The two books for month #2

I read two books for month #2, in addition to my bookclub book (We’re reading The Handmaid’s Tale in case you were wondering.) Here are my thoughts on them!

Book #1 The Kid by Dan Savage I saw this in my interlibrary ebook loan system so I checked it out (ha!) on a whim. It was written in the late 90s so it’s pretty outdated, but it mostly serves as a platform to provide some light autobiographical details about Dan in addition to chronicling the adoption process of two gay dads in the Pacific Northwest. It provided some interesting anecdotes and that is a process I knew very little about.

Of course, now it’s pretty likely that some of the rules and regulations described have changed but it was still interesting reading. Dan had his typical dry wit and it was a pleasurable and sometimes humorous read. I find it particularly interesting that I was reading it while I was learning about Rutherford B. Hayes and it featured a chapter called, I think, Rutherford B. Finger. Apparently Dan’s proctologist is the great whateverson of our 19th President! How funny. I thought that was an interesting coinkydink.

Book #2 Dr. Sleep by Stephen King I have two schools of thought on this book. On the one hand, I really enjoyed reading more about Danny Torrance and what he grew into as an adult. I thought making him a (recover(ed)ing alcoholic was a believable, if somewhat predictable, path to take. I loved most of the parts with him, his new life, etc etc. What I didn’t like? Well, the basic premise of the book itself. The supernatural justification for writing it to begin with. The True Knot? Felt shoehorned in, haphazard, and never once like any sort of legitimate threat. Like most of King’s books this absolutely fizzled in the last 15% or so and went out with not even quite a whisper so much as a cough.

I love King. I really, really do. But his strengths lie in his *characters*. I would have loved a 400 pages book that dealt with Danny and his life post The Shining. Just a guy, fighting his (not literal) demons and going through recovery and starting over. That’s the book I want to read. King is GREAT at thinking up grand and terrifying ideas but often the execution and especially the ending fall flat. Maybe this is why the Dark Tower are some of my favorite books of his, they have so much world building and character development that in the grand scheme of things to actual supernatural/hinky stuff take a far back seat.

Sometimes new is good.

After a long absence (a week, oops!) I return with actual updates. As you can see from my previous post another month as past and with it there are new things to report. Thingero today! Also known as thingero #15 on the list. Do at least one new thing a month. I got that covered and then some! Here are the various new things I did/tried roughly in the order they were done did.

Food
Jasmine’s – This is your basic, run of the mill, Chinese place. I didn’t actually go into the physical location, it was delivered. I had sesame chicken and an egg roll. The chicken was pretty standard, no complaints (or brags) there. The eggroll was mediocre, it was pretty empty inside. Not a lot of substance there! They do deliver to me (and constantly leave menus on my door) so if I desire Chinese food in the future I’d probably go with them.

Norma’s Café – After a late night nothing beats diner breakfast at Noon! I’ve been meaning to try this place for a long time and was pretty pleased. I had a very cheesy omelet and managed to eat the entire thing. I think there was a side (probably potatoes?) but everything was delicious, the price was right, and the interior was fun and retro. IIRC the seats were Texas themed, which is always nice!
Texadelphia – This is in front of my office building but in 1.5 years have never been. I tend to prefer a lighter fare for lunch but it was pretty good. I had a standard philly cheesesteak with a side of fries, probably? Wait, no. Chips and queso. Both good. I probably won’t eat there *often* but I would be fine with going back.

Experiences
I went to the State Fair and Oktoberfest which in and of themselves aren’t new, I go to the fair every year, but I did do some new *things* and ate some new food. Also at the fair I visited the Big Tex flashback type exhibit, which featured a lot of relics from Big Tex throughout the years. We also got to see the brand new actual Big Tex. He burned up in a massive fire last year and so this year he’s all new. Neat stuff!

French Camp Build Day

I am not a burner, by any means. I hate camping with a fiery passion. Or rather I don’t want to do it with a fiery passion. BUT. I do know a lot of people involved in the community. Somehow a friend of mine lured me (aka, invited and I accepted) to a build day. I spent about 4-5 hours painting, moving around heavy pieces of wood, standing around, eating donuts, moving around wood, standing around, painting, standing around… You get the idea. It was actually pretty fun and I enjoy a little (light) manual labor. So, I think that’s probably it? Good times!

Second Month Update. Haven't given up yet!

This is the second update in the grand 30 by 30 list. This was a busy month! Both personally and list wise.
(2) Healthy Eating – better at this, but still not perfect! I am eating a lot more fruits and veggies and cooking actual meals at home! (Did I have chips and queso last night for dinner? MAYBE I DID)
(3) Save money – I am doing very well at this! I must say. I’m still *spending* money though, so I should work on that next? Spending less? I managed to reduce to price of my cable bill though, so there’s that.
(6) Watch every movie on the AFI Top 100 list. – Two more movies down! Double Indemnity and Do The Right Thing. I posted reviews on the blog. I need to start watching more than just two a month.
(7) Finish my duolingo French lessons - I started this up again, though progress is slow! It also (apparently) takes away points as you stop using it so I am backtracking quite a bit! Which is good because I forgot a lot of things, again.
(8) Watch The X-Files. – Finished Season 1! I had to slow down a fair amount due to the fall tv season starting up again, but I was able to catch up over the weekend. I’ll be taking another break to watch Season 2 of Supernatural (I’m alternating) but hopefully I’ll at least get started on S2. (9) Cook one semi elaborate meal a week – I’ve been cooking a LOT more. Nothing really elaborate, but I’ve been creating meals more and I’m going to count that as a win.
(11) Start doing writing exercises. – I’ve been writing on the blog pretty regularly. I missed last week but other than that have been fairly consistent!
(13) Volunteer – This isn’t a monthly goal but I did donate blood this month, help out some dirty hippies with building things/painting things, and have been doing a lot of research into volunteer organizations.
(15) Do one new thing a month – This I covered in spades (what does that mean??? I should look it up.) Tried three new restaurants (Jasmine’s, Texadelphia, and Norma’s Café), went to an Amanda Palmer concert, and participated in a build day for French Camp. More on the blog later!
(18) Talk to my family more – talked to my brother!
(20) Learn a lot about one thing (Presidents!) - This month was Milliard Fillmore. I’ll be putting something up here at the end of the week, likely!
(21) Read more – My goal was 2 books a month and I have been successful so far! (That’s in addition to whatever we’re reading for book club, so it’s really 3/month.) This month I read The Kid by Dan Savage and Dr. Sleep by Stephen King. I’ll be putting up a post on the blog about these both later!
(22) Book club – still going strong! Figured out my groove and am enjoying it so far
(26) Send letters of thanks – I wrote a letter to my dad, but I need to mail it. Oops!

