Anne's May Roundup

1) Make an afghan for afghans for Afghans

I haven't started this yet. I figured out the yarn, but haven't found a pattern to try. I may just do something simple and baby blanket sized. Instead, I've been crocheting something else in an attempt to use up some yarn I already have.
2) Consolidate 401k/IRA/503b plans hanging around from previous jobs

The switch in banks is almost complete. I am really happy about that. After that, I begin the retirement work.
3) Research before and one year after consolidation the performance of the funds

See 2.
4) Confirm at least once that all address in my address book are accurate

I've really stalled out on this one. I continue to be torn about certain names- people I haven't talked to in years- about whether or not I update or eliminate.
5) Call everyone who sent me a Christmas card within 6 months of January 1

Thank goodness I have one month left on this one.
6) Sell extra books

I'm beginning to think it is time to sell more than I thought. It is now a matter of just getting the books to the location.
7) Buy a good pair of winter boots

On hold until the season is right to buy boots.
8) Get a car

DONE- and I love it!
9) Watch all my Looney Tunes DVDs

Not only did I not finish this, but I bought another collection. Even more behind than before.
10) Lose at least 20 pounds

Oddly enough, my half-assed attempts at weight loss haven't really worked. I had a whole fantasy of getting it done in record time so when Tim got back from Germany, I'd be back to the old me. Since this whole week I've been thinking about ways to improve myself and my life, I decided to start a little more seriously on this. I'm trying out a detox and cleanse program- not detox as in drugs (no problems with that) but environmental stuff. I'm hoping to kick start the weight loss and attention to health with this.
11) Get green stripe belt

To do this test I need to spar. I just ordered my sparring equipment, which means I miss the June test, but will be in the next one.
12) Be able to do a high-section roundhouse kick

My stretch gets better and my confidence is increasing. Not yet, but I am sure it will happen.
13) Go to taekwondo class three times a week for at least one month

With the car commute, this feels harder to do, but I will do it.
14) Finish at least 5 books I haven't finished yet sitting on my shelves

Well, with two book clubs, I haven't been able to do this yet. I am slowly but surely working on it.
15) Visit Mom for a week

No plans yet.
16) Visit Tim's family

Not sure about this one.
17) Visit Uncle Matty

No plans yet.
18) Visit family graves

No plans yet. I have been going into the cemetery next to work. It is a bit morbid for a lunch break, but I like the idea that maybe someone walks by my dad's grave and thinks for a while, so I do it for others. I suppose it is a stand-in for the visits I'd actually give to my family if I were closer to them.
19) Create a spreadsheet for gift tracking (those I give)

I forgot about that one.
20) Look into loveseat/foldout bed

My mother is concerned about this in case she comes to visit, but I'm enjoying having less. It has motivated me to think about eliminating more things from my apartment if practical.
21) Get component cables for Wii
22) Get amber ring fixed
23) Finish a Wii game

I've been working hard on DDR, but don't think I have the ability to finish it anytime soon. 
24) Finish Pikmin 2
25) Finish a DS game

I want to buy a new DS game that looks cool. I had talked to Tim about how many games I need to finish before I buy it. He said one and I agreed. So, in addition to the one I used to complete this goal (that was pre-discussion), I've been trying to finish Ouendan 2 (a great rhythm game). For some of the harder songs, I need to lie on my stomach to play so then I don't need to hold the DS. Today, as I worked on the final song, my cat came over and began pawing at the wrist strap. Although not conducive to me finishing the game, it was darn cute.
26) Go through living room closet/organize/dispose
27) Try a new recipe every month (ongoing)

I've tried a few, including a fruity lamb stew that I ate this week that was really good. Today I tried a trick I do all the time- replacing raisins with chopped prunes. Yes, I like prunes better and usually it works, but just to let you know- cinnamon prune bread is pretty much just the same as cinnamon raisin.
28) Finish DK Junglebeat
29) Get through a Guitar Hero song on Expert

