Throwing out 50

Today I am starting a little "stuff" purge and throwing out 50 things, a la Jess Constable as inspired by Gaile Blanke. I bought Gaile's book a while back... and never did anything with. Big surprise. So, now it begins.

But I'm not really going to do it Gaile's way. I'm not counting 85 books as one item, or 7 pairs of shoes as one item, either. Sorry, Gaile.

But I am following her suggestion to write down all the things I throw away/donate/sell. So I'm starting a little tab called '50 Things' where I can update the list without it breaking into my regular posts.

To start things off, I'm donating three pairs of cute cute shoes to Deseret Industries. I love them, but I don't wear them--ever. So they can be put to better use by someone else. I'm also donating a hoodie, a grey cardigan that looks horrible on me, and a black ribbed sweater that is also hideous on me.

So far, 6 things. Plus however many French books I end up giving away via Facebook and to my local high school. I bought tons of used novels, philosophy books, etc. in France, dreaming that I would read them all and soak up the new vocabulary like a sponge. Nope. If I'm going to be honest with myself, they are just taking up space and making me feel guilty. So they are OUT.

Anyone want to join me and throw out 50 things?

Starting Over

What with all the changes going on in life right now, I feel like I'm being handed a blank slate, and I have the opportunity to do whatever I want with it. I am starting out at a new ground zero, in the best possible way.

I've spent the last 21 months (!!) since I've been home from Paris thinking about what I wanted to DO with my life--thinking about how to move forward, how to make my mark on the world. There is something in me that can't be content simply living my life without giving back and trying to make the world better.

I've gone back and forth between so many things--things that I really do love and have an interest in, but ultimately realized aren't the best fit for me:

1. Art History - working as a professor has its perks, I'm well aware. But I don't know that it would make me happy and excited to go to work every day. I think Art History is just a great hobby of mine, not a passion that will translate well into a job. I do still think it would be fun to do museum education, but I think I'll do it on a volunteer basis, rather than as a job. I was mistaking my wonderful sister Amy's passion for Art History as a deeper interest than I really had. Does that ever happen to you? Someone is so passionate about something, that just listening to them makes your heart beat faster, and makes the subject far more interesting to you than it might otherwise be? I feel that way when Amy talks about art. And silent films. :)
2. Literacy Education - I feel so strongly that education is crucial for every person--man, woman, boy, girl--regardless of their station, religion, access to technology, etc. Everyone should be taught to read and write, learn basic math skills, and learn a trade or attend university. However, ultimately, I don't think I want to be a teacher, and I don't think an administrative position would be very satisfying for me. It's too hands-off.
3. Fighting Human Trafficking - This is something that I have been thinking about for the last few months. It's something I feel really strongly about getting involved in--I think it's atrocious that there are people on the earth that still think it's okay to buy and sell other human beings for their own benefit. Again, working in this field means I would probably be in an administrative position behind a desk somewhere, which doesn't really appeal to me. I would rather be involved on a volunteer basis or donate money to an organization I believe in.
4. French Masters, PhD. I love French. I love France. I love francophone literature. But, like I mentioned above, I don't want to be a teacher. I don't really want to be a professor. I am satisfied to just love French and continue to develop my language skills. And go back to France as often as humanly possible.

I have always wanted to be an artist, and for years I thought about graphic design, but beyond knowing that graphic designers made "pretty things," my knowledge of the profession was pretty limited, and I didn't know that it was very possible to make a living as a designer. I thought being a graphic designer would be more along the lines of the "struggling artist," which I didn't think I could handle. Now, after having worked really closely with the graphic designers at my company for a few years, I have a much better understanding of the different kinds of projects graphic design involves, a little bit of the process, the back-and-forth with customer/company expectations, and the crazy hours that the designers often work leading up to a huge deadline. And also how much they make, which isn't the deciding factor, but a comforting reassurance that I wouldn't be destitute doing what I loved.

I think for a long time I did French because I loved it, and for a long time I kept doing it becauase I was good at it. Once I realized I didn't want to be a teacher, the career options seemed really limited.

But here's the realization I had a couple of weeks ago, when I sat down to think about what really makes me happy:

If I didn't have to worry for one second about my personal financial security, what would I want to do all day?

Paint. Draw. Create.

