seedlings, too. Which means that this weekend I'll be getting a start on my container garden, which I hope will provide me with lots of free, home-grown food in the summer.

#64--Learn to cook a new dish every month: Aw, man. Can't remember what all I've made, but I've been more than doing this. A week ago I had my parents, my brother, his girlfriend, and his puppy over for dinner and I made my first ever roasted chicken and it was awesome. And there were roasted root vegetables (my newest trick), and mini molten lava cakes. Mmm.

#93--Return to Salem College for Reunion Weekend 2008: this one's coming up; I've planned out which events I'm going to attend and am going to start setting aside $200 to cover the expenses.

So nothing to cross off the list yet, but progress on several fronts.

Also, I got a puppy.

#36, #64, #54, #52

The rules of #36--build my money market account up to $1000--have changed a little. I opened up that ING Direct savings account, then liked it so much that I opened up several other savings account and a checking account with them. The total of my general savings account, emergency fund, medical fund, new car fund, and new computer fund is currently $526.52, plus the ~$237 I have in my Capital One account (which I'm no longer using--I'm going to close out the account soon). I may end up changing this goal to something like "build my emergency fund to $1000", since the other funds (except the general savings fund) have a specific purpose and are meant to be depleted. Will have to figure that one out later.

#64--try a new recipe every month--I've probably forgotten some new dishes I've made since the last time I posted, because I've tried quite a few. I made that BLT pasta, and it was pretty good. The other night I made bacon wrapped chicken with chive and onion cream cheese filling, and it was awesome. I also made some thin mints for a party that were ridiculously simple to make and tasted like I'd put far more effort into them than I actually did. I made mini quiches and english muffin pizzas to freeze and eat later, and pancakes from scratch, and a strange little casserole from hamburger and beans and tortilla chips...

#54--get up before 8 AM every day for a month--I'm going to call this one done, since I've gotten up for work on the weekdays before 8 AM since my job started. In retrospect, I shouldn't have worded this goal the way I did--weekends and federal holidays were made for sleeping in a little past 8. The intent of this goal was more along the lines of "don't stay in bed all day/oversleep once you get a job," and I've achieved that goal consistently for close to three months now.

I'm working my way up to #52--drink water with one meal a day every day for a month. I don't like drinking water, which is why this is a challenge, but lately I've been bringing a bottle of water and a can of diet soda to work instead of two cans of diet soda, and have gone from drinking half the bottle of water over the course of the day to drinking most of it. After a few more weeks, I'm going to try to make a conscious effort to drink water with my lunch every day, included on weekends.

#54, #36, #64, #51

Starting my first job coupled with moving into my first apartment has made for very little Internet time. But I do have a couple of things to add to my list:

-#51: Eat breakfast every day for a month--done. For the first month of work I commuted from home, and ate breakfast in the car on the way to work (and at home on the weekends). It's something I'm continuing to do, because life's just better when you eat breakfast.

-#64: learn a new recipe every month--new additions. Yesterday I made my first ever cheesecake from scratch--it had a crust made out of Oreos and a filling that was chocolate with vanilla swirled in. It was divine. Tonight I'm going to be trying out a recipe for BLT pasta--I'm not a pasta fan, but since discovering that I actually like wheat bread (I hate white bread!), I decided to try out whole wheat pasta.

-#36: build my money market account to $1000--I actually opened a second account with ING and contributed $200 to it, so I have about $435 in savings between Capital One and ING right now. After the holidays are over and I've had a couple of months to see what my expenses at the apartment are like, I'm hoping to be able to contribute some sort of set amount (e.g. $5 a week) to one or the other of the accounts.

-#54: get up before 8 AM every morning for a month--I haven't been keeping track, but in a few weeks I think I'll be able to call this done. I've been getting to work at 8 AM on weekdays, and usually before 8 or 9 on weekends.

#39--Get a full-time job.

#39 is done--I received a call today offering me a full-time job with a division of a division of a division of the USDA. I start October 1st.

#51, #14, #6, #10, #12, #74, #64

I iz quite bored, so it's time for some updatten.