Overall I think I’m doing pretty well. I did lose a little bit of focus, but honestly not nearly as much as I expected. I’m doing pretty well at keeping my monthly goals up, but I need to start focusing on the more nebulous ones as well. That’s something to improve on for my next update! I’m finding this to be a pretty positive experience so far. It’s making me make more decisions consciously, with purpose. I don’t also think “is this something that fulfils a list item?” and it’s not something that I obsess over in my day to day, but I do think about it. If I’m bored at home and about to turn on Netflix I consider (though sometimes reject!) whether I want to watch Random B Movie #458985 or an AFI movie. When hungry and picking out a place to eat I consider whether I want to eat somewhere I’ve been a thousand times or go somewhere new. I’m thinking a lot more before doing.

Next month I would like to do a couple of things in addition to the regular monthly stuff I’ve been doing: Get back to the where I was before in Duolingo. I lost a lot of ground and I’d like to get back to my previous level. Doing at least one lesson a few times a week should get me there. Jump into researching Amsterdam trip. I need to at least lock in the month (likely April) and figure out a rough plan of action. Is there going to be travel to additional cities or countries? Is there a general area that’s preferable? Are there any specific touristy things I want to try to visit? What do I want my overall budget to be? (I’m hoping for $2,000, so I can put it all on my discover and have it paid off by trip time, minus food and incidentals, of course! No clue if that’s realistic, but hey, research!) I’ll probably throw out a post at some point soliciting ideas, so if you have any save it for later!

Double the Indemnity, double the fun!

So, the most recent AFI movie I watched was Double Indemnity. A 1944 film about an insurance salesman that gets conned into killing the husband of a woman he falls in love with. I have a lot of thoughts about this movie.

First of all. Wtf? So, we have or protag, Walter, that pays a house call to the Dietrichson house to renew an insurance policy. Mr. Dietrichson isn’t there so he speaks to his wife, Phyllis. Immediately upon meeting this (married) woman Walter is making creepy come ons and insinuations. They spend a total of maybe 5 minutes together which is apparently enough for Walter to fall ass over teakettle for this woman. I’ve had longer conversations with the barista at Starbucks.

So, Phyllis arranges for Walter to come by a few days later, conveniently on a day when neither her husband nor the maid are around. She brings up killing her husband without actually bringing it up and Walter is smart enough to nope.com out of there. Of course, the damsel ends up at Walter’s later that night spinning a tale of woe that’s less woe and more zzzz.

Her husband neglects her, they no longer have a lot of money, he works all the time, sometimes he slaps her when he gets drunk. She has a step daughter that doesn’t respect her. All these things add up to divorce, sure, but not murder.

Anyway, Walter is in a mad boner rage and eventually agrees to this terrible life choice. Where was *his* sassy gay friend? Oh, right. 1944. Gays didn’t exist yet. Have I mentioned the fact that the two leads have basically zero chemistry? Because they totally don’t. ALSO. When they kiss they just mash their mouths together. It’s like the director told them to high five but right before the cameras rolled he screamed out “BUT DO IT WITH YOUR MOUTHS” and the actors were like did he just say high five with our mouths? And the director was like “DO IT OR THE REST OF THE MOVIE WILL USE SOCK PUPPETS.” And so they did and this is what happened.

Is that just how they kissed in movies back then? I mean they seriously just smooshed their mouths together for about 10 seconds. Was French kissing against standards and practices back then? I might have to look this up. Where was I? Right. SO.

He agrees to this tremendously stupid decision and wow he ends up paying for it later. I got side tracked by my tangent and now I’m not sure what to say. Why is this #29 on the list? I’m going to go read Roger Ebert’s review and see what he has to say. I’ll play some hold music while I’m gone.

*Plays Baby Come Back* Ebert also points out and notices that there is a distinct lack of passion between the two. Is this intentional? He gives the movie 4 stars but recognizes that it’s less a movie about a man killing for love and money and more a movie about a man killing because the plot dictates that he do so. Almost as if it’s a parody of genre films before the genre became a parody of itself. Does that make any sense? Probably not. But neither did anything the characters did.

I really feel as if I missed something with this one. I like the film noir genre. I like smart quips and quick comebacks. I like murder plots and complications and things that don’t go as they should so why don’t I like this one? I love most of everything Hitchcock ever did which is nothing but tales of bad deeds done by good people for the wrong reasons gone awry.

Do The Right Thing

Okay, I’m going to be a bit of a nerd and rage on about color corrections and transfers and what have you. This movie is set on the hottest day in Brooklyn all year. That is, in fact, the entire concept of the movie. The temperature is hot and TEMPERS are hot. Heat makes everyone crazy especially when idle hands are already the devil’s work and you’ve got troubles so hard. Now, when filming this Spike Lee (for both logistical and financial reasons) was unable to do so during the heat of the summer and instead filmed, I believe, in the Springtime. For this reason it was decided in post that a warm orangey filter to would added to give the impression of sweltering heat. And it did. You could basically feel the sizzling black top and smell the sweat dripping off of everyone. The heat itself became a character.

That is until the blu ray release of the movie. In the effort of restoration and “betterification” they did a significant amount of color correction. Instead of hot orange everything has been regulated to cool blues. The heat no longer sizzles. The viewer no longer feels a sympathetic drop of sweat creeping down their face. The heat is not only no longer a character but you find yourself wondering, what’s the big deal? You don’t identify with the heat and you lose some of the identification with the characters because of that. At least, that’s what I think.  BUT, I am admittedly a total nerd about things like this so, whatever.

Anyway, now that’s I’ve whined about the precious sanctity of dvd transfers how about I discuss the actual movie, eh? So. It’s a hot day in Bed Stuy. In a neighborhood that’s almost exclusively black we find a family owned Italian pizza place and a Korean owned convenience store. Even one is bored, hot, and listless. Tempers flare, tragedy strikes, when the chips fall who is left standing and who is to blame for what transpires?

The thing I appreciate about this movie is, while it’s not remotely subtle, it doesn’t entirely point the fingers of blame either. While it does lack in any subtlety it features neither cartoonishly villainous or heroic characters. Everyone is flawed, and everyone makes mistakes. It’s a story with no clear winners or losers because everyone comes out behind. It tells the story that you’ve got to do the right thing but sometimes there is no right thing and sometimes even if you do what is right you end up with a losing deck. Life isn’t simple and everything is complicated. Sometimes you want to fight the power but where do you turn when you’re surrounded by equally powerless people? Who do you fight then? How do you confront the enemy when it doesn’t have a face?

There are no clear answers to any of this. The story is left (mostly) unresolved and nothing gets wrapped up in a tidy bow. Apparently seeing this was Barack and Michelle Obama’s first date, which is hilarious to me because it features a decently long love scene complete with nudity. Also, the ending itself isn’t exactly one to inspire romance.

Overall I agree that it’s a worthy film and probably one of Spike’s best. It has a very clear message but isn’t too preachy or finger pointing. I watch it coming from a place of privilege and acknowledge that my perceptions of it are likely colored by that. What’s next on the list? Not sure yet!