So that's what I'm going to do. I am going back to school to get a BFA in Art and Visual Communication, with an emphasis in Graphic Design (and a second emphasis in Fine Art - Painting, if they'll let me!). When I realized that creativity is what really makes me tick, everything fell into alignment for me: it felt way more authentic than Art History (for obvious reasons, mentioned above), it felt more marketable and more like something I would like to do for a living than French, and it's something I am geniunely interested in and want to develop skills in (and have wanted this for years, without daring to do it).

And here's the best part: I can do all of the things I mentioned above! I can continue to love and learn French, I can be involved in Literacy Education, I can help fight human trafficking, and I can support cultural and museum education/outreach, all through graphic design. I can have my cake and eat it, too, without changing my qualifications every time I turn around. Talk about the best of both worlds.

I got accepted to school on Friday, and I start in May.

I can't wait.

Fake goals

Today I officially deleted my 101 Things in 1001 days page. I still want to do all of those things at some point, but I don't want to worry about achieving something that it ultimately insignificant just because I put it on a list and gave myself a random deadline.

I would rather make thoughtful and meaningful goals for myself and work consistently toward those achievements, rather than 'achieving' things that really don't matter (like making 10 kinds of cookies successfully. Who really cares if every time I make cookies they turn out gross? That's what pre-made dough is for.).

I feel like that's all I have to say on this particular subject. Goodbye, fake goals. See you on my bucket list.

Paved with Good Intentions

I'm going to ignore the fact that the beginning of the well known proverb states that it's the path to Hell that's paved with good intentions.

Instead, I choose to believe that the path to a happy future is paved (a.k.a. awkwardly cobbled together) with good intentions, half-starts, mistakes, and refining moments, which eventually become less and less messy and lead to calm, authenticity, and joy.

I dropped out of school. I love art history, but I don't want to DO art history. I know. You can mock me. I pick something I want to do and I am gung-ho for a while, and then change my mind.*

In other (very much related) news, I have come to a mutual decision with my boss that I'll only be at my current job until April sometime. I'm not happy here, and we both know it. He wants me to be happy (and so do I), and he needs someone in my position who is passionate about it (which I am not).

So, lots of things to think about in the coming weeks. Lots of prayer, trips to the temple, self-reflection, and a lot of facing my fears. The things I think I would love to do for a living are not really that stable (painting, designing jewelry). The only exception to that is graphic design, which I am currenly considering. It's creative, which I love, and it also gives me a skill that will allow me to work for companies and organizations that I really believe in (UNESCO, art museums, anti-trafficking organizations, literacy organizations, etc.), without changing my qualifications every time I turn around.

Here's to getting a second Bachelor's Degree. Oy. At least this one will be marketable. :)

Wish me luck!



*And I reserve the right to keep doing so until I've found my happy place.

Closet cleanout and repurposing

I've been cleaning out my closet lately, trying to get rid of the things that are unflattering, don't fit, or that I just don't like. That's partly what inspired the whole 30 for 30 thing.

On what seems like a totally unrelated note, I've been wanting to find some little cloth shoe bags that I could put shoes in when I travel so my shoes don't get my other clothes dirty.

So I'm going to beg friends and family with sewing machines to let me come over and use them for an afternoon, and I'm going to chop up my old clothes and turn them into my travel bags.

But I've got to do it soon. I'm so over 'someday' projects and having piles of stuff that 'I'm going to do something with' lying around gathering dust.

30 for 30

I recently started reading a fashion blog called Kendi Everyday, and she occasionally does what she calls a 30 for 30. Basically, you pick 30 items from your closet and you can only wear those 30 items over the next 30 days in whatever combinations you can come up with. Accessories and jewelry are not included in the 30 items (thank heavens) but shoes are.

And here's the kicker--what really makes me want to do it. The other 'rule' is that you can't shop for those 30 days. So as you're mixing and matching what you've got, you will get a sense of what needs you have in your closet, rather than just buying random things.

I've been thinking recently about how many items of clothing I have in my closet that 1) don't look good on me and 2) I don't wear that often. So I thought this would be a good exercise so I could get a feel for what basics I'm lacking and what items I would really like to add to my closet--just the selection of 30 items seems like it will be pretty revealing.

The 30 for 30 is supposed to start Feb 1 and go for 30 days. So... we'll see what happens.

