101 Things in 1001 Days

Well, it looks like it's gone viral - this 101 things in 1001 days business - and I have decided to buy into it for no good reason other than a bit of fun. I mean, I'm sure that the concept ebbs and flows because it first started in 2003, and my friend Emma (a non-blogger, but one who does frequent blogs) mentioned last year or maybe the year before that she was going to do it, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't come up with 101 things I could conceivably do in the next 1001 days. But it's come around again and seems to have hit my little corner of the Blogosphere with a vengeance, so I'm in.

In case you don't know what it's about, here is the info from the Day Zero Project website:

The Challenge:

Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:

Tasks must be specific (i.e. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (i.e. represent some amount of work on your part).

Why 1001 Days?

Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple challenges such as New Year's resolutions or a 'Bucket List'. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips, study semesters, or outdoor activities.

So, with no further ado, here's my list: (note that on my initial list, #1 was "find 101 things to do in 1001 days" and #2 was "blog about it", but I have since found two things that can take the place of those, and they're also kind of a given)

Food and wine
1. Declare my 29th year to be Year of the Cupcake and conquer my fear of cupcakes, good and proper. One new cupcake each month!
2. Taste wine in the Barossa (done it before but my wine supply is dwindling!)
3. Taste wine in McLaren Vale (ditto)
4. Taste wine in the Clare Valley
5. Learn to make meringue buttercream frosting
6. Make Sweetapolita's ruffle cake
7. Make Sweetapolita's rainbow cake (ex-Whisk Kid)
8. Make my own wedding cake
9. Make gnocchi from scratch
10. Learn to cook artichokes
11. Learn to cook chokos
12. Learn to cook (or not cook??... see how confused I am???) figs
13. Make chutney
14. Bottle fruit
15. Hold a dinner party with a theme every 6 months, e.g. a certain county's cuisine; a colour; a flavour etc
16. Make monkeyface biscuits
17. Make croquembouche. Or profiteroles. Some sort of fancy French pastry thing filled with creme patisserie, anyhow!
18. Make a lemon tart
19. Learn to make a Toblerone
20. Learn to make a Pina Colada
21. Learn to make a Cosmopolitan
22. Learn to make cheese
23. Make icecream

Hobbies and crafts
24. Blog at least twice a month for a year
25. Learn to use photo editing software
26. Research camera lenses properly to determine which one I want next
27. Purchase said lens and take some kickass photos with it
28. Write a post on what I have learnt about lenses so that I can give the next poor sucker a helping hand
29. Make an effort to take a photo each week for six months
30. Do a jigsaw puzzle
31. Build a Lego model
32. Sew one garment and one useful item (curtains, napkins, apron etc) from scratch
33. Knit something tricky, e.g. a jumper with a snowflake pattern on it
34. Take a long-exposure photo of the night sky

Sport, health and recreation
35. Exercise 4 times per week in the lead-up to the wedding. Keep a record of it and share it with the world when I'm done
36. Go for one month without red meat
37. Go for one month with no processed food i.e. the only thing that can come from packets are things like rice or spices or basic baking ingredients like flour and sugar, where you can visually identify the individual ingredients. An exception will be made for bread, but only for wholemeal or rye breads, not refined white ones. Keep a list of everything I eat that month to hold myself accountable
38. Spend 20 minutes per day walking for a month. Shopping counts!
39. Climb Mount Bogong (again)
40. Buy a good pair of sneakers that give my feet the support they need when I exercise
41. Learn the Viennese Waltz
42. Do a 4WD course
43. Go horse riding
44. Get a shooter's licence
45. Take calcium tablets every day - no Swiss Cheese spine for me!
46. Take a poledancing lesson
47. Take a ballet lesson
48. Participate in a fun run/walk
49. Lose 1kg per month until I am under 75kg (but over 70kg) and am happy with what I see. Keep it off and throw away my "backup" jeans

