Jason recently wrote a great entry in which he posted a list of 101 things he wanted to accomplish in 1001 days. [Almost three years! Perfect for slackers such as mysself.]
As he puts it:
The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.
The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (i.e. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (i.e. represent some amount of work on my part).
To which I say, bravo. Around my last birthday, I tried to write a list of 29 things I wanted to do before I turned 30, but it felt terribly daunting, like every entry on the list had to be along the lines of, save a child from a burning building, or marry Adam Brody. This system gives me both latitude -- I can put both easy stuff and hard, soul-searching items on the list -- and longitude, in that I've got plenty of time to knock this shit out.
And I do love lists.
Therefore:
Bolded entries are completed!
1) Visit Europe (London, July 18-24 2006)
2) Go back to Vegas [March 24-26, Heather's bachelorette party]
3) Hit New York, finally [June 22-28, 2005. Thanks, Mom!]
4) Transfer my 401(k) from UCLA to an IRA [Accomplished 0ctober 14, 2005, thank GOD. I finally just took it as a pay out.]
5) Amble down to Mexico [Joanna's bachelorette party June 16-18 2006]
6) Take in a concert at the Hollywood Bowl (Belle and Sebastian, July 2006)
7) Go to a concert at the Greek [Aletha and I saw the Pixies in September 2004]
8) Take tennis lessons
9) Take cooking classes
10) Go to a wine tasting
11) Find out who Defamer is. I'm coming for you, Defamer!
12) Get a pedicure. My feet look terrible. [July 16, 2005]
13) Buy a new car
14) Figure out how to properly hook up my TiVo with my VCR and DVD player
15) Fall in love
16) Pick up my dry-cleaning [completed August 5th 2004]>
17) Start a proper savings account [process kicked off August 18, 2004]
18) Lose these last four stubborn pounds
19) Paint my bedroom
20) Buy a new sofa
21) Learn to make at least one kick-ass cocktail. Maybe a mojito?
22) Learn one all purpose mildly dirty joke
[Done! It's about pirates.]
23) Get an iPod by any means possible ["by any means possible" = buying one.]
24) Run a half-marathon
25) Talk Heather into running it with me
26) Take a spinning class
27) Learn to play poker [a life-long process, I'm sure, but begun August 20, 2004]
28) Learn to play craps
29) Write the pilot of the soap opera Grant and I have planned out
30) Read the newspaper when it is delivered to me, rather than stare at it guiltily and then recycle
31) Continue my habit of voting in every election I am eligible to vote in
32) Find a more appropriate way to store my shoes other than in a pile on the ground.[Thank you, Container Store!]
33) Get my myriad posters and prints framed instead of driving around with them stacked in the back of my car
34) Hike the Santa Monica mountains without complaining about my socks getting dirty [completed August 22, 2004]
35) Work on a show that focuses on a subject that really engages me, like a cooking or makeover show. [What? I am shallow.]
36) Watch Dig!, the documentary about the Dandy Warhols, which won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance, and the DVD of which has been sitting on my coffee table for a month, thanks to our dubber, who secretly ran off a copy for me.
37) Try Mystic Tan. I might look good orange
38) Visit Trashy Lingerie again.
39) Buy something there.
40) Wear it [Pirate tights worn 3/18/05]
41) Improve my pool game
42) Attempt to figure out a way to make money out of Fugging It Up
43) Go out to dinner more, taking advantage of the number of nifty restaurants Los Angeles offers
44) Roast marshmallows
45) Get my white pants hemmed
46) Learn all the state capitals by heart. [I knew them when I was 9. Surely I can do it again.][It took all one day, but I did it. God bless the internets and being unemployed.]
47) Go to the dentist
48) Take surfing lessons
49) Go to the Griffith Park Observatory, once it's reopened
50) Go to the Santa Monica Farmer's Market and buy some nice fruits and veggies
51) Obtain, at long last, and by any means necessary, my beloved pink KitchenAid mixer [Happy 30th Birthday to ME! My friends are the best.]
52) Pay off at least one of my credit cards [MBNA paid off August 28, 2005.]
53) Drive up Highway 1 to Northern California again
54) Take the train somewhere
55) Go back to Catalina. You get to take the ferry!
56) Slow dance
57) Keep a more well-stocked kitchen, so that I can be prepared for unexpected guests
58) Invest in a quality piece of jewelry. [The magazines all call it an "investment," so why can't I?]
59) Go skinny dipping
60) Learn to drive stick
61) Keep champagne in the fridge. Who knows when you're going to need it?