I didn't quite make it all the way through #51--eating breakfast every day for a month. I got up to three weeks, and then my sleep cycle went wonky and I wasn't awake to eat breakfast. I'm back up to 10 days in a row, though.

On the book front--I read Darkness Visible, which is on the Modern Library's list of 100 Greatest Non-Fiction Books, so that's one towards #14. When I review it for Novels Under 200 Pages, it'll also count toward #6. It also counts toward #10 (20 biographies/autobiographies), but I think I'll only count it if I need to--I'm also not counting Nickeled and Dimed.

While I haven't started anything resembling an outline for a novel (#4), I did have a really good week a few weeks ago when I had a ton of ideas for little things within a novel. I wrote them all down in a notebook so I'll have them for later.

I bought a copy of Leaves of Grass, so that's a step towards #12 (reading it).

Got one towards #74 (order 5 things at restaurants that I haven't tried before). My parents and I went to Applebee's the other night, and I ordered an orange chicken bowl. I wasn't particularly hungry, which may have contributed to my feelings that it was just okay. It was much better when I refried the rice and heated up the chicken the next day. Not something I'd order unless I was in the mood for it, but still--glad I tried it.

My parents went to the beach for a week a couple of weeks ago, so I've got quite a few things for #64--learn a new recipe every month. I made sesame chicken, egg rolls, potato skins with cheese and bacon, and I think something else that escapes me...anyway, I took pictures, and will get them up later, when I'm feeling less lazy.

#64, #51

I'm one of those people who will eat ramen noodles just for the hell of it--they're cheap, they're easy to make, and they're good. Recently my interests in cooking and frugality have combined with the knowledge that at some point in the near future I'm going to be working for an entry-level salary while paying off student loans, so I decided to poke around on the internet and answer that age-old question: what else can you do with ramen noodles?

The answer: you can make kick-ass fried rice. And so another entry for #64 (make a new recipe every month) was born.



My first thought was that it looked like it had already been eaten, and that the presentation needed work. Then I remembered that this is what fried rice always looks like. I also thought it was going to taste dreadful, but it was excellent. And not only was it excellent, it was cheap. Sorry. It wasn't cheap, it was frugal.

For posterity, because I definitely want to make this again:

Stir-Fried Ramen Noodles

Ingredients:
1 package of beef-flavored ramen noodles
1 spoonful of shredded carrots
2 spoonfuls diced onions
3-4 broccoli florets, chopped
enough oil to saute the vegetables
1 egg

Bring a potful of water to boil and then cook the broken-up noodles for 3 minutes. While the noodles are cooking, saute the carrots, onions, and broccoli. When the noodles are done, drain, rinse, and throw them on top of the vegetables. Stir-fry them until they're mixed up, then add in the packet of beef seasoning and continue stir-frying them until everything's evenly coated with the seasoning. Crack the egg into the pan and scramble it into the stir-fry. Put in a bowl and eat.

I used too much oil this time around and will try to use less next time. And I threw in some tomatoes, because I had some mixed in a bag with some onions that were already diced, but I'll leave those out because all they do is shrivel up; they don't add anything to the flavor.

************

Today marked two weeks straight of eating breakfast every day (#51 is to do this for a month). I thought when I started I'd be lame and eat cookies or something, but I've actually made myself breakfast pretty much every day. I've made fried potatoes and onions, donuts, apple turnovers (okay, those were from a box), pancakes (also from a box, and I've burned as many as I've eaten). The first few days I skipped lunch because my sleeping schedule was out of whack and I took a long nap in the afternoon, but after that I've eaten breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus snacks here and there, and it's done a lot toward making me not feel like I'm starving constantly. And I just generally feel better for having gotten up in the morning and made breakfast. This is a good habit to be getting into, and I'm proud of myself for having gotten two weeks into it. Long may it continue.

#51--Eat breakfast every morning for a month.

Oh, yeah--I'm on a streak for #51, eating breakfast every morning for a month. I know I've done it for at least 8 days in a row now--maybe a day or two longer, but I definitely remember making breakfast last Saturday morning and I know I've done it every morning since, so that's 8 days in a row now. Hurrah!

