30x30 Update #4

Another month, another not a whole lot to report.

I watched two AFI movies (one should have been in the last report, but whatever.) Midnight Cowboy (review is up) and Shane (review should be up at a future date)

I read several books, I'm also including one I hadn't previously, I don't think. I feel like I'm leaving something else off though!

Amateur Night at the Bubblegum Kittykatt - a blogger I've been reading for years self published this book, an account of her ennui filled early/mid 20s about when she worked as a hostess at a strip club. I enjoyed it because I've been following her blog for years, I'm not sure I would recommend it otherwise. There's not a whole lot there to grab you, though she does have a decent enough writing style.

Mennonite in a little black dress - Another memoir (big month for those, apparently!) this time about a reformed/former Mennonite that gets a divorce after 15 years of being married. Her husband leaves her for another man and we later find out that they had a terrible marriage, and she knew that he was bi and had been with other men in the past so this wasn't all together surprising. A bit misleading because at first it sounds like it's totally from left field and unexpected. Worth reading if it's either free or cheap, as you do find out interesting things about Mennonites.

I only did one new thing, that I can think of. Ate at a fabulous place called Whiskey Cake, as a friend was visiting and a group of us decided to go. Had a very good cocktail that I can't remember the name of, and some amazing pork loin with grits, and a gigantic piece of whiskey cake. It was pricey, but worth it!

Oh! Remembered another thing. Addison Taste of Chicago - FINALLY ACTUAL CHICAGO STYLE PIZZA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was so, so good y'all. SO good. Not quite the real thing, and the crust could stand some flavoring, but pretty close to authentic and insanely delicious. I'll probably order from this place way too often.

I think that's it?

Update the Third: The Updatening

Not going to be much of an update this month! I haven't been... spectacular about following much of anything. I would blame the holidays but honestly I think it's just ennui. That being said, I did manage to accomplish a couple of things:

New places:
Jersey Joe's: a cute little sandwich shop. Good sub, nothing spectacular to write home about but decent enough and on my way home. I believe I got the Italian sub
Cindy's NY Deli: very good, a place I've been wanting to try! Inexpensive, large portions, and very delicious. I believe I had the... um.. salami open faced sandwich?
Strangeways: a very neat, dark, interesting divey bar. It's way out of my way but I would love to go back.

Books:  I feel like I'm forgetting something, but we did Handmaid's Tale for bookclub October (November was kind of a disaster because I got fed up with Maps and Legends, a book of essays by Michael Chabon... let's not go there.)

A Year of Biblical Womanhood - I got pretty bored by this, I thought it would be interesting to read about a (Christian) woman trying to follow biblical ideals of being a woman but it turns out? Nope.

Voluntary Madness - Norah Vincent, the same woman that wrote She's the Man decides to spend a few months trying out different mental health facilities. It was... interesting. I feel like at times she was too critical/had too high expectations and she even agreed with that, pointing out that she didn't have any better solutions for the problems she brought up. Worth a read if the mental health field interests you in anyway!

I think that's really all I have update wise! It's not nothing, I guess.

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!

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!