Still working through hard.
30) Get Wii Fit and use it

Man, do I want to do this! I've called around and everyone is sold out. I should have pre-ordered.
31) Go to eye doctor
32) Get new glasses
33) Get a Dr. Hauschka mask and use it
34) Find and buy jeans that fit well
35) Buy a good black turtleneck
36) Get a bra fitting
37) Make something with a piece of fabric I already own
38) Go through and organize jewelry
39) Sell/Try to sell something I've made
40) Finish at least 4 of the cross-stitch kits that I have
41) Make 1000 cranes

This is the new one I finished. I now need to string them all up (which is what I've seen online).  It is supposed to be good luck and grant a wish, but I'm not sure I believe that. No matter what, it was good to do it.
42) Make and post a product for my website

There will be big changes to the website. Perhaps even starting this weekend.
43) Buy beeswax candles
44) Go to a fair
45) Invite someone to my house every month

I did invite someone in May who didn't come. I think that has to count. 
46) Clean out front room closet
47) Clean out file cabinet
48) Try to print my own photos on printer
49) Organize/Store files sitting under desk
50) Clean out desk drawers
51) Integrate Tim's music into mine
52) Import DVDs into computer
53) Look into new harddrive/backup configuration

This gets very difficult as I now think I may need to get a Windows computer, perhaps a really cheap laptop, to run some software I'd like to get. I need to think this out fully. Nonetheless, it does affect the time, money and setup for the backup as I had imagined it.
54) Get Looney Tunes on my iPod
55) Catch up on podcasts

Now that I commute to work, I have had a lot more time to listen to podcasts. I'm still behind (of course), but I did catch up on Bill Moyers, the Battlestar Galactica podcast, 2 J-pop podcasts and now I am trying to catch up on Harry Shearer and a Naturopathic podcast I listen to. It is pretty great to finally get through these.
56) Set up folders for iPod in iTunes and organize updating/synching

There is only one iPod I don't have setup for this and I might never do it. This is almost complete- depending on whether the last one gets an update.
57) Post to website every month

Miserable failure, but the website will change, so the meaning of this will change, too.
58) Fix guestbook on website

Fixed through elimination. There was no way with what I had to have the guestbook posts show up automatically. Thank goodness, because the things that were coming in were horrible spammy links. Deletion was the best medicine. I should have known, but I was still naive. Once the re-design happens, I'll have to work out a different interactive aspect if possible.
59) Choose color scheme for website
60) Make booklists on website nicer looking
61) Decide on other domain name: parked domain or new site and set it up

About half-way to working this one out. I have a couple of domain names, only one of which I've used to this point. I think it may be time to bust up what I've got and use these things.
62) Get a full first draft of translation
63) Figure out camera settings for indoor group pictures
64) Find something red to wear for rat year

I was told that rat year for rats was going to be a bit chaotic and I didn't find my red. I better find it soon and hope it isn't too late!
65) Figure out what to do with earrings I don't wear
66) Read travel book by Achim von Arnim
67) Go to geek knitting meeting

I fully believe this doesn't exist anymore, but there are other knitting meetings, so I will just pick one and go to that.
68) Evaluate usefulness of Seashore program
69) Create calendar or something to share my pictures
70) Finish scanning old paper photos
71) Join a guild
72) Get a backup made of my digital/digitized photos
73) Start to learn a new language
74) Find a Spanish reader and read it

Wonderful coincidence- there is one going through Project Gutenberg's proofreading now. I've asked to be notified when it is done and available.
75) Learn at least 250 kanji
76) Read one of the Polish books at home
77) Read through/finish Vietnamese textbook
78) Compliment a total stranger
79) Try a new restaurant in downtown Boston
80) Go to NYC
81) See a musical
82) Buy a friend lunch when it isn't their birthday
83) Have a day where I fully live: "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all."