Rbcool

So I’ve been reading up on our wonderful 19th President, Mr. Rutherford B. Hayes. I thought I’d share some of the information I learned about him! I didn’t intend for this to be as long as it turned out, but apparently Presidents have pretty full lives? I tried to make it at least moderately entertaining. Honestly I got a bit bored near the end and kind of phoned it in. Next time I will do it in bits and bobs instead of long sections all at once! On with the show!

He was born in 1822 in Delaware, Ohio. He was raised by his mom and Uncle because his dad died 10 weeks before he was born and his mom never remarried. He had 3 total siblings but only 1 (plus him!) survived to adulthood.  His Uncle’s name was Sardis, which is pretty cool if you ask me.

He went to school and whatever. He did okay. He went to college at Kenyon and became interested in Whig politics there, eventually graduating as Valedictorian. After he graduated he went to Harvard Law and opened his own firm in Ohio. He helped out his cool Uncle Sardis with Real Estate Law stuff. It did okay I guess. When he was 25 he got like super sick. His doctor thought it was tuberculosis but doctors then were barely qualified to put a band aid on people and just told Ruthy to go to Mexico or something? He briefly considered enlisting in the Mexican – American War but his Doctor was like woah, dude, that’s not what I meant so instead he went to visit his family in NE.

He went back to Ohio but business wasn’t doing so good so he packed it in and went to Cincinnati. He opened a new law firm with some dudes and business was pretty good! Also Cincinnati had lots of hot babes and chill places to hang out. He went to church but didn’t become a member for some reason. Why did he go to church then? Probably to pick up some hot babes. Lucky for him it worked! He met his future wife Lucy there. Though it turns out his mother tried to get him to hook up with this broad years before but Ruthy was like woah this bitch is too young! They married in 1952 when she was only 21 and he was 30.

In 5 years she popped out 3 kids! They named their kids Webb (her maiden name), Birchard (which sounds like a tree) and Rutherford. She was kinda uptight and was a Methodist and teetotaler but also an abolitionist which was pretty progressive so she’s cool in my book. Ruthy listened to his wife on a lot of shit but never actually joined her church. Did I mention that he also had a super bitchin’ beard? Cause he totes did.

Oh! So back to the Law thing. He started out dealing with commercial issues and helpin’ his Uncle out with Real Estate bs but he got mad billz in Cincy as a criminal defense lawyer. I know what you’re thinking. UGH. Scummy politician, right? YOU’RE WRONG.  He did defend some probably actually guilty people on murder cases but he also helped out escaped slaves that were accused under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Big C was awfully close to Kentucky which was still a slave state so he tried a lot of those cases.

He was super Abolitionist so this was a personal thing for him but it also helped gain popularity with the new Republican party. I know. Republicans helping and recognizing the plight of suffering minorities??? WHAT UNIVERSE IS THIS? Well, I’ll tell you what. Repubs were actually pretty cool at one point. I mean, as cool as you can be 150 years ago. But we’ll get back to that. Anyway, Ruthy was offered a judgeship in 1956 but he turned it down for some reason. In ’59 he was elected to City Council for a 2 year term and the rest, as they say, is history.

Okay. So. Lincoln is chillin in the White House in 1860, right? Well, Southern states are starting to flee like people leaving an Adam Sandlar movie. Ruthy wasn’t entirely sold on the idea of war to restore the Union. He boldly suggested basically what the rest of the country suggests whenever Governor Good Hair starts spouting off about Texas leaving, which was basically “Meh. Let them.” This was a rough time for our boy. Ohio voted for Lincoln but Cincy eventually turned against the Republican party and went all Hell Naw and kicked R.B. Hayes out of office.  He retreated back to law with his tail between his legs but that lasted a whole 3 days before the war started.

Ruth changed his mind and decided to form a cool volunteer company with some old bros from the Literary Society that he knew. This is unconfirmed but I’m pretty sure they all had super bitchin beards. He eventually gets promoted to major and you know what? A Mr. William McKinley joins his regiment as a private. You might recognize that bro as our 25th President. How cool is that! Anyway. Ruth gets promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. He got hurt a lot and once was shot in the arm. He eventually gets promoted to Colonel.

So more boring war stuff happens. Look, this ain’t the history channel. If it was you’d be reading a lot more about aliens. War is kind of boring to talk about. Ruth gets injured some more and his poor horsie gets shot out from under him. Ruth gets injured some more. I guess he did pretty well for himself though cause Ulysses S. Grant wrote him a letter to say hey bro good job. In 1964 he gets promoted to Major General and his wife pops out another baby, which makes 4 total. They named him George Crook which is a weird name.  The war ended not long after that.

So, while serving in ’64 he gets the R nom to HoR from Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District. Buds of his back in Cincy tried to get him to leave the war so he could hit the campaign trail but he was like Bros. No. Check this. You know what he said? He said that an officer fit for duty that leaves his post to campaign OUGHT TO BE SCALPED. Homeboy is srs bzns. I bet him and Teddy woulda been mad bros. So instead what he did was wrote a bunch of LETTERS to voters and won against the D incumbent. Cool as hell.

So in Dec of ’65 war is over and shit. Ruth is sworn in. He considered himself a moderate R man, but for the sake of being chill voted in with the radicals for party unity. So. 14th Amendment? He voted for it and it passed both houses the next year. He was in agreement with most Repubs on Reconstruction issues. The South should be welcomed back with open arms but dawgs, we should protect freedmen and the black brothers of the South. The President at the time though, Andrew J, disagreed. He was in a mad rush to get the South back in the fold before he worried about protecting former slaves and in fact granted pardons to many of the former Confederate leaders. Ruth and many other Republicans in Congress thought this was totally wack. They rejected that bs and put together the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Ruthy gets another run in Congress and voted for the Tenure of Office Act, which made sure that Andrew Jdawg couldn’t remove officials without the boys in Senate saying it was, like, totally cool bro. He tried for some more civil service reform but too soon man, too soon. In ’67 he resigns and hits the dusty trail to run for Ohio Govnuh.

Peeps of Ohio seemed to dig him. He had slightly more moderate ideas that many Repubs but thought that granting suffrage to black Ohioians was the right thing to do. Sadly that shiz didn’t fly but he baaaaarely won the election by like .5% anyway. As a Right dude in a Left legislature he didn’t have a lot of governing power. Also? Ohio Governors had no veto power. So he couldn’t even be all oh no you dinnit. Even with all that dumb stuff he still helped start up a school for deaf-mutes and a reform school for girls. He was super Pro Impeachment of Andrew Json but that shiz lost by one vote in the Senate. He is nominated for a 2nd term and he’s still trying to get equal rights for black Ohioians and paints his opponent as totes racist. He won by a larger majority this time and the Right took the legislature! This biz allowed Ohio to ratify the 15th amendment, finally granting suffrage.