#87: Notebook papers/tests/etc. from Salem

#87 is done--I went through the stack of papers, tests, and other assorted things from my four years at Salem, stapled them, holepunched them, and put them into binders. There are two 1 inch binders and one 2 inch binders. And that was my academic life at Salem.

#64: Learn a new recipe every month

I finally dug out the cords for my digital camera so I could charge it, so now I have the pictures of the new dishes I made last month.

The first one was Rosemary Potatoes and Onions. Granted, it's rather colorless, but it tasted awesome--I've made it several times since. It did have a bit too much rosemary--so much that it irritated my throat as it was going down--but I threw some ketchup on and it solved that problem. And hurrah for learning how to pan-fry potatoes in under 20 minutes!


The second dish was Sour Cream Broccoli Casserole (it also had chicken). I played around with the recipe while I was making it--threw in onions, used vegetable crackers instead of bread crumbs, etc. It ended up being really soupy--too much sour cream--and if I make it again in the future, I'll pre-cook the broccoli, because it was very al dente and the texture didn't go with the dish at all. The chicken was leftover from the baked chicken and peaches I'd made the night before, so it was slightly sweet, but it didn't taste bad at all. The dish as a whole didn't blend, but I think I might give it a try again in the future, with some adjustments.

#31: Clean out my gmail inbox

Just got done cleaning out my GMail inbox--I had over 2500 e-mails that hadn't been archived or labeled, and 800+ unread e-mails...plus all the e-mails I had that were already archived and labeled that I went through. Google advertises GMail as having so much space you'll never need to delete any of your e-mails--but why in the world do I need to keep two years of e-mails from MyMonthlyCycles telling me my period's coming, or Facebook comment notifications, or newsletters that I'm never going to read, or other stuff that's just virtual junk? My trash has over 3300 emails in it now. I'm going to try to maintain the cleanliness in my inbox from now on.

#92, #53, #54

#92 (thank you notes for graduation) is done on my end--I gave that last one to my dad to mail out, and while I'm not sure he did today, he will on Monday. And the family it's going to is on vacation this week, anyway. So #92 is done.

I ordered a dance mat and it got here a few days ago. I haven't really tried it out yet, but I hope it'll help out with #53 (finding some sort of exercise I like).

I also spent an absurd amount of money--$60 after shipping and tax--on an alarm clock earlier this week. It should be here by Monday. It's going to go along with #54--get up before 8 am for a month. Heh.

#6

Another one for #6--read/reviewed Theodore Sturgeon's More Than Human.

#92, #6, #13, #86, #87

I actually did take my graduation thank you notes and mail them when I said I would. Naturally, on that day, I got another card in the mail, and I still haven't written the note for that one yet. Hoping to do that later today, so I can mark #92 off the list.

I read and reviewed James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice, so that's one more down for #6 (r&R 20 books for Novels Under 200 Pages) and one toward #13 (read 25 of the Modern Library's 100 Greatest Fiction books).

I just got finished with #86: go through the notebook referred to as “My Life on Paper” and organize it. Once I sat down and actually did it, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I got rid of a lot of paper that I didn't need, found some that I never needed, and discovered that I've misplaced a few documents of middling importance that I need to keep an eye out for.

I've also made a good bit of progress towards #87, which involved going through the massive piles of notes, tests, papers, etc. from my four years at Salem, deciding what to throw away, and notebooking what I want to keep. Not done yet, but the piles are a lot smaller now than they were.

Mixed.

Re-read Out of the Silent Planet and wrote up a review for it, and wrote a review for Night; once I write one for Childhood's End (which I think I'll work on after this post), that'll be 3 books towards the 20 Novels Under 200 Pages to read and review for #6.

Started in on #23--doing the legwork for at least 10 articles for When Good Books Go Bad before I set up that section of the site. I took notes for The Catcher in the Rye.

Made a contribution towards #36: build my money market account to $1000. I started out with $132.17 ($2.17 of which is interest), and a couple of minutes ago I scheduled a transfer for $100 into my MMA, which will put me at $232.17. So nearing a 1/4 of the way to that goal.

