52 Things in 24 Months

The Seventh Entry

Sat, 19 Nov 2005 04:03:10 GMT

Things are turning again. I last updated on the list at the end of my summer vacation/beginning of my school year, so it seems fitting to go at it again just before Thanksgiving break. In the time between, I have accomplished the following things…

It isn’t quite finished, but since I have only two days left I’ll count 10. Give up eggs and dairy for a week among the stricken.

VEGAN WEEK
Monday, November 14th
Breakfast: Cheerios with carob soymilk, orange juice, toasted bagel with cinnamon sugar
Lunch: veggie burger on wheat bun with tomato, purple onion, ketchup, and mustard; mixed greens salad with black olives, crumbled tofu, vinegar, and olive oil; hummus with grain crackers; water
Dinner: sandwich with lettuce, tomato, pickles, banana peppers, and mustard on a Kaiser roll; rosemary Triscuits; cranberry juice
Snacks: cranberry juice

Tuesday, November 15th
Breakfast: cinnamon-raisin bagel with peanut butter, orange juice, tater tots with salt and pepper
Lunch: mixed greens salad with black olives, cucumber, tofu cubes, vinegar, crumbled Saltines, and olive oil; broccoli, mushrooms, and celery; vegetable soup with salt and pepper
Dinner: sandwich with lettuce, tomato, pickles, purple onions, and mustard on wheat bread; two bowls of vegetable soup with salt and pepper
Snacks: toasted bagel with peanut butter, cranberry juice, sunflower kernels

Wednesday, November 16th
Breakfast: half an English muffin with strawberry jam, half an English muffin with peanut butter, Cheerios with carob soymilk, orange juice
Lunch: bowl of vegetable soup with corkscrew noodles, rosemary garlic breadstick, peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich on a bagel, rosemary roasted potatoes with mustard, banana
Dinner: toasted bagels with hummus, tomato, salt, and pepper; bowl of vegetable soup with corkscrew noodles; Saltines
Snacks: cranberry juice, impromptu trail mix (raisins, roasted soy nuts, sunflower kernels, Rice Krispies), blue corn chips, salsa

Thursday, November 17th
Breakfast: toasted bagel with peanut butter and cinnamon, apple juice
Lunch: mixed greens with olives, tofu, crumbled Saltines, and vinegar; tortilla with refried beans, rice, salsa, and jalapenos; ice water
Dinner: two bowls of vegetable soup, acorn squash, mashed potatoes, cranberry juice
Snacks: blueberry tea, impromptu trail mix (raisins, roasted soy nuts, sunflower kernels, Rice Krispies)

Friday, November 18th
Breakfast: slice of wheat toast with peanut butter, wheat toast with strawberry jam, slice of cantaloupe, three strawberries, orange juice
Lunch: two bowls of vegetable soup with corkscrew noodles; Saltines; veggie burger with mixed greens, ketchup, and mustard
Dinner: white rice with soy sauce and hot mustard, General Tso’s tofu, ice water, fortune cookie
Snacks: green tea

It got difficult. Everyone tried to tempt me with ice cream today at lunch, it was rather sad. I might go back to veganism at some point in the future, but living at Governor’s School it’s really just too hard to keep up.

Also on the food front is 11. Stop eating fast food for three months. Unless McAlister’s counts as fast food, in which case I’m screwed and have to do this one over. It wasn’t very hard, as a) I’m nowhere near any fast food restaurants and b) I don’t particularly like fast food in the first place.

16. Write a letter to a political representative was achieved with the help of my economics class. I wrote to Senator Lindsey Graham about the minimum wage legislation currently in the Senate. On a related note, my boyfriend wants to write Senator Graham a note of gratitude for Graham’s recent actions.

I should achieve 22. Cook a meal for someone other than myself this weekend. I’ll report when it’s finished. I’m thinking some kind of pasta—I know, I’m a wimp.

31. Be a sluagh for Halloween was achieved in a cheating sort of way. I told everyone that I was a magpie, because it was too much work to explain “sluagh” to the fifty people who were bound to ask about my costume. I made the costume, mostly out of found objects and scraps. I was open about my sluagh-ness at Will’s Halloween party, so I guess I can count this completed.

So for autumn, the following goals can be stricken:
10. Give up eggs and dairy for a week
11. Stop eating fast food for three months
16. Write a letter to a political representative
22. Cook a meal for someone other than myself
31. Be a sluagh for Halloween

-Nadia

The Sixth Entry

Fri, 12 Aug 2005 16:38:50 GMT

1. Go for a walk in the middle of the night was achieved many times over during the summer, often in downtown Charleston. Also in Charleston I finished 27. Go to a musical. At least, The Pirates of Charleston was advertised as a musical. It… had a song. Actually, it was shameful.

I didn’t 19. Sew a dress, but I did cobble together a lovely junk skirt for the Harry Potter release party. It will eventually be part of my costume for 31. Be a sluagh for Halloween.