62) Brush up my rusty French skills
63) Paint or photograph something I'm not ashamed to hang on my wall. [I have some art photographs up that I took years ago, but I haven't taken a frame-worthy artsy-fartsy photograph in years.]
64) Track down Osama bin Laden [hey, it's worth a shot! If I cross this one off, I think I can call it a night.]
65) Go to a hockey game
66) Witness a bar fight [Done! I think our encounter with Jason Patric counts]
67) Order Lauren a shot of Irish Mist
68) Get my kitchen sink fixed [Completed September 11, 2004]
69) Cultivate a window herb garden
70) Enjoy fondue [completed August 14, 2004]
71) Go sailing
72) Star Sighting: George Clooney [speaking not required]
73) Go to the Rose Bowl flea market
74) Order room service. I adore room service.
75) Get a wireless router so I can surf the net for porn while watching television and talking on the phone, instead of being forced to surf the net for porn in my kitchen, while watching television out of one eye and talking on the phone. [Purchased October 14, 2005!]
76) Have more brunch [September 11, 2004 -- I've had two brunches in two weeks!] </b>
77) See a movie at Mann's Chinese Theatre [again. I saw Titanic there.] [October 11, 2005. Heather and I saw the Domino premiere. And met Steve Sanders!]
78) See a movie at The Egyptian [Saw Basic Instinct -- AWESOME -- on March 29, 2006 with Grant and Mark]
79) Wear my pink, high-heeled marabou bedroom slippers on a more regular basis
80) See a movie at the Cinerama Dome
81) See a movie at Hollywood Forever [Saw Carrie July 30, 2005]
82) Make out more
83) No, more than that
84) Volunteer for something that's important to me, even just once
85) Eat something deep-fried without guilt
86) Go see the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum
87) Visit Hearst Castle
88) Make my bed every day for a week [completed February 11-13, 2005]
89) Go to the zoo.
90) Go back to LACMA [saw the King Tut exhibit with the family for my father's birthday, October 9th, 2005. Happy birthday, Daddy!]
91) Break 100 bowling [this sounds easy, but you've never seen me bowl]
92) Take a Sunday and pretend I can afford to buy a house and go to a bunch of open houses, as there's nothing I like more than seeing the inside of people's houses, especially fancy ones I can't afford
93) Get a headboard for my bed
94) Track down a romance novel I once found that featured a heroine with my exact name -- first and last. I didn't buy it because, at the time, I thought it would freak me out. [I was 12.] Now I want it. [completed August 5th 2004, thanks to an eagle-eyed reader]
95) Revisit the Grand Canyon
96) Polish the rest of my good silver, half of which languishes unpolished in a drawer while I use the other half. The other half, by the way, appears to contain only one knife. [Well, THAT was a crazy Labor Day weekend activity.]
97) Clean out my home office, which is currently jammed full of papers I don't actually need
98) Read more non-fiction. But only juicy non-fiction. [I am currently reading approx. one juicy non-fiction book every two months, which is definitely more.Yay!]
99) Read the last five winners of the National Book Award in fiction[Woo! I read "The Corrections" when it came out -- and found it tiresome, but whatever -- so I've got one down!] [Completed 6/3/06 -- I decided to read the winners of the NBA in Young Adult Fiction instead, but I'm counting it]
100) Win the last five winners of the Pulitzer Prize
101) Take a nap
The 1001 days begins....now. GO!
Awesome list. Is there any way that you can bold your completed tasks to make it easier to see right off the bat?
Posted by: Kay | October 04, 2004 at 06:19 AM
When I was 45, I learned to juggle, from a book, no less. I needed to reassure myself that an old dog actually can learn a new trick.
Posted by: Cynthia | November 12, 2004 at 07:24 PM
Number 100 says "win" where it should say "read." Cool list, though.
Posted by: Jeff | February 15, 2006 at 06:40 AM
No, I plan to win the awards in feats of strength from the winning writers.
Whoops.
Posted by: Jessica | February 15, 2006 at 03:55 PM
Wow, I think I need to do 82 and 83 more as well.
Aside from commenting from this post I need to mention the love my friend and I have for this blog. A little because we're creepy stalking internet children that need a fake ID to drink (a tough battle that in 4 months I will WIN), and mostly because you're so funny! Thanks for the entertainment.
And what do you mean you're going after Defamer???
Posted by: Evan | March 02, 2006 at 11:30 PM
Hey!!!! I see you are doing good with your list.... I'm working on a list, too. Check it out at
http://brattys-blog.blogspot.com
Good luck finishing your list!!! :)
Posted by: Bratty | August 15, 2006 at 08:06 AM
I Love you girls
Buy
Posted by: LeOgAhEr | June 01, 2007 at 09:51 AM