Saturday, April 18, 2009

Changes

It's amazing how much your life can change in less than a year. As I look over my 101 list, I realize how many of these things I don't really care about doing anymore, and how many other things I would rather do instead. I'm tempted to start over again and do an entirely different list, but I don't think that would be fair either.

So here is my update:

6. Buy a “word of the day” calendar, and use each word in a sentence each day for two weeks

I finally bought the calendar, but keep forgetting to start using the word. Hopefully I can get this completed soon. It's just difficult when the calendar is at work.

12. Clean out Denton house

Thanks to Jay, I am finally making progress with this one. He has been such a great help motivating me that I almost value his motivational help over his physical and technical help. He has been a Godsend for so many reasons, and this is one of them.

13. Complete my AA degree
As long as I pass my statistics class, this will be a reality next month! :)

17. Get a fish tank
I don't really care about this one anymore... I think it will be a lot more trouble than it is worth.

21. Get my arm tattoo removed - in process
I've had 7 treatments and hopefully I just need one more. I was taking a little break from this one, been getting burned out (no pun intended) from these things.

22. Get my Phi Theta Kappa certificate framed
I have no idea where my certificate even is! So maybe I should change this to "order new certificate in a frame." :-P

23. Give some of Dad’s cremains to Chez Lafitte
I haven't talked to the owner of Chez Lafitte in a few years and it would just be weird to even bring it up to her now. I should change this to "find dad a new box/container."

24. Go back to House Mountain Inn
Too expensive... I've found equally fun places for a lot cheaper!

26. Go fishing
We had planned on doing this on our last trip to Key West, but didn't get a chance. Hopefully I can do this sometime over the summer in some capacity.

27. Go horseback riding
Jay and I did this at the beginning of February... I had the laziest horse ever!

31. Go see a dermatologist
Not even sure why I had this on here to begin with! My skincare regimen is pretty good now and I don't have as many problems with acne as I did a few years ago. I've accepted my skin for what it is and I don't really see a need to go see another doctor. I have to go enough between GYN, thyroid stuff and the allergist!

32. Go see the Orioles play in another ballpark
I may still do this... I think I'd like to see them play the Nationals.

33. Go swing dancing
I can check this off... Jay and I have taken lessons at Arthur Murray and have shown off our moves at a variety of different establishments.

34. Go through old class books & notebooks (throw out or give away the ones I don’t need anymore)
I did this when I moved, not sure why I didn't check it off then.

36. Go to a play at my old high school
Completed! I saw Les Miserables at NCHS during the last weekend of March... they did an awesome job.

37. Go to Little Havana for brunch with at least 10 friends
This is also completed, although I can't remember when. In attendance: Me (obviously), Jay, Shaggy, Sheehan, Jen S, Tim, Jen M, Drue, Niki, and Scott.

52. Learn to fly (complete a solo)
Definitely don't care about this one. I took one lesson, I think that's enough! I'm modifying it to "take a flight lesson" and checking it off.

53. Learn to salsa
Done, although not all that well. Took lessons at Arthur Murray and found a lot of dances that I like a lot more than salsa!

66. Ride a mechanical bull (I stole this idea from someone, but I wanna do it!)
I am cursed when it comes to this one... it seems like whenever I'm set up to do this, there's a mechanical malfunction or something crazy happens. Went twice in Key West to ride it and was unsuccessful. This makes me want to ride it even more!

71. See the Redskins play the Cowboys both at home and away
Don't care about this quite as much... there are more important things to spend money on these days.

72. Sell Denton house
Working on this with Jay's help!

73. Send a letter or email to 3 people that I haven’t been in regular touch with
With facebook and myspace I've been able to connect with a lot of people, so I'm just going to check this one off.

74. Send a postcard to the owner of Le Voltaire Hotel in Arles
Since the owner didn't remember my aunt, he sure as hell doesn't remember me! I've lost the address, not sure if I'll ever do this.

75. Send Anthony a wedding present/card
Lost Anthony's address and I'm well past the standard one year rule. Sorry buddy!

76. Send Cheryl and Megan pictures from Amanda’s wedding
Amanda got married 3 years ago... I doubt Cheryl and Megan even remember me and I've long since lost their email addresses. Amanda has plenty of pictures anyway.

77. Set work-out goals (i.e. 45 minutes of cardio 3x a week) and stick to them for at least one month
Last summer I was a machine when it came to exercising... I've found that it works a lot better if I don't concentrate on specific goals.