Since he with the cool Repub bros he had a lot more fun in his 2nd term and was so totally psyched to see suffrage expand and a new college (OSU) go up. He also pushed for reduced taxes and some prison reform stuff. He was pretty stoked to serve his 2 terms and was all set to retire from politics in ’72. *ominous music*

So he’s all down with retiring but his buds are like, listen dude. We’re down with this reform biz and think you should run for Senate. He’s all about the Nope because his wife had popped out TWO MORE kids in the last five years. Dude is 50 with toddlers running around. I forget what the brings us to re: children but they have 8 total. I mean, I guess they didn’t have tv back then so what else ya gonna do? So anyway, he just wants to chill with his kids, manage his real estate, and try to get the railways to extend to his dinky little town. Even though he was allegedly retired he tried for, and didn’t get, a cabinet appointment and his old House seat. The same year he retired. Like. Dude. Do you know what retire means? Whatever. 

So in ’73 Mrs. Hayes gives birth to what I think is their last kid. That’s also when the Panic of 1873 hit which made a lot of people lose money, including our Ruthy boy. So that was crappy. ALSO. That year his cool Uncle Sardis died but they did end up moving into Spiegel Grove which sounds hecka swank. He wanted to stay out of politics so he could work to pay off his debts, but when he was nominated for Governor in ’75 he accepted and won.

Apparently he was good enough to be considered for Presidency and after some rough spots with delegates and getting enough votes, and a totes awkward moment when he admitted  he had not idea who da fuq the VP nominee was, he was off to the races. He was running against Tilden, a Dem Gov from NY. He was also totes for reform and shared a lot of the same views as Hayes. Hayes was worried about losing because the economy sucked and he was unsure that people would elect another Republican into office under those circumstances.  His campaign emphasized the fact that hey, Southern Dems are what caused this Civil War, guys! Don’t let that happen again! Dems said hey, our guy is totes pro reform and also lol look at what Grant has done to the economy! Typical shit.

Okay, so it’s 3 days after election day. It *appears* that Tilden has won 184 electoral votes, which is one shy of majority. Hayes seemed to have 166. 19 votes from South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida were still questionable. As you would expect, both sides claimed victory in those states but they were rendered uncertain due to fraud from BOTH parties. In addition to this, one of the three electors in a state Hayes won, Oregon, was disqualified. Whoever won those votes would be the winner!

Basically both parties were in a slap fight. By January they STILL hadn’t reached a decision so Congress and Grant agreed to submit the issue to an Electoral Commission, which would be authorized to figure out what the fuck was going on. They put 5 Reps, 5 Sens, and 5 ultra rad Supreme Court Justices. They had 7 Dems, 7 Repubs, and one Indie mofo. 8 of the Rs gave Hayes the vote and the Dems tried to pull a filibuster to prevent Congress from accepting. (Buncha babbys!)

So, Inauguration Day is rapidly approaching so both sides meet to negotiate terms. Basically Hayes promised to withdrawal federal troops from the South and accept an election of Democratic governments in the remaining states in the south that were “unredeemed.” Hayes won and Reconstruction was now donezo.

Hahaha. Okay, so he even though he won fair and square a lot of Dems still had sour grapes and would refer to him as "Rutherfraud" or "His Fraudulency" for his entire term. That’s pretty hilarious. Anyway, so he’s sworn into office and promises stuff about reform and a FULL RETURN TO THE GOLD STANDARD.  His first act as President was to end Reconstruction and the return of the South to home rule. House of Reps was ruled with an iron fist by Dems and they refused to appropriate enough dough for the army to continue to garrison the South. Even Republicans by this point were pretty much over it.

He continued to try to protect the rights of Southern blacks but he didn’t have much luck. He also wasn’t able to do much to rebuild Republican strength in the South. He tried real hard though. He was willing to do anything and everything, even if it might sacrificing his own reputation and standing in his party and in the eyes of America to enforce racial equality, but the South, and Congress, just wasn’t having it.

Okay. Also. He made the bold move of suggesting that Federal jobs should go to those QUALIFIED not those that were political or financial supporters. This being politics, it didn’t go over very well. He put his money where his mouth was and hired some qualified and like minded folks in various positions. Corruption abounded but he could not get Congress to outlaw the spoil system. He went so far as issuing an executive order forbidding federal office holders from being required to make campaign contributions or otherwise participate in party politics.

This is where it gets really interesting. Chester A. Arthur, who you might know as the 21st President. Refused. He was the Collector of the Port of New York at the time and him and his subordinates all refused. Hayes demanded they resign and they refused. He appoints some cool dudes, including my buddy Teddy R, to the Senate as their replacements. Senate rejects by a vote of 31-25. 6 months pass and Hayes patiently waits for a Congressional recess and fires the troublemakers. Geez. 

He wasn’t able to do a lot personally for reform, but he did pave the way. Pendleton Act of 1883 was signed into law largely due to Hayes. Who signed it? Why, our old buddy Chesty A.A.!

He did some other cool stuff, involving railroads, currency issues, foreign policy and what not. But this is getting entirely too long! If you’d like to read more about that stuff, well go for it. As it stands, I’m skipping to the end. Hayes stuck with his decision to NOT run for a second term and was happy with James Garfield, his successor. Him and his 50 billion children returned to Spiegel Grove. Despite remaining a Republican, Hayes was pleased as punch with Grover Cleveland being elected in ’84 and liked his views on civil service reform. He was also glad to see the lil noob William McKinley that he once led in battle rise to power.

He was super pro education and advocated for many charities involved in such. He pushed for Federal Aid for education and encouraged black students to apply for scholarships. In 1892, one did and succeeded. Hayes was trouble by the divide between the rich and the poor, but wasn’t sure how to fix it. Sadly, in 1889 his wife died. 4 years later old Ruthy boy followed.  His dying words being “I know that I’m going where Lucy is.” President Elect Cleveland and (then) Governor McKinley led the funeral procession. In 1916 the first Presidential library opened, the Hayes Commemorative Library and Museum. I have no proof of this, but I like to think he died with a wicked awesome beard.

Monthly Update #1

So, it's now been one month since I made my 30 by 30 list (for the complete list visit #jezlistthirty) I did a whole lot of planning and spreadsheeting and I think I've got things down pretty well! I've accomplished quite a few things and am feeling pretty productive. I'm going to focus on what I *did* do and not what I didn't.