Also toying with #53--finding some type of exercise that I like and doing it 3 times/week for 3 months--I downloaded StepMania (a Dance Dance Revolution simulator) and I'm considering using the money I got from a book I sold to get a DDR mat and a USB converter off of eBay. I'm still trying to justify the expense to myself, though.

Oh, and by Monday afternoon I'll be done with #92--send out thank-you notes for graduation. I only had six to send out, anyway; I've gotten cards, printed envelopes, and I have one more to write, then I just need to get stamps and mail them out Monday.

Progress is cool.

Mixed.

Last week I read Childhood's End, which qualifies both as part of the shelf of books I already own that I want to read (#8) and a book from Novels Under 200 Pages (#6). Last night/early this morning I read Elie Wiesel's Night, which also falls under #6, and is an autobiography (#10), so yay. Steps towards three more goals. I still need to review both of them.

When I eventually find my camera cord, I'm going to post pictures of the two new dishes I learned to make last week--Rosemary Potatoes and Onions, and Sour Cream Broccoli Casserole. So that's two credits toward #64: Learn to make a new dish every month.

I'm going to try to make a notebook for my 101 Things in 1001 Days so that I can keep track of Things like the ones listed above that are in multiple parts.

#40: Apply to work as a part-time writing tutor.

I just sent in my application to work as a writing tutor part-time...so that's "#40: apply to work as a part-time writing tutor" off my list. I don't know if I'll get a position--I do have a connection to the company, but I don't know how many new tutors they need, or if they need them for the age range I want to work with, or if my qualifications at this stage in my life are appropriate. But I did it.

#28: Learn SQL

I wanted to learn SQL so that I could turn the Novels Under 200 Pages section of my site into a database--making it easier for me to add new books and easier for users to find books on the site. As of right now, all of the genre pages that I had up before are now running off of SQL and PHP, and I've put all the books that were on the site before--plus a few extra--into the database. Much, much easier to update. I'm still working on pagination and setting up a search of the database, but I'm calling #28: Learn SQL done.

101 Things in 1001 Days--Info Post

My 1001 Days started June 5, 2007 and ends on March 2, 2010.

---

The rules, according to Triplux.com:

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).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as new year's resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

Some common goal setting tips:
1. Be decisive. Know exactly what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to achieve it.

2. Stay Focussed. Any goal requires sustained focus from beginning to end. Constantly evaluate your progress.

3. Welcome Failure. Frequently, very little is learned from a venture that did not experience failure in some form. Failure presents the opportunity to learn and makes the success more worthy.

4. Write down your goals. It clarifies your thinking and reinforces your commitment.

5. Keep your goals in sight. Review them frequently, and ensure that they are always at the forefront of your thinking.

---
And my list of 101 Things in 1001 Days (bold is completed):