(And can I just say again how grateful I am that jewelry is not included in the 30 items? If I could only wear jeans and a black or white t-shirt for 30 days I still think I could get 30 looks out of my jewelry alone. Does that mean I'm cheating already?)

(And does it mean I'm cheating if I have things I want to buy before the 30 days start?)

Time

An incredibly old clock at the Cluny (Museum of the Middle Ages) in Paris.

There's never enough time to do all the things I want to do...

I want to start a business. (Not just any business, mind you. I've got two or three specific ideas in mind. Jennifer Johnsen, I'm blaming you. You're the one who got the wheels turning on the first idea, and it has just progessed from there.)
I want to go to culinary school.
I want to learn silversmithing.
I want to go hiking.
I want to learn Arabic.
I want to learn German.
I want to learn Italian.
I want to keep making jewelry.
I want to paint more often than I do.
I want to have perfectly organized belongings and surroundings.
I want to make healthy meals with fresh ingredients.
I want to go to the farmer's market every Saturday morning.
I want to read more non-fiction.
I want to learn how to take care of my car without having to ask my dad to do stuff for me all the time.
I want to understand politics.
I want to tell people how much I love, admire, and appreciate them more often.
I want to learn how to can food.
I want to learn how to sew.
I want to learn how to throw things away that I don't actually need.

In addition to all of the things I have to do... which I will not list for you. (Think work, school, working out, sleeping, etc; i.e., all of the boring things in life [except school, which is fascinating and awesome])

Wanting to do a million different things + having a generally impatient personality = some serious ADD.

I'm trying to learn how to put projects on the shelf that can wait, and focus my time on the things that I can do simultaneously (like developing business plans slowly as I work my way through school for the second time).

L'embarass du choix. I'm telling you. At some point it's got to stop.

Bookbinding

Today I found a bookbinding tutorial online. I can't wait to try it out to make my own unlined journal.

I'll report back soon on how it went. Wish me luck. :)

Get Cooking!

I got "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman. I think she was the one who said she learned to cook by just cooking her way through his book, and it inspired me.

Not only am I going to learn how to cook "everything," but I am also going to become a creative cook and ingredient-combining guru with the Ingredient Bible, which I bought for myself because it's my birthday.

So, if you would like to be a guinea pig, let me know and I'll invite you over for dinner, lunch, breakfast, or brunch.

L'embarras du choix

At a ward activity with my church in Paris, there was a potluck with some of the most delicious-looking foods I've ever seen.

As I stood before the buffet-style setup trying to decide where to start, a member of the bishopric came up beside me with the same "Where do I start?" look of hesitation on his face.

"Ahh..." he says, "L'embarras du choix." Roughly translated, that conveys the idea of "overwhelmed by my options" or "spoilt for choice."

And that's the perfect description of my life right now. Really, where do I start?

I've been thinking a lot about graduate school, but for the life of me I can't settle on one program over another. It's kind of distressing, mostly because the deadlines are all coming up soon, and I'll need to get cracking on the GRE for some of the applications.

I feel pulled in several different directions. These are the programs I'm thinking of applying to:

-French studies
-French Teaching
-Language Acquisition
-TESOL
-MPA
-Literacy Education

If I did either of the last two, I would want to do both and end up working for a non-profit with a focus on literacy education (either K-12 or adult ed). But I also feel like I should work in that field for at least a year or two to determine whether that's something I would want to do as a full-time career.

I think with French Studies or French Teaching it's almost a no-brainer that I at least apply, but the catch with that is I don't think I would want to teach secondary, so I would have to also do a doctorate. Yowza. I'm 28. You do the math.

They're all sort of related, having to do with literacy, teaching, and language... but they're all different enough that they don't really overlap. Except maybe Language Acquisition and TESOL. Those probably have some significant overlap in the theories I would study.

So, I'm not gonna lie... I think I would love them all. I'm not really making salary a part of the decision, because choosing a career based on how much I would make is a recipe for disaster (based on previous experience).

That's all. Just needed to get it off my chest.

Inspiration

Today, while going through my blog reader, I came across this post, and the quotation (by George Bernard Shaw) pretty much changed my life.

"Life is not about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself."

(Emphasis added)

So, now I'm just trying to decide which version of my life I'm going to set about creating...

Drawing Lessons (and a painting studio)

My art lessons are going MUCH better the second time around.