#2 - make health a priority. WORK IN PROGRESS. I've been monitoring what I eat and have been more careful. I'm not being super strict but I am watching my calories and loosely tracking them. I've been drinking less alcohol and limiting my sugar intake. Next plan involves raising my water intake and incorporating more fruits and vegetables into my daily eating habits. Not bad!
#6 - AFI - work in progress, as always. I've watched two movies so far, and overall have seen nearly 30 of the movies on the list. See previous posts for an overview of those. I need to start watching these more often, before stuff falls off of Netflix! I think I'm going to aim for one during the week and one on the weekend.
#8 Watch X-Files - I'm more than halfway through the first season. I'm liking it a fair amount so far! It's good background noise and while there's been a couple of stinkers there's also been some really good ones and some that are, at worst, forgettable. I'm also following along with the AV Club rewatch reviews as I go and I'm finding I *mostly* agree with their assessments.
#9 - I've been cooking and using my stove *more* but still not terribly often. This is difficult for me because as a single person that lives alone it doesn't make sense for me to cook very often. It's much easier and cheaper for me to stick to quick meals that don't require a lot of prep and I don't have to worry so much about food waste and the like. I'm still working on this!
#11 - I'm going to revise this a bit. I'm not going to be writing fiction. I'm just not. The goal was to write more and I *have* been doing that.  Though that could probably be used more. Maybe I'll shoot for a 3/week format? Yeah. I like that idea. M-W-F
#13 Volunteer - This was a vague, tenuous goal and I did that deliberately. I didn't want to get tied up on particulars or limit myself in anyway. I think that I will be aiming for a goal of 12 hours (total.) Which isn't a lot, really, but it's more than I did in the previous year. I have made some headway on this already!  We had a work event that involved making bagged lunches for a local soup kitchen. I spent my lunch hour assembling sandwiches and snacks all together we made *650* lunches! Awesome! I also registered for a local volunteer organization and I'm going to be delving into that to see what sort of options are available.
#15 - visit a new place. DONE. Went to a new pub, several new restaurants, a new theater.
#18 -talk to family more. DONE. Called dad
#26 - I wrote my letter of thanks, just need to mail it! Also buy stamps. (NOTE: bought stamps!)
#20 Learn new things - I have a post about this later today! Needless to say, I now know *a lot* about our 19th President. Too much, in fact.
#21 - read more. I've read two books and am currently working on two books!
#22 - start a club. Book club! Started it! Currently reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
#23 -picnic Did some research on this and figured out WHERE I want to have it. Now I need to schedule the when (Sometime in October, likely!) and order supplies
#24 - tattoo Also made some progress on this. I have two tattoos that I want to get. For one, I've decided on *where* it goes. For the other, I still need to figure that out. Once I do, I'll begin researching where I want to go and have it done.

Well, I think that's it! Tune in next month for update #2!

Not the same old, same old

Another one of my plans (aside from consuming copious amounts of media/entertainment) was to do at least one new thing a month. I wanted to keep that deliberately open ended because the idea was just to experience new things. It’s fairly common and typical to get stuck in ruts. Eat at the same restaurants, go to the same bars, see movies at the same theaters, etc. Here are some of the new things I did that I can think of off the top of my head.

Bars

This happened, in fact, on my birthday! I went to *The Lion and Crown* near my apartment. It was… okay. They had a good selection of beers and good happy hour prices. The food was about what you would expect from a pub. The service was pretty terrible. There were only a handful of people there on a Tuesday night and most of them were clustered around the bar. We sat over separate from the bar off by ourselves and it took a good 10 minutes to even have a waiter approach us. I will probably go there again if I just want to drink and have a chat, but not for dinner or speedy service.

Restaurants

Went to two new restaurants! Well, new to me. One is actually new though!

*Pho Que Huong* this barely qualifies. I went there after a shopping trip with a friend for a late night bite. It was right before closing and I just got two spring rolls. No complaints here! It was quiet, the food was reasonably priced and tasted fine, and the service was acceptable. I will probably be returning at some point if I find myself craving Vietnamese food!

*Haystack Burgers* This place is actually new in addition to being new to me! It’s a burger joint next to the new Alamo in Richardson. They are what I guess you would consider gourmet burgers so the price is a little higher than other places. You order at the counter and they bring your food out to you. It’s pretty busy but they have outdoor seating in addition to indoor so in the 6 months we have acceptable weather you’d be fine! Since the burgers are hot and fresh it does take awhile to come out, so I wouldn’t go if you were starving or in a big rush. I think it probably took around 15 minutes? I had the namesake burger which IIRC has onion uh, not rings but breaded and fried onion strings? I guess? Anyway, those, plus bacon and bbq sauce and a HUGE patty. It was super delicious. My dining companion had fries and they appear to be super fresh and made there. I really liked this place and will be back for sure.

Experiences

*Alamo Drafthouse* I’m including this because it’s a brand new theater. If you’re into movies you know what this place is and it’s every bit as awesome as you think. I will probably be going here with friends from now on instead of other theaters. Solo I will probably visit the new, also serves food, LOOK Cinemas that’s within walking distance of work and home.

*Lego Exhibit* This was unexpected and pretty cool! I was at the Dallas Galleria doing some shopping with a friend and we happened to walk by this store that appeared to have Lego buildings and stuff inside. The employees lured us in and for $5 a pop we got to go on a scavenger hunt and see about 15 Dallas landmarks done in painstakingly detailed Lego. I took a bunch of pictures that are available to view on G+. It was a lot of fun and afterwards we played with Lego. I didn’t plan this and didn’t even know it existed but I’m glad I got to experience it!
 

So that was August! September… who knows!

Reading is the most fun a girl can have without lying

So. #21 on my list is to Read More. I set a goal of reading at least two books a month and last month I did just that! Here are the two books I read (sort of.)

The first book I read I'm going to be a bit vague about. It was self published by guy whose blog I follow and he's kind of a whinebag. He's been known to go on blogs "defending" his book and I don't want that all up in here. I'll say that the title is "Timmy" but with a J. Anyway, the title character is an angsty high school kid that ends up kidnapping multiple girls at his school. It was pretty terrible in multiple ways. Not because it was too gory, or too extreme, or too much for my delicate sensibilities to handle. Oh no. It was poorly written, and contrived, and I ended up skimming most of the last bit of the book because it was just that godawful.

Have you seen American History X? You know the scene where Eddie Furlong's character turns in a paper on Mein Kampf? Then, when he gets called into the (black) principal's office he sits back all smug and cocky and is all "Well, you told me to write a paper!" chuckle chuckle look at how edgy I am? Yeah. It's like that, in book form. There's a difference between shocking people in order to grant them a new perspective or understanding and shocking for shocking sake. A way to push awareness into their brain or showcase how horrible something might be. Sometimes shock is the most effective form of communication. Apocalypse Now was shocking and brutal in highlighting the horrors of war and what it does to man. This is not that. It's shocking *just* to get a reaction. The author is under the mistaken impression that a negative reaction proves that he's "doing his job right" and that obviously if you don't like his book you are just 2 square.

Except for the part where your plot, dialogue, characters, setting, and everything else were just poorly written. I couldn't find a single good thing to say about the book other than good on him for finishing it? I am  not a delicate flower. I have Seen Things and Read Things a thousand times worse. I am not offended or shocked by the events that happen in the book. I am offended and shocked by books that bore or frustrate me. It is *badly* written. That's why I don't like it.  And that's okay!