1. Write 5 short stories.
2. Sell 1 piece of writing.
3. Write 5 book reviews or articles for submission to other review/book sites.
4. Create an outline for a novel.
5. Write and mail a letter to 5 authors whose books I’ve enjoyed.
6. Read and review 20 books from "Novels Under 200 Pages."
7. Read How to Win Friends and Influence People.
8. Pick 1 shelf of books that I already own and read and review each of them.
9. For every book I buy new, donate/swap/sell 2 books I already own.
10. Read 20 biographies or autobiographies.
11. Read the entire King James Bible.
12. Read Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass in its entirety.
13. Read 25 of the Modern Library’s 100 Best Fiction Books (that I haven’t read already).
14. Read 25 of the Modern Library’s 100 Best Non-Fiction Books (that I haven’t read already).
15. Catalog all the books I own.
16. Blog my way through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
17. Find a new-to-me author whose works I really like and read all of them.
18. Review each reviewable book I read before moving on to the next book for 10 consecutive books.
19. Watch 10 foreign films.
20. Watch and recap every movie in the 50 SciFi Classics DVD collection.
21. Watch every episode of M*A*S*H in order (The Martinis & Medicine Collection).
22. Watch all the movies on Ebert’s 102 Movies You Must See Before You Die list.
23. Research/outline/write at least 10 articles for “When Good Books Go Bad” before I start putting that section of Starlight Fading online.
24. Make $25 a month for 3 consecutive months through [Program 1].
25. Make $25 a month for 3 consecutive months through [Program 2].
26. Send out an average of 1 e-mail a week asking for a backlink to Starlight Fading.
27. Get 20 backlinks to Starlight Fading.
28. Learn SQL.
29. Learn to use Photoshop properly.
30. Find an entertaining podcast to listen to.
31. Clean out my gmail inbox.
32. Clean off my harddrive.
33. Post to my LiveJournal at least once a week for the entire 1001 days.
34. Find an online community, join it, and participate regularly for at least 3 months.
35. Comment at least 2 times a week on someone else’s blog for at least 3 months.
36. Build my money market account to $1000.
37. Collect my loose change daily and add it to my money market account periodically.
38. Pay 150% of the amount due on my student loans at least 3 times.
39. Get a full-time job.
40. Apply to work part-time as a writing tutor.
41. For as long as I have a job and live in my parents’ house, pay the money I would pay in rent towards my student loans.
42. Shoot the rolls of black & white film I have for my 35mm camera.
43. Finish my freshman year scrapbook.
44. Finish my cruise scrapbook.
45. Finish my dog scrapbook.
46. Create scrapbooks for my remaining photos and keepsakes.
47. Make a quilt out of my Salem College t-shirts.
48. Complete the wolf dreamcatcher cross-stitch thing that’s been in my closet for years.
49. Learn to knit and make at least 1 wearable/presentable item.
50. Compile my favorite recipes into a recipe book.
51. Eat breakfast every morning for 1 month.
52. Drink water with 1 meal a day for 1 month.
53. Find some sort of exercise that I enjoy doing and do it 3 times a week for 3 months.
54. Get up before 8 AM every morning for a month.
55. Go to bed at 11 PM every night for a month.
56. For 2 weeks, do not use my laptop in bed.
57. Keep a (private) journal for 1 year and write down 1 thing each day that either I did that made a positive impact on someone/something or that made me happy.
58. Create a morning ritual and stick to it for 2 weeks.
59. For 1 month, turn off the TV at 9 and read until bedtime.
60. Grow and successfully harvest a tomato plant.
61. Visit a Farmer’s Market.
62. Spend a day hiking.
63. Spend a significant amount of time in a state I haven’t previously visited.
64. Learn to cook a new dish every month.
65. Attend a sporting event.
66. Learn to play chess properly.
67. Go hardcore stargazing.
68. Go hardcore birdwatching.
69. Make homemade ice cream.
70. Make homemade hot cocoa.
71. Go geocaching.
72. See a play.
73. Go to a concert.
74. Order 5 things off a restaurant menu that I haven’t tried before.
75. Chat with someone who is looking at a book I like in a store.
76. Go to a movie by myself.
77. Go to a local community event (fair, gallery hop, etc.).
78. Learn to make 3 breakfast meals that I like.
79. Spend a weekend at the beach by myself.
80. Keep a dream journal for 30 days straight.
81. Research local ghosthunting organizations and possibly join one.
82. Learn to identify 20 local plants.
83. Write 1 letter to myself to read when I turn 30.
84. Make and keep up with (for a year) a networking planner.
85. Make and keep up with (for a year) an address book.
86. Go through the notebook referred to as “My Life on Paper” and organize it.
87. Notebook anything academic from my 4 years at Salem (papers, etc.) that I want to keep and get rid of the rest.
88. Convert all my CDs/MP3s to WMAs and put them all on my Microphoto.
89. Wash my car and re-bumper-sticker it.
90. Educate myself about 3 “litmus test” political issues that I don’t know much about.
91. Have my diplomas framed.
92. Send out thank-you cards for graduation.
93. Return to Salem College for Reunion Weekend 2008.
94. Go through all of my belongings and donate what I don’t want/need to charity.
95. Donate blood 2 times.
96. Volunteer during the 2008 elections.
97. Participate in some sort of Christmas charity program using entirely my own funds.
98. Give a present to a friend for no reason at all.
99. Write 5 letters to local politicians about issues I feel need addressing.
100. Keep an online journal and an offline scrapbook for each of the 101 things.
101. Donate $5 to charity for each item I haven't completed after 1001 days.