I'll show you my sketches soon. My teacher is fantastic and really laid back, which helps me to not feel super self-conscious and even more critical of myself than I normally would be in an art class. (Perfection is usually possible on the first try, right?)

This week I learned about value and shading. Fun stuff!! It makes such a big difference in the feel of a picture.

So, anyways... just thought I would check in and report on how that's going.

I also bought the most amazing book about acrylic painting techniques, and my dad is helping me turn my mom's old office into a painting studio, so I might be able to actually use some of the techniques soon (more on that later--including the title of the book, which is currently flitting around the edges on my conscious mind, but refusing to actually enter).

Decisions, decisions...

So, since I've been home from France I've felt like I should go back to school.

[Insert me whining here.]

I'm secretly (or not so secretly) looking forward to learning all kinds of good stuff, and I'm very openly annoyed about being a poor graduate student living in a crappy basement apartment in Madison, WI. Even though I haven't even applied to the program yet.

Shall I share with you my master plan?

Go to school and get my Master's. (Right now looking at PFMP at Univeristy of Wisconsin-Madison and French Pedagogy at NYU)
Get a job at a university or junior college.
Use my faculty/staff benefit to take fine arts classes and become a famous painter, quit my day job, and move to the French countryside where the most difficult decision I will make each day is if I should do plein air painting or use my awesome studio.

Good plan, right?

I know. If you need any help formulating an awesome plan of your own, just let me know.

Goal 21/101 : Donate to a Charity

Goal #21 out of my "101 Things" is to donate to a charity I believe in outside of my church.

I am not sure where I fist heard of Kiva (could have been here), but I really love the idea. I'm thinking that this might be the charity that I donate to.

Do you have any charities that you donate to on a regular basis? Or that you volunteer for?

I'm open to suggestions of charities you may have worked with that you can vouch for as being on the up-and-up. If you have a favorite, or one that you have enjoyed working with, please share!

Drawing Classes: Take Two

I just found someone to take drawing lessons from in Provo. I signed up. I think this time it will go much better than it did last time.



Why is that, you ask?



1) It will be in English.

2) It won't take me an hour to get there.

3) It will be in Engligh and it won't take me an hour to get there.

My lessons start on the 16th--can't wait!

38/101 - Cooking Terms, Tips, and Tools

#38 on my list of 101 Things to do before December 6, 2011 is:

Learn 100 new cooking terms/tips/tools.

I learned a new term/process yesterday. It's a bain-marie. Which I guess can either be a double-boiler-type item, or just a simple process of dumping a container filled with food into water to be boiled and therefore cooking whatever the contents are without actually exposing them to the water.

This is how I heated a package of pre-cooked quinoa, spelt, lentils, and red beans I bought at a health food store by the Hotel de Ville. On the package it said to cook by bain marie, and showed a pot of boiling water with the pouch floating inside.

So. There's one term. Only 99 to go.

So, how about some help. What is your favorite cooking word, helpful tip, or appliance/utensil that you would hate to live without?

No More Pencils, No More Books...

... you all know how this finishes, right?

School is done.

I took four tests last week:
1) French Cinema
2) France and Europe (politics)
3) Phoetics
4) Written exam (grammar, conjugation, essay, reading comprehension, listening comprehension)

and today I ACED my verbal French exam. It consisted of choosing from a hat one of 8 texts the teacher had decided upon, preparing in the back of the room (with a blank text--not my own, and no dictionary) while another student had their exam, and then sitting down with two professors, reading out loud to them, and then giving a summary of the text, my own thoughts, and answering any vocabulary questions they had for me.

The student before me struggled a little bit with knowing the vocabulary for his text, and they asked him a lot of questions, so that's what I expected for mine. But after I read a sample of the text, my professor said, "Okay, the time is yours."

That's it?? The student before me at least got a, "Okay, so what do you think of the relationship between these two characters?"

So, I just talked for a few minutes. Essentially, here is the idea of the text and a general idea of what I said:
My text was from the Lettres Philosophiques by Voltaire. This particular letter was about how the willingness of British subjects to be involved in commerce created additional liberties for them as indiviuals, helped the State at large to progress, and even helped the mighty British navy to become what it was at that time.
Voltaire compares this to the Germans, who he said were too obsessed with discovering and proving their noble ancestry to be involved in business affairs, and the French, who he said could buy a title for the right price, then spent the rest of their lives thinking the most important information they would need to know was what time the king arose and retired, all while looking down their noses at the merchants.