Second on the list is Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman. You've heard about this by now and probably watched the tv show. In case you haven't though, here's a brief breakdown. Yuppie girl meets Drug Runner Girl. They fall in love. Yuppie (Piper) smuggles some of the money around. They break up. Fast forward many years later Piper goes to jail for this, leaving behind her (male) fiancé. She spends a year in prison. The tv show was entertaining, but only similar on the surface.

In the book not a lot happens. She does her time and everyone she ever meet seems to love her. That's not really a criticism, just a statement. The world loves White Privilege Piper and while she seems *aware* that she views the world through that filter it still (heh) colors her writing some. I would be much more interested in learning the story of basically anyone else she did time with. It's not a bad story though, and it's a pretty quick read, but it just lacks much conflict. Something will get worked up to be a big thing and then nothing will happen. I guess that's a lesson to learn. Sometimes things aren't as bad as you expect and sometimes something that seemed like it could be life ending actually ends up quietly disappearing into a puff of mist. The is the way the world *doesn't* end. Not with a bang, but with. well. Nothing.  It was worth a read, but not a purchase. SO, thanks Library e-book lending!

I'm currently reading something for book club in addition to a Dan Savage book. Not sure what I'll read after that. Still got a few weeks to make up my mind!

Things I watched by choice

Here are some movies that I’ve seen since my birthday totally unrelated to the movies on my list, but if I’m writing about movies I might as well write about them all! This is (loosely) in viewing order, with most recently watched last.

The Conjuring

I’m pretty sure that I watched this after my birthday, but oh well if not. It’s a pretty typical, straight forward Haunted House type movie from James Wan. You might remember him from such films as Saw, Dead Silence, or Insidious. I mostly liked two of those movies. Saw, at the time, was pretty inventive and fresh. It did sort of revive a genre that was floundering a bit. Horror in the early 2000s was a bit dead in the water after experiencing a brief resurgence thanks to Scream and Final Destination. Of course, any good will that was built up with this movie was subsequently crushed by the 27 sequels and brought to light a genre that the Japanese and French had long been producing: Torture P***! Now, this is a title that I disagree with on a lot of levels. I think it’s dismissive and a cheap shot. Like when a person ends an argument by saying “Well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man!” It’s criticizing without actually saying anything of note or proving any sort of point other than you can parrot back what Tipper Gore says. If you can back up your opinion with actual words, great! Anyway, what was I doing? Right! James Wan.

So, Dead Silence I thought was pretty terrible. It was predictable, one note, cliché haunted doll movie. All the scares were pretty telegraphed but it wasn’t in an enjoyable or winky way, just a trite and overused type of way. I think it was one of his earlier works though, and he’s obviously learned a few tricks or four. Insidious was a delightful experience. I don’t know if it was intentional, but I spent a decent amount of time laughing out loud, in a good way! It had a lot of creepy moments but for the most part in very fun ways. They subverted some of the genre clichés by outright addressing them and the “experts” they called in later produced some of my favorite parts of the movie. It was overall a pretty enjoyable movie and I’m looking forward to the sequel that will be out shortly.

The Conjuring had a fair amount to live up to. It featured some of the same players from Insidious with some new folks thrown in. It’s (loosely) based on the true story of a husband/wife “ghost hunting” team that are probably most famous for their involvement in the Amityville Horror house. In this movie it’s a different family and demons and etc. There was a lot of really good camera work and set design and a couple of decent scares. It wasn’t anything groundbreaking but all the people involved (especially the child actors!) did a pretty aces job and for the most part I enjoyed it. I will probably not be watching it again but I recommend it to anyone that is a fan of haunted house movies.

You’re Next

This is a film that’s been sitting on a shelf for over two years in distributor hell. Normally that spells terrible things for the quality of a movie but in the case it’s really a matter of people in charge not knowing what they are doing. This is basically a Who’s Who of indie horror with most noticeably featuring horror darling Ti West as one of the masked villains. Ti West you might remember made the incredibly 80’s throwback House of the Devil and another very old school style haunted flick called The Innkeepers. This time he’s in front of the camera with Director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett running things.

Now, Wingard is relatively new to the game. Since he made this movie he’s made a few shorts that I wasn’t really fond of, parts of V/H/S and V/H/S 2 and a bit for The ABCs of Death. Both of these were shorts (especially the latter) and ones that I wasn’t especially fond of. The only feature length film of his that I saw was A Horrible Way to Die which I actually quite liked!  Writer Simon Barrett was his partner on the above mentioned films as well. In addition to their writing and directing duties they also served alongside Ti West in You’re Next as the masked villains. Their career is an interesting case of moving backwards a bit. Going from feature length films to shorts of dubious quality. BUT. After this movie I’m willing to give them another chance.

This is a film that benefits from knowing as little as possible about it before viewing so I will simply say that I enjoyed it for the most part, though I do think it had some flaws. I think at times it took Not Taking Myself Too Seriously too seriously, if that makes any sense? There were winks to the camera but instead of a quick wink it was more of a sloppy both eyelids falling shut for an uncomfortably long period of time wink.  But that’s me being slightly too picky and I think overall it was a very worthy endeavor. I was able to see this movie in a theater that was completely empty except for me and that added a fun layer to it. I will almost certainly be watching this again and will probably even buy the DVD, something that I don’t do often these days!

The World’s End

The final movie in the Cornetto/Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy and a worthy end cap. It was one part buddy comedy, one part Man Child Forced to Face His Shortcomings and one part Action Adventure Video Game.  This is another movie that benefits from mostly staying mum on the subject, so I will simply say that I enjoyed this an incredible amount and look forward to seeing it again. I would place it above Hot Fuzz but below Shaun of the Dead. It wasn’t quite what I expected but I was very pleased with the end result regardless. I also loved that Sisters of Mercy was given so much love!

Super

I watched this on Netflix and almost forgot that I had. That’s less a criticism and more of a commentary on my brain. It stars Rainn Wilson and Ellen Paige as would be superheroes. Sound like another relatively recent movie? Yeah. Well.  It’s from the mind of James Gunn. He directed/wrote Slither and wrote the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead. Which was directed by Zack Synder. Anyway. Yes. It’s a very similar subject to Kick Ass but in my opinion done in a much more realistic and depressing way. The violence is brutal, realistic, and appropriately horrifying. Yeah, I know that was the goal with KA and they were successful to a certain degree but it was still a bit whitewashed and sanitized. Super is slightly fantastical but still about what you would expect if an average human decided they wanted to become a super hero. Not for the faint of heart!

Antiviral

This is (I believe) the first works from Brandon Cronenberg. That last name sounds familiar, you might be saying to yourself if you were me. If you were me you’d already know the answer to that but you’re not so you probably don’t actually care. Crap! Talked myself into a circle on that one. Anyway. He is the son of David Cronenberg. Yeah. That guy! I guess this isn’t his first directorial debut but it’s his third! Which, this reminds me I really need to see David’s newest movie, Cosmopolis? It has Robert Twilight Edward Vampire in it, and hey! Come back here! Sources tell me that it’s pretty good. It’s all in a car, or something? Look, we’re not here to talk about that.

