Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Hopefully your hangovers have worn off by now. If not, you have my pity.

Of course it's already well into January 2nd here in New Zealand so the festivities have long since ended and life is returning to normal. As a bonus, though, January 2nd is a public holiday here. It's very creatively-titled "The Day After New Year's Day." Oooh.

Normally I don't make New Year's resolutions because I think I'd probably forget about it in a week or less and end up a failure. After spending an unsuccessful hour trying to fall asleep last night, though, I crawled out of bed and did some web-surfing. I found this: 101 Things to do in 1001 Days Project. Coincidentally enough, it was dreamt up by a Kiwi.

Quoting the site, the mission is to "Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days [2.75 years]" with the following criteria: "Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable, or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of effort on your part)." Somewhere on the site, it also recommends using the following acronym when thinking up your goals:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely

Smart. So clever, yeah?

Since it was past midnight and I was in the grips of some inexplicable bout of insomnia, I spent the next two and a half hours browsing through a LiveJournal community filled with other people taking a stab at this challenge. Through a combination of taking inspiration from others' ideas and coming up with items on my own, I came up with a list of about 60 things. This morning I worked on it some more and I'm up to about 87. Rather than finish it off with things that are rushed and silly, I'll add the last 14 items as they come to me. Maybe you guys can offer suggestions?

Anyway, the following list is a collection of things I'm definitely going to do if all goes to plan, things that I would like to do, things I think I should do, some things that are just plain silly, and a set of challenges.

Have a look:

The Big Three OR Expensive Goals (Complete one and plan/save money towards the other two)
1. Attempt to hike the Appalachian trail.
2. Visit two new continents (Asia, Africa, South America, or dare I suggest Antarctica?!).
3. Put my Irish passport to use and spend six months to a year living and working in Europe.

Things I've Been Meaning to Do
1. Read fifteen classic novels I somehow avoided in my Alfred education. (0/15)
2. Read fifteen of the unread books in my room. (0/15)
3. Watch twenty of the movies that people are always shocked to learn I haven't seen. (0/20)
4. Finish reading the rest of my Hemingway collection.

Artistic Endeavors
1. Complete Script Frenzy once.
2. Complete NaBloPoMo twice. (0/2)
3. Write or edit something every day for a week.
4. Write or edit something every day for a month with four "sick days."
5. Write or edit something every day for a year with thirty "sick days."
6. Complete NaNoWriMo twice. (0/2)
7. Submit at least five short stories to a publication (0/5).
8. Submit at least one extended work (novel, novella