I’ve decided that the theme for my ten mix CDs will be Neil Gaiman. The first mix is Desire, and the (for the moment) playlist is as follows…
DESIRE
Venus as a Boy by Bjork
Falling in Love by Lisa Loeb
Desire by U2
Ice Cream by Sarah McLachlan
Keep Fishin’ by Weezer
Golden Brown by The Stranglers
The First Taste by Fiona Apple
All the Things She Said by TATU
Not a Virgin by Poe
Beauty Has Her Way by Mummy Calls
Tales of Brave Ulysses by Cream

So for the summer, the following items can be stricken from the fifty-two list:
1. Go for a walk in the middle of the night
4. Do at least four different kinds of volunteer work (1/4 completed)
12. Sort through my library and organize it in some fashion
19. Sew a dress (modified to “skirt”)
27. Go to a musical
33. Get drunk

The leaves 46 goals to fulfill before the end of my freshman year in college, in 2007.

-Nadia

The Fifth Entry

Fri, 08 Jul 2005 18:11:40 GMT

I have technically fulfilled the requirements for 32. Propose to someone. I have proposed to Cordy and Rowan (my sisters), and Cordy’s friend Anna. I was turned down on all three counts. I don’t think I’ll scratch that one off the list yet.

I have to start over on Number 6. Mix 10 CDs with interrelated themes because the hard drive on my laptop ‘sploded, and most of my music collection has been lost. A tragedy of epic proportions.

I need Jacob’s help for Number 8. Build a bookshelf, but hopefully I’ll get to that one before the summer’s over.

This only pertains to my 52 Things project in the sense that some of my goals (like 5, 10, 11, 38, and 40) are related to bettering my health and eating habits, but I’m going to take a moment to happily endorse Nantucket Nectars for their line of organic juices and their support of organic food in general. Go Nantucket!

-Nadia

The Fourth Entry

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 17:03:34 GMT

I am sick. My throat is sore and scratchy and my nose is running and I'm very bleh and disoriented.

I did go to Beaufort, but I didn't take the bus, so 14. Take a trip on a Greyhound bus remains open. I went by car and spent most of the trip re-reading Fire and Hemlock and ignoring the fact that I should have been reading The Bluest Eye and getting it out of the way.

I completed part of 4. Do at least four different kinds of volunteer work. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday last week, I volunteered at St. Paul's Kids Camp as an actor in Bible Stories, aka Jesus vs. The Hell Squirrel Bible Scripted Improv Troupe. My fellow actors were Chris Armstrong (mommy!) and Bill Breedlove, a CofC professor, parent of two, and impressive Nike-wearing Jesus figure. He made a sales pitch trying to convince me that becoming a college professor is a really good idea that I should look into, and then offered me a job watching his daughters. Woo hoo! Babysitter. Unfortunately, that doesn't count as volunteer work.

Also, scratch off 33. Get drunk. I didn't plan to take that off the list so early on, but it turns out that Woodchuck Granny Smith packs a more powerful punch than I thought.

-Nadia

The Third Entry

Sun, 12 Jun 2005 17:29:34 GMT

Goal number 12 is almost complete, with two of my three bookshelves organized, and the last bookshelf consisting entirely of children's books and fantasy or sci-fi novels.

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
Andersen’s Fairy Tales
Winter Rose by Patricia McKillip
Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones
Tam Lin by Pamela Dean
Tithe by Holly Black
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
Violet and Claire by Francesca Lia Block
Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block
The Sandman Book of Dreams edited by Neil Gaiman
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Daughter of Regals and Other Tales by Stephen R. Donaldson
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

The Fireside Book of American Songs
World of Wildlife by Anthony and Jacqueline Nayman
The Visual Experience by Jack Hobbs and Richard Salome
Grimms Fairy Tales
England in Colour by J.H.B. Peel
Russian Fairy Tales by Aleksandr Afanasev
Gnomes and Gardens by Wayne Anderson
The Celtic Book of Living and Dying by Juliette Wood
Creative Mythology by Joseph Campbell
The Trident Press Reference Set
The Golden Bough by Sir James Frazer
Latin for Americans by B.L. Ullman, Charles Henderson Jr., and Norman E. Henry
Errors in English by Harry Shaw
German Synonyms by R.B. Farrell
Letter from a Stoic by Seneca
Gods and Heroes by Gustav Schwab
Alexander of Macedon: A Historical Biography by Peter Green
Classical Mythology by Mark Morford and Robert Lenardon

The Riverrun Trilogy by S.P. Somtow
The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice
The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice
Pandora by Anne Rice
The Vampire Armand by Anne Rice
Merrick by Anne Rice
Dracula by Bram Stoker
In the Forests of the Night by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

The Nitpicker’s Guide for Next Generation Trekkers by Phil Farrand
Paradigms Lost by John L. Casti
Innumeracy by John Allen Paulos
The Evolution of Physics by Albert Einstein and Leopold Infield
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy
Guns, Germ, and Steel by Jared Diamond
Frozen Star by George Greenstein
The Fractal Geometry of Nature by Benoit Mandelbrot