Anyway. So. Antiviral. It’s an interesting look at Celebrity culture and worship and the inevitable downward spiral we’ll find ourselves in. In the not too distant future people actually PAY to have themselves injected with whatever recent virus celebrities have. Yeah. Gross. There’s some interesting turns and ideas and for a lil noob director it’s all done very well. Of course, look at who his father is! I will definitely be keeping an eye out for this guy and this is totally worth a watch if you have 90 minutes or so to spare.

So, those are the non AFI movies I’ve been watching. I really need to get up on that though!

Apocalypse Duck

I watched two of my movie list movies,  Duck Soup and Apocalypse Now. I had seen both movies in part or in whole but it had been many, many years.

Duck Soup was a cute little film. Coming in at just under an hour it’s basically a nonstop quip fest with a lot of physical comedy throughout. It’s 80 years old this year and holds up fairly well.  There are probably some references and jokes that are a bit dated, but it’s mostly barbed insults and goofy physical comedy so very little is lost in translation. It’s a silly little film and it’s very fun and engaging. I can see why it’s on the list.

Apocalypse Now. I feel like everything worth saying about this movie has already been said. Amazing performances from every single person involved. A lot of young babby actors in this! Laurence Fishburne, Harrison Ford, Dennis Hopper (probably my favorite character in the entire movie.) It absolutely deserves to be on the list. It was shocking and heartbreaking and brilliantly done. It makes me wonder, what happened to Coppola? His career kind of went into the toilet, didn’t it?

My Dad narrowly avoided Vietnam. He was 18/19 when it ended. It’s crazy to think that he very well could have served there because it was a war that STARTED before he was born. I’m very glad that he didn’t, I’m sure my Dad is all the more glad. He’s kind of a hippie and probably would have fled to Canada or Mexico or something.

A few interesting things: Martin Sheen was *39* when this came out. He looked much, much younger! I would have pegged him as mid-late 20s at the most. Much of the time I was marveling at how much him and Charlie look alike. Dead ringers! 7 years later his son would star in Platoon. Platoon is another Vietnam era war movie on the AFI list, and in fact one that Netflix suggested to me after watching AN. Charlie was only 21 in that. I’ll probably be watching Platoon this week as a sort of compare/contrast.

All about the p-dents

After some debate, I think I figured out what I’m doing for #20 on my list. As a refresher course, here it is! 

Learn a lot about one thing. I mostly know a little about a lot. I’d like to become fairly knowledgeable about something that isn’t serial killers, forensic pathology, or horror movies. Wow. I’m weird. I’m not sure what, yet? Any ideas?
 
The thing I picked? US Presidents! I’m moderately knowledgeable about them, as much as most standard High School grads are, I guess. I can discuss the major players and the heavy hitters, but what about the rest? Each month I will pick a more obscure President or one I’d like to learn more about and find out as much information as him that I can. Wikipedia pages, weird fan sites, possibly biographies (depending on how much time I have!)

What did Chester Arthur do?? Don’t know much about the guy. Zachary Taylor? I don’t know! He probably did stuff!!  Maybe it was important! I’m probably dumb for not knowing this! History buffs are probably rolling their eyes and cringing right now. Do you have a favorite President? I have a soft spot for Teddy Bear Roosevelt. I did a book report on him in the 6th grade and he’s been my favorite ever since. He got shot during a speech! AND HE FINISHED HIS SPEECH HOW COOL IS THIS GUY ANSWER, VERY COOL.

My first President shall be… Rutherford B. Hayes because his name is fun to say.

you shouldn't read underwater

This ties into #22. Which one is that? Glad you asked!

22. Start a club of some sort. Book club? Movie club? Underwater basket weavers club?

Okay, I think I decided to start a book club thing. I am reading two books a month, so I will make one of those a book club selection. I really have no idea what I’m doing. But. I think I will be posting discussions on g+ but for the local people also having an in person thing? I think that’s how book clubs work. Anyway, I have a list of the books I plan to read already and I don’t want to add to that significantly so the book list has basically been decided. I know some book clubs work by each person choosing one bla bla blah but not this one!  There’s a decent selection of “heavy” reading but also some lighter fare. It’s all what one would probably consider “literature” for whatever that’s worth. Which is mostly a way of saying we won’t be reading any Mary Higgins Clark or Stephen King. (Though I do enjoy those authors!)

Okay, so the first book will be The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. I know, it’s a big one! It’s 607 pages. A whopper of a biggun. That’s roughly 20 pages a day. I know, it’s a lot! Luckily we have a 3 day weekend to look forward to. It’s also kind of a heavy read. I love Murakami though, he has some of the most lyrical and beautiful writing. Hopefully this isn’t too much for anyone, the rest of the books chosen will probably be shorter! Or, you know, not.

Any Murakami fans? I read and ADORED Kafka on the Shore, but that’s the only one of his I’ve read so far. I’m really looking forward to this one!

I really like spreadsheets

So. I made a spreadsheet. I am doing this Aug-Aug so it’s 13 months, though not really full ones! I broke some of the more nebulous ones into manageable goals with monthly “Tasks”. I have one Tab for Monthly (with a line/row for each month and activity) and a tab for the more vague activities. I have 13 things to do each month! Yikes! Luckily some of them are incredibly easy (call family, go to a new place, write a letter) and will just require that I remain aware that I need to do them.

I also created separate tabs for movies and books. I assigned myself 8 movies each month, which is about 2 a week. 13 doesn’t divide evenly into 100 so I have some wiggle room. If I have seen the movie in the last 5 years OR more than once overall I am marking it off. If time allows, however, I will rewatch those movies towards the end. I am setting a very important ground rule for these viewings. I will watch them as if I were in a theater environment. That means no cell phones, tablets, computer usage, etc. Of course, I will allow myself bathroom breaks and such! This way I don’t end up playing Plants vs Zombies for 2 hours while On the Waterfront plays. Some of these movies will be an exercise in patience. For that reason each week I will probably choose one movie I either look forward to watching or have no expectations for and one movie I don’t particularly look forward to seeing. This way, the latter half of this year won’t be loaded with all the things I avoided seeing.

Books I am going to be pretty laissez-faire about. I have TONS of books so will have no problem finding 24 to read. I do, however, want to step outside my horizons a little bit. For that, I looked up Entertainment Weekly’s recently posted “100 must read” list. There are a lot that I’ve read already, but I picked the ones I find interesting that I haven’t. There’s a pretty decent selection there of classic classics, modern classics, high literature, popcorn reading, etc. My list is complete. I have a nice selection of stuff I own but haven’t read, and stuff I have neither read nor own. I am cheating slightly by choosing a book on the EW list I already started, but I only got about 50 pages into it so I’m giving myself a little leeway.