His point was that even though the merchants in France might be ashamed of themselves because they hear themselves spoken of so degradingly all the time, they were doing more to help the country progress than the "powdered" courtisans.

Interesting, no? I thought it was, anyway.

After I gave my schpiel, the two professors said, "Very good. Really, very good. Ummmm..." and then they looked for vocabulary to ask me about. But, sneaky like I am, I had purposefully used all of the difficult words in my summary, so they knew I understood them.

So, that was it. They thanked me and sent me on my way.

Yep, I'm awesome.

(Well, today I felt awesome. Ask me about my conjugation skills some other time.)

I Also Haven't

watched TV in about 3 months. I don't miss it.

(Though I'll admit that every once in a while I'll catch up on American Idol online. But I'm not going to lie... I don't really care who wins.)

Instead of getting trapped back in the habit of watching tv really often when I get home, I'm going to:

-take up tennis with my friend Angie
-take those painting, drawing and dance classes I've included as part of my 101 things in 1001 days
-study for the GRE
-spend time in public parks and in the mountains
-walk more places
-ride my bike more

101 Things in 1001 Days

1. Complete ARL application (Alternate Routes to Licensure to teach in UT)
2. Take the GRE with satisfactory results
3. Get accepted to a Master’s Program
4. Be active for 30 minutes every day
5. Learn to bake bread
6. Successfully make 10 different kinds of cookies ( /10)
7. Complete a sprint-length triathlon
8. Learn to cook a dish from 20 different countries ( /20)
9. Master a minimum of 10 different vegetarian main dishes (this means being able to make them without consulting the recipe) ( /10)
10. Read one (auto)biography every 6 months ( /5-6)
11. Throw away or donate 100 material possessions (random papers don't count) ( /100)
12. Be debt free and have X in savings ( % saved)
13. Take a photography class
14. Get really comfortable with manual exposure settings on my camera
15. Take a drawing class
16. Take a painting class
17. Sell a painting
18. Lose X pounds ( % lost)
19. Drink 64 oz+ of water every day for 30 days straight ( /30)
20. Volunteer with an organization I believe in (outside of my church)
21. Donate to a charity organization I believe in (also outside of my church)
22. Write one nice note card a week for 3 months straight (no repeating recipients, either) ( /12)
23. This one’s private
24. Be able to identify all states and their capitals on a blank map
25. Write for 30 minutes each Sunday ( /140)
26. Go without TV for one month straight, 3 times ( /3)
27. Go without my car for one week
28. Learn two simple songs on the piano (by heart) ( /2)
29. Visit one monument/museum/site/park each week for the rest of my stay in Paris ( /13)
30. Learn to make 5 different French pastries from scratch ( /5)
31. Do 30 military-style pushups without stopping
32. Do 5 pull-ups without resting
33. Do 2 dips
34. Learn the correct breathing technique so I can learn to have good form when swimming
35. Go on another cruise – this time somewhere warm
36. Feel confident in a bathing suit
37. Learn to knit
38. Learn 100 new cooking terms/tips/tools
39. Go camping 5 times
40. Go on 2 road trips (no minimum distance, though at least as far as St. George or Denver would be nice)
41. Live an entire 24 hours without speaking—even to myself
42. Go to the opera
43. Go to the symphony
44. Buy season tickets to something (it doesn't have to be fancy: Scera shell, BYU football, something)
45. Get some basic Yoga instruction and practice yoga at least once a week for 6 months or more ( /6+)
46. Go to a Jazz bar/lounge
47. Go a week without spending a single penny (and refrain from cancelling it out by “splurging” the week after)
48. Learn how to play chess
49. Understand the rules of football, soccer, and basketball (not just the general ones)
50. Make 5 free throws in a row on 10 separate occasions ( /10)
51. Put $1,000 in savings on six separate occasions ( /6)
52. Do 5 things that scare me spitless ( /5)
53. Give $50 to a homeless person
54. Volunteer for Project Read
55. Make a quilt that I would be proud to give as a gift (then give it)
56. Rock climb 15 times ( /15)
57. Find at least one song I like (or can appreciate, at least) in the following genres: heavy metal, rap, bluegrass
58. Join a book club and participate regularly
59. Only buy books I really, truly enjoy (otherwise, there’s this magical place called a library…)
60. Eat dinner and/or dessert in every arrondissement in Paris
61. Take a ballroom dance class
62. Take a jazz dance class
63. Find 5 programs on NPR that I enjoy listening to on a regular basis
64. Plant a garden and grow 6 different items (more than a window herb box) (but can be in pots)
65. Find three locally-owned non-franchised restaurants to enjoy regularly
66. Same with retail shops – find 3 additional one-location stores to support
67. Go to the gym three times a week for three months straight ( /3)
68. See Miss Saigon (just found out that Schoenberg and Boubil wrote it)
69. Memorize “The Living Christ” and the Family Proc
70. Learn the regions and 10 biggest cities in France and their locations
71. Be able to fill in a blank world map ( % accuracy)
72. Read the NY Times book review each week
73. See AFI’s top 100 films (except the R-rated ones unless I can find them edited) ( /100)
74. Read the Big Read top 100 books ( /100)
75. Write an average of 10 “memories” a month for my personal history ( /330)
76. Attend the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival
77. Go to concerts of 3 artists or groups that I really enjoy (bonus if traveling is involved) ( /3)
78. Be able to explain the structure of the US government and the process of electing a President in the US
79. Give flowers to a stranger
80. Cook an entire meal using items from my garden, and only items from my garden (with maybe an exception for something like oliveoil)
81. Learn 3 really great jokes
82. Visit 5 obscure museums/monuments/sites in Utah and tell others about them ( /5)
83. Host a “foreign film night” series each Saturday for a month ( /4-5)
84. Make a stop-motion film
85. Submit a secret to Post Secret
86. Attend the 2010 Festival of Color
87. Make a beautiful piece of jewelry and then give it away
88. Make a set of note cards and give them away
89. Donate blood 5 times ( /5)
90. Learn to can my own fruits and vegetables
91. Fly a kite
92. Go to every exhibit at the BYU MOA for one year
93. Go to the State Fair
94. Go to the movies alone at least 2 times ( /2)
95. Go to 5 State or National Parks that I have never visited ( /5)
96. Try sushi at a really good sushi place so I can really justify not liking it (or change my opinion)
97. Learn to accept compliments without qualifying them or pointing out a compensating flaw
98. Get CPR and First-Aid certified
99. Watch the sunrise from the top of Mt. Timpanogos
100. Take a creative writing class and share two stories with my blog friends
101. Put $1 in savings for each task I complete and donate $2 to charity for each task I don’t complete

by December 6, 2011

A Big Project Made Up Of (Mostly) Bite-Sized Pieces

Through clicking hyperlink after hyperlink via one of the blogs I'm subscribed to (don't remember which one, though), I found this project, and I decided to do it.

I think it will give me some things to work on, some things to look forward to, and a sense of achievement (though some of them are really very small achievements, I realize). I'm not feeling all that challenged by my French courses, plus they don't really give tests in the middle of the semester. So to feel like I'm doing something beneficial and making progress, I basically have to wait until the final tests and just see how things go. (How is that for me being a product of the education system? I don't feel like I'm accomplishing anything in school unless someone gives me a grade. Hm, that's kind of sad.)

I like to feel like I'm accomplishing something--I like to be able to measure my progress in some way. I like to be able to see a project through from beginning to end but be able to see throughout the process that I'm "getting there" (which is hard to do with random grammar and phonetics concepts because they're so nebulous at times) (let's not talk about how this will be ridiculously challenging for me as a parent). Plus I love to learn new skills and information, and you'll see "Learn to do X" over and over in my list.

Here are the "instructions" for the project, taken directly from their website.


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.Once you have created your site, you can add it to the master list here at Day Zero.

Calculating the End Date
You can easily find out when your project will end by using this handy tool at timeanddate.com.

I'll be posting my list in just a few minutes, and I'm going to add it to my sidebar so I'll always have a visual reminder of how much progress I have(n't?) made to date.

Very few of them are life-changing goals; a lot of them are things about which I've always thought, "Hm, I'd like to do (be able to do) that. But later. Right now I'm busy working/going to school/traveling to my dream city/to poor/too tired/[insert generic excuses here]."

If you'd like to joing along in the challenge, there's a place you can link your list back to the "master list" on the project site. There are hundreds of lists there, some of which had a direct influence on items that made it to my list.

Enough of me blabbering about it. Moving on.