The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Barber of Seville by Pierre de Beaumarchais
The Marriage of Figaro by Pierre de Beaumarchais
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
1984 by George Orwell
The Picture of Dorian Gray and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde
The Collected Plays of Oscar Wilde
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman

The Pendragon by Catherine Christian
The White Raven by Diana L. Paxson
Greyfax Grimwald by Neil Hancock
Faragon Faringay by Neil Hancock
Calix Stay by Neil Hancock
Squaring the Circle by Neil Hancock
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay
Moreta by Anne McCaffery
To Ride Pegasus by Anne McCaffery
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

I'm working on Number 6: Mix ten CDs with inter-related themes. 7: Learn to play another instrument will probably end up being trumpet or piano. 14: Take a trip on a Greyhound bus is still up in the air, because I haven't talked to Jacob in a week. Girls may be evil, but boys are stupid.

This morning it occurred to me that having a set form for the confession of sins is one of the most lazy and convictionless achievements of the Anglican church. When a congregation of 200 is saying "we are truly sorry and we humbly repent..." it takes some of the kick out of it.

-Nadia

The Second Entry

Fri, 10 Jun 2005 13:54:26 GMT

"Imagination is the eye of the soul." -Joseph Joubert

What the fuck does that mean? It's on the cover of this month's issue of Skirt, which is about creativity, but it doesn't make much sense to me. It's just one of those pretentious things.

Next week I will be at home while the rest of my family acts in various capacities with summer camp, and in that space of time I will probably do my best to accomplish Number 12: Sort through my entire library and organize it in some fashion. I have four bookshelves in my room (one rather tall and one quite deep) that hold sixteen years' accumulation of books, which haven't seen any kind of tidying or care since I moved to Charleston nine years ago. Some of those books will go to my little brother, some of those books will go to Trade-a-Book, and some of those books will go with me to school in the fall.

I have tentative plans for Number 14: Take a trip on a Greyhound bus, I just need to talk to Jacob. A round-trip ticket (Charleston-Beaufort-Beaufort-Charleston) is fifty-six dollars, and contributions are always welcome and will not be used for any purpose other than buying a bus ticket.

-Nadia

The First Entry

Fri, 10 Jun 2005 03:05:40 GMT

I decided, kind of on a whim, to do something akin to the 101 Tasks in 1001 Days project that many other people have undertaken. I'm too much of a wimp to undertake that kind of endeavour, so I set a shorter list and timeframe for myself... 52 things to do in 24 months. When it's over, I'll be eighteen, will have just finished my first year of college, and will hopefully be a wiser person than I am today. That said, my list of fifty-two goals.

1. Go for a walk in the middle of the night.
2. Learn to skateboard.
3. Read all of Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes.
4. Do at least four different kinds of volunteer work.
5. Grow vegetables.
6. Mix ten CDs with inter-related themes.
7. Learn to play another musical instrument.
8. Build a bookshelf.
9. Go out on water in a boat or craft of any kind.
10. Give up eggs and dairy for a week.
11. Stop eating fast food for three months.
12. Sort through my entire library and organize it in some fashion.
13. Visit Edgefield, South Carolina.
14. Take a trip on a Greyhound bus.
15. Keep a photographic diary for a week.
16. Write a letter to a political representative.
17. Make ice cream.
18. Learn a dead language.
19. Sew a dress.
20. Read the World Book encyclopedia series in its entirety.
21. Take a trip that involves stopping in at least three states.
22. Cook a meal for someone other than myself.
23. Go to confession.
24. Steal something.
25. Buy from a farmer’s market or co-op.
26. Watch a foreign film without subtitles.
27. Go to a musical.
28. Attend a concert that isn’t put on by my school.
29. Spend the night on the beach.
30. Cook and eat a dish that I have never heard of before.
31. Be a sluagh for Halloween.
32. Propose to someone.
33. Get drunk.
34. Read all of Shakespeare’s tragedies.
35. Study a religion other than my own.
36. Stargaze.
37. Submit writing to someplace.
38. Dry my own herb tea.
39. Purchase an opera on CD.
40. Drink a bottle of water per day for a month.
41. Buy a hat.
42. Fast for 24 hours.
43. Spend three hours playing video games at Frankie’s Fun Park.
44. Go to a carnival.
45. Take myself out on a date.
46. Go skinny dipping.
47. Attend a showing of Rocky Horror.
48. Buy birth control.
49. Recycle.
50. Maintain a rock garden.
51. Learn to waltz.
52. Buy a copy of Freedom and Necessity by Stephen Brust and Emma Bull.

I will keep notes on the progress of various goals as I go along, as well as providing full write-ups when I finish something. I guess it's a personal growth thing (and some of these are tough, like numbers 23 and 32), but it's the kind of thing that I want to have around to share because I think it'll be fun as well as potentially helpful.

-Nadia