The first two movies are Apocalypse Now and The African Queen. I’ve only seen AN once about 8 years ago? I think I may have watched part of African Queen many, many, many years ago but this was well over 15 years ago so it hardly counts. Also, it quite possibly could have been a different movie entirely. Who knows! I can’t say I’m looking forward to seeing it. It was definitely on the “ugh, really?” side of the list. Anyone see this? Feedback?

The book I’m reading this month is A Confederacy of Dunces. Since the month is half over, I’m probably only going to be reading one book. The means I need to read about 20 pages a night to finish this one, which is more than doable. I like it so far. The main character is so unlikeable (purposefully) but in a way that delights me. He reminds me of most of the people in online comments on the internet. He’s just so terrible and smug! Ahahahaha.

So far, so good. At least as far as planning stages go. Plan, plan, plan. Planning is always my favorite part of just about everything. Next up I plan (heh) on making tabs for the more nebulous of goals and brainstorming.

Things to do before I'm dead.

If you’re reading this, you probably already know what this is all about, but if not.  Hi! Can I ask you a question? Do you like corn? Before you answer that. Hi!

Anyway. This is a project I’m doing. I just turned this week and want to get some things done before I turn 30 in a year. This is my list of 30 things. In the next post I’ll elaborate on some things and discuss my game plan. Spoiler alert: It involves spreadsheets. 

It was difficult to make this list. Most of the ones I could find online (and I looked at *dozens*) heavily featured either stuff I’ve already done or stuff I have no interest in doing or ability to do so. I don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a purse and I can in no way, shape, or form afford to spend a year living abroad or visit 30 different countries or things like that. So, this was mostly something I pulled together on my own.

I tried to pick things that will be both challenging and easy (with some effort!) Some will require additional followup.

Some of these are specific, some of these are a little more general. Please feel free to provide me with any input or advice you might have. :)

1.       Travel Overseas - already have designs on going to Amsterdam next year! Need to sit down and figure out a game plan.

2.       Make health a priority (vague, yes.) While I would like to lose weight, I don’t want to focus on that too much. Eat less junk food, more fruits and vegetables, exercise more, eat out less, etc. I won’t be weighing myself for awhile (I know what I weighed a few months ago) but I’ll probably do that on a monthly or so basis.

3.       Save money! Like… really save money. And don’t spend it! – I have some plans already in mind to reduce my spending each month.

4.       Take some sort of class. Anything, really. Learn a new skill! Improve a current one! The world is my oyster. – This will probably be a single session type thing, as opposed to a college course or something along those lines.

5.      {redacted} ~ for british eyes only ~ (it’s safe for work, but private!)

6.       Watch every movie on the AFI Top 100 list. – Some of these have already been accomplished. I need to make a list.

7.       Finish my duolingo French lessons - I got a decent way through and then kind of stopped. Time to start again!

8.       Watch The X-Files.  – I watched this off and on when it originally aired. I was only 9 when it started and 18 when it ended. I saw episodes on a scattered basis, but due to a) not having a dvr and b) being either in bed or out of the house, I missed a lot of episodes, and didn’t see any of the ones from probably 1999 until the end.

9.       Cook one semi elaborate meal a week. - Doesn’t have to be fancy, per se, just more involved than throwing pasta in a pot. I eat a lot of meals out, frozen stuff, or easily prepared things like tortillas + protein + cheese and the like. Goal: to use stove and oven more!

10.   Go to the gym 150 times. - That’s roughly 3x a week. Ties into #2!

11.   Start doing writing exercises. - This isn’t fully fleshed out. I’m not sure what process this will take, rather it’s finding a program to follow online or buy a book or something like that? Find writing prompts? Maybe one short story a month? This will require further elaboration/thought.

12.   Similar to the previous, do the same with photography exercises. Practice my skills! Will develop a more thought out plan.

13.   Volunteer – again a vague, nebulous thing. But I would like to start SOMEWHERE. Even if it’s just an hour handing out flyers. Do something for nothing. More research

14.   Start therapy – this is way totally long overdue and boy do they have their work cut out for them! They have generations of irish stoicism to work through. Hope you like corn, doctor! And by corn I mean crippling emotional neurosis

15.   Do one new thing a month – I tend to go to the same places, eat the same restaurants, shop at the same stores. Once a month I’d like to step outside my comfort zone and go somewhere/do something I’ve never done before. That weird looking bar on the corner I’ve always side-eyed but never gone in? Done. That small art museum I’ve never made time to visit? Doin’ it.

16.   {redacted} ~ for british eyes only ~ (it’s safe for work, but private!)

17.   Travel domestically more - Visit somewhere new. Resist urge to spend all your vacation time in Chicago. I hope to visit Seattle this year. Next year? Portland, Maybe Boston? Who knows.

18.   Talk to my family more - Call one of them at least once a month, which is a fair bit more than I do currently. We aren’t a close knit bunch!

19.   Go to at least one BIG concert - There are a lot of musical acts that I would like to see before they shuffle off this mortal coil. I keep putting it off because “there’s always next year” or “It’s too expensive” or whatever. Bands like Rolling Stones, The Who, stuff like that.

20.   Learn a lot about one thing. I mostly know a little about a lot. I’d like to become fairly knowledgeable about something that isn’t serial killers, forensic pathology, or horror movies. Wow. I’m weird. I’m not sure what, yet? Any ideas?

21.   Read more. A lot more - I haven’t been reading nearly as much. I used to spend about an hour a day on the bus and would get a lot of my reading done then. Not so much now! Goal is 24 books in a year which should be easily doable. I used to knock that out in a few months!

22.   Start a club of some sort. Book club? Movie club? Underwater basket weavers club?

23.   Have a real life, honest to god picnic. With red checkered blanket and brown wicker basket.

24.   Get a tattoo. I’ve been wanting to do this for years. I know what I want, I just near to decide where to get it done and where it’s going to go.

25.   Attend a significant cultural event. Opera, play, ballet, symphony performance. Something that involves getting very fancy and trying not to loudly curse too much.

26.   Send letters of thanks. To friends, family, or even celebrities, whatever! I think one a month is a good place to start.

27.   Send a weekend alone, but not at home. On the weekends I am usually oot and aboot with friends, OR I hole up the entire weekend by myself. I would like to take a weekend and spend it by myself, but out of my apartment. This could easily tie into #17, #25, #15, etc etc.

28.   {redacted} ~ for british eyes only ~ (it’s safe for work, but private!)

29.   Adopt another kitty. I’ve wanted to do this for awhile!

30.   Give up something for one month. Not necessarily a calendar month, but for at least a period of 31 days. Something I will actually miss. 

There’s a lot of ambitious stuff on here to do in even one year! I’m really going to have to stay on my own ass to make sure things don’t fall off the radar. If I can accomplish even *half* of these things though I will consider myself a success. Life moves quickly, man!