78. Sing karaoke with a local celebrity
I consider Niki a local celebrity and I still haven't sung karaoke with her. I'm sure it will happen sooner or later.

79. Take a cooking class
These seems unnecessary... Jay and I have a great time in the kitchen together and I've learned from him. I think that should count.

80. Take a horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park
This might happen... we'll see!

81. Take a yoga class
Had an opportunity to do that last week and didn't take Niki up on it. I'm sure I can fit this in somewhere!

82. Take an impromptu weekend trip (changed from an impromptu weekend trip to Europe on 9/26/08)
Meh. We'll see... I don't do many things spur of the moment.

84. Take Stefani to Ruth’s Chris for dinner
This is going to be really difficult to do since Stef is now a vegetarian!!!

85. Take the MR2 for a weekend at the beach
This will also be difficult to do since I sold the MR2 after moving into Baltimore City.

86. Travel to Australia and visit Aunt Nancy
I'm still hoping to do this, although it will probably be past the deadline. Jay and I are probably going to Australia for our honeymoon, so we will spend at least a few days with her.

89. Visit a winery in California
I visited one in Maryland. Screw it, I'm changing this and checking it off.

90. Visit Disney World
I hate crowds, why would I have ever wanted to visit Disney World?

92. Visit Key West again
Been three times now!

93. Visit Lake Tahoe again
Not sure why I really wanted to go back there... the first time wasn't great, so I think I'd rather choose somewhere else.

94. Visit my cousin Emily in Boise
I would still like to do this but I don't know if it will be possible.

97. Visit the Air & Space Museum in Dulles
I'd still like to do this

98. Visit the Baltimore Aquarium
This is in the works

99. Walk or bike the B&A trail around BWI
One of these days!

100. Watch the sun rise and set in the same day over the ocean
Very close to doing that in Key West. I will do it one of these days!

101. Write a letter to the editor
This isn't very difficult, I'll do this eventually.


So those are my updates! Yippee!

Friday, January 16, 2009

Finally some updates!

I'm just copying and pasting from this... wrote it earlier today, so the formatting might be a bit off. I still have to update the official 101 list after this post, but here it is... what you've been for for the past ??? months:

Finally some updates!

I know that it’s been forever since I posted. I have many updates as well as some changes I’d like to make to my list… I’m not necessarily cheating, but I decided to change some of my objectives and have since completed them. Here are the long overdue updates to my list:

1. Apply for a scholarship to a 4 year institution
Of course I need to be accepted to the institution first, but I believe that I have at least decided where I will be attending after I graduate from AACC. I’m planning to attend UMBC… either in the fall (2009) or perhaps next spring (2010) so that I can take a break and hopefully do a show or two.
6. Buy a “word of the day” calendar, and use each word in a sentence each day for two weeks
I just ordered my word of the day calendar and it should be arriving next week! Stay tuned on this one!
13. Complete my AA degree
I thought it would never happen, but I am just months away from finally completing my degree. There have been many hiccups along the way, but the end is within sight!
15. Get a Bose sound dock station for my iPod (4/19/08)
I got one of these for my birthday last year (yikes!), so this can be checked off.
19. Get an unplanned body treatment (facial, massage) while on vacation (3/2008)
I got a massage while on my Eastern Caribbean cruise over spring break last year, as well as some weird oil scalp treatment.
21. Get my arm tattoo removed - in process
This is still in process, although I was hoping that it would be done by now… I’ve now had 6 treatments and it is almost gone. I think that one or two more should do the trick.
22. Get my Phi Theta Kappa certificate framed
Honestly I have no idea where this thing disappeared!? I think I may end up changing this objective to “order new Phi Theta Kappa certificate.”
23. Give some of Dad’s cremains to Chez Lafitte
I haven’t spoken with the owner of Chez Lafitte for quite some time. I would still like to “share” him with the place that he used to perform, but I don’t know if too much time has passed. I’m going to try to stop by there one of these days (maybe after a day of cleaning in Denton) and talk to Elizabeth. If this doesn’t end up happening, I’m going to buy a decorative urn so that he’s not still hanging out in his cardboard box.
24. Go back to House Mountain Inn
I’m changing this to “Go to Fiddler’s Roost Cabins.” It’s a new place and I’d like to make new memories. HMI rooms cost 2 or 3 times as much as Fiddler’s Roost, and the cabins look adorable.
27. Go horseback riding
Planning on doing this at Fiddler’s Roost in Feb. 2009.
28. Go kayaking (3/2008)
I did an eco-tour in St. John during the Caribbean cruise in a sea kayak. It counts!
29. Go on a Caribbean Cruise (3/2008)
Did the Eastern Caribbean on Carnival Valor… visited Nassau (too hungover to get off the ship), St. John and St. Maarten. On the last night of the cruise, I performed as Madonna in front of a thousand people on their main stage. Yeah, I’m good.
30. Go out for karaoke with my coworkers
Well, only one of my coworkers was there… I’m going to try to do this one again, but if I can’t get more people out, I’m still going to check this one off.
33. Go swing dancing (1/2009)
I’m checking this one off – Jay bought me/us couples dance lessons for Christmas. On our first date he brought up wanting to learn Salsa and Swing. I suspected him of stalking me and finding my 101 list, but he still claims that he never knew of the list until I told him about it. Anyway, we’ve been taking lessons at Arthur Murray for a few weeks and are learning foxtrot, swing, salsa, merengue, rumba, club swing, cha cha and the waltz. (not necessarily in order of importance) Turns out we’re actually decent dancers… who woulda thunk a guy with size 14’s would be so good on his feet? He’s totally showing me up, I’ve gotta step up my game!
34. Go through old class books & notebooks (throw out or give away the ones I don’t need anymore) (8/2008)
I did this as I was packing to move to Federal Hill. It was both liberating and time-consuming going through all of that crap. Of course, I started reading all this material and remembering how interesting some of it was. So yes, I have quite a bit of that in storage now… but most of what I kept is psychology related, and I’ve decided that I’m going to go ahead and get my psych degree at UMBC.
37. Go to Little Havana for brunch with at least 10 friends (11/2008)
I can’t remember the weekend that we did this, but it was quite a crazy day. The night before, I stayed at Jay’s in DC and we were up until the wee hours of the night. Two of his roommates made the trip to Baltimore with us, so we got the whole ten needed. Those present were: me, Jay, Shaggy, Sheehan, Jen S., Tim, Mook, Drue, Niki, and Scott. Actually I have to thank Niki and Scott for coming especially, since they’d played a show in VA the night before and still managed to make it. That was very cool of them!
48. Hike Old Rag
Well, we planned for it. The whole month of October it had only rained one or two days, and of course it rained like crazy on the day we planned it. It will happen though!
50. Jog an entire mile without stopping to rest (sad as it is, I’ve never been able to do this) (8/2008)
Aided by NIN, All-American-Rejects, My Chemical Romance and Breaking Benjamin, I achieved this feat on a treadmill at my old apartment complex. Unfortunately after moving to Federal Hill, my running slacked off. The combination of uneven sidewalks, a new relationship and trying to pass my algebra class took over my will to keep up with running. When the weather warms up again, I intend to get back into it… I just can’t run outside if it’s below 50.
52. Learn to fly (complete a solo) (~6/2007)
I’m changing this to “take a flight lesson”, which I did at some point during the summer of 2007, can’t recall when. It’s too time and finance consuming right now, not to mention that I just really don’t care that much about it. It’s cool to say that I’ve flown a plane, but there are other hobbies that I would pursue before flying… I have a lot of interests that are more interesting and less expensive for me!

53. Learn to salsa (1/2009)
I’m learning most of the popular Latin dances at Arthur Murray – see # 33
75. Send Anthony a wedding present/card
I’m going to change this to either contact Anthony or change it to something completely different. Too much time has passed from when he got married and I don’t know if I have the correct address for him.
76. Send Cheryl and Megan pictures from Amanda’s wedding
Again, too much time has passed from Amanda’s wedding and I also lost the email addresses of those girls, so I might change this to upload pictures from various events and email the album links to the appropriate people.
84. Take Stefani to Ruth’s Chris for dinner
Well… Stef is now a vegetarian, so taking her to Ruth’s Chris probably would not be the greatest idea now. I’m going to have to find a new place to take her.
85. Take the MR2 for a weekend at the beach
After carefully reviewing my options, I decided that keeping the MR2 in the city is impractical and too expensive. So unfortunately, #85 is being changed from “take the MR2 for a weekend at the beach” to “Sell MR2”, which I did in November.
86. Travel to Australia and visit Aunt Nancy
This one may actually happen at the end of 2009 or maybe 2010. Flights aren’t as expensive as I thought, nor as long. I’ve decided that I’ll fly out to LAX, stay there for a few days and then fly to Australia. From the west coast, it’s only about 14 hours… that’s not too bad.

So that’s my update! I hope that I start getting better about updating it!