This has been surprisingly hard. The negative atmosphere at work had totally skewed my sense of what is normal talk and what is negative and hostile. I have begun working hard to reset my balance by removing myself from the negativity as much as possible, even when invited into it. 
84) Translate my resume into German

A full resume re-write is underway. Then I'll need to work on the German version.
85) Take someone on my favorite downtown walk
86) Write letters to three people letting them know how special they are
87) Set up an ebay account to sell that sanrio item
88) Finish a first draft of a creative writing project

I began this and then realized I was focused on the wrong main character. I will begin again and hope to have it done soon.
89) Pay off Citibank card and cancel it
90) Spend no money for 4 days straight
91) Eat at No 9 Park
92) Eat at Aujord'hui
93) Figure out how I will convert to digital TV
94) Bind a book
95) Make/Attempt to make all the box patterns in that origami book
96) Make the cherry blossom origami that was the reason I got that other origami book
97) Save for/Plan/or Actually take a trip to the Pacific Northwest
98) Meet Wendy's children
99) Try to learn a song on the harmonica
100) Learn 5 chords on the guitar and be able to switch between them all well

A Goal to Finish Today

Today hasn't been the best day for me. Yesterday I reacted in an entirely unproductive and loud way to a situation with my boyfriend and we haven't had a chance to talk since. I am feeling bad about it, so of course today I am having trouble focusing on anything too long. I had a lot of ideas on what to do this weekend: from baking bread to going with him to a microbrewery outside of Boston, but instead I end up at home feeling anxious and trying to figure out what I can possibly do all day long.

Of course that means that I finished watching the Angel DVD from Netflix this morning and then decided to watch the Frontline episode on Everest online. I will admit, the entire time I watched the Everest episode (very good, by the way), all I kept thinking was, "I will never climb that mountain in my life." I'm OK with that. It isn't on my list anyway. When I watch Frontline, I usually work on my crane project. Sometimes when I watch TV I do it too, but it is almost always while watching Frontline. That means that I have had some very thoughtful times while crane folding, which is part of the meditative aspect of repetitious action, but having it fueled by the topics Frontline covers makes it a bit more international. Of course, with the mood I was in today, I found myself stopping the Everest episode periodically (it also was longer than the usual hour, which I didn't realize when I started) to investigate changes I could make in my life. 

I am not a Jung fan necessarily, but I do like the idea of sympatico. Along your life you get reassurances that things are going the way they should- through coincidence or whatever. Spending time thinking today, I realized that somehow my sympatico isn't sympathetic. My workplace has become a miserable tangle of politics and buggy tools. People are leaving and more outsourcing is happening. I find myself more frustrated more easily than I would like and it hasn't gotten any better unless I put on my iPod and just look at my computer. I began thinking about (can you believe it!?) going back to grad school, with dreams of language classes dancing in my head. After a practical talk with Tim, I realized that that was more escapist dreams than a real plan. So here I am, trying to work out a real plan. An honest to goodness plan to change my work life to put me back on the path to sympatico. (And, if I am using sympatico incorrectly- sorry Jung lovers.) It is hard work to think about this seriously and unfortunately, I don't have Tim to bounce stuff off right now, but for once I feel like pursuing an actual goal instead of just thinking about the next step. And working towards this is putting me back on the path to balance.

And so, since I don't already have about a billion things to do, I signed up to be a proofreader for Project Gutenberg and did a couple pages. I downloaded open source translation software and played with it. I began to rethink my website to make it more professional and less idiosyncratic in case people look me up. And now, lastly, after writing this post (since it has been quite a while since I wrote a post), I have decided that I will complete my crane project. I'm not sure how long it will take, but the energy of focusing on balance and repairing that which is out of synch will hopefully infuse me and the cranes with hope that all will be better in the end. I have less than 100 to do. There are a lot of Frontline episodes to catch up on, so I'm sure I'll have enough to get me through this. Please mark this one as tentatively completed.