Travel
50. Visit Wilson's Prom (this may or may not fit into the sport, fitness and recreation category, depending on whether the visit involves a hike)
51. Visit a theme park
52. Take Grant to the snow
53. Go fishing with Saul and Steve (that's my brother and my might-as-well-be-my-brother, for those who don't know me)
54. Visit Africa
55. Visit Mexico
56. Visit Tasmania, preferably to do the Overland Track (which will depend on my health and the level of idiocy of my friends for agreeing to accompany me)
57. Write a list of 10 places around the world I wish to visit in this lifetime (I don't think phrasing it as "before I die" is particularly appropriate, because everyone assumes they'll die at around eighty, and in reality our time on this planet may be much shorter than that. Macabre, I know, but why wait a lifetime to do something you want to do?)
58. Climb Sydney Harbour Bridge
59. Take Grant to Kangaroo Island

Thinky and learny stuff. Stuff is good.
60. Re-read Wuthering Heights. Again. Try to enjoy it, or at least to understand why it is a "classic". Try not to be angry about wasting my time when I find out I still hate it
61. Read A Long Walk to Freedom
62. Do some sort of further education in ecology or science
63. Do some sort of further education to make me more employable, in an area such as safety, quality or management
64. Get a food handler's certificate
65. Read the books I have before buying more
66. Read Gone With the Wind (will have to wait until I've achieved the previous one because I don't own it! Oh, but I'd forgotten about libraries... and one of my friends probably owns it... yeah, I'll be fine)
67. Watch Gone With the Wind (it doesn't really fit into the other categories so I'll leave it here for purposes of comparison to the book)
68. Take a language class
69. Take a botanical illustration class (or just a drawing class, if they won't let me in due to my lack of wikkid skillz!)
70. Learn ten new songs on the guitar
71. Learn the basic geography of Africa
72. Read Romeo and Juliet again. Understand the meaning of the words and appreciate their beauty as I go. Learn 3 soliloquies from it

General
73. Get married (yeah, I know, foregone conclusions are cheating...)
74. Delete crap photos from SD cards and hard drives
75. File photos properly
76. Make albums for holidays and events, using only the good photos
77. Print the GREAT photos and frame them
78. Learn to blow-dry my hair to make it nice and shiny and smooth (I'm turning 29 in a couple of weeks and don't own a hairdryer...)
79. Use up all the dregs of half-used beauty products before buying new ones
80. Clean out my underwear drawer and get rid of the "uglies". Everybody has them and nobody should!
81. Apply for an ABN
82. Save up for a second house
83. Fix the gremlins in the House at Ness Corner
84. Rent out the House at Ness Corner and become a bloated capitalist (HAH!)
85. Own a dog. Train it well.
86. Plan to have kids... or actually start having them... hmm, should probably discuss this with the future hubby!
87. Listen more attentively
88. Interrupt less readily
89. Write more neatly, no matter how much of a hurry I am in
90. Prepare properly for meetings
91. Be sufficiently auditable at any moment in time
92. Ask mum about her life. Take notes.
93. Ask dad about his life. Take notes.
94. Ask my parents about their parents.
95. Declare the first Sunday of each month to be Purge Day - all clutter must go!
96. Send a birthday card each month for a year
97. Write to my Aunt Judy every 6 months. She's written me birthday cards every year as long as I can remember and I've been a horrible, crappy niece and so very rarely have I written back. I suck.
98. Have a (tastefully!) nude portrait done
99. Locate, sort and predominantly discard my highschool stuff. I think it's in a box under mum's house...
100. Have a vegetable garden
101. Make friends with my cousins. They're blood and I love them but I really know nothing about who they are and what they dream of

So there it is. It's a pretty big list and I think I may need a calendar (or perhaps a series of calendars) to make sure I stay on track with those "regular" occurrences, but I think it's achievable. Some of the things are the things that will only be known by me, such as the handwriting one or the interrupting people one, and there are a couple of things on the list that might bite me in the arse, but that's life. Shit happens. Once I figure out how you'll be able to keep track of my list via a new tab on my blog. I know it can be done but  I'm a little bit slow off the mark with technology.
Wish me luck!

The end date is the 5th of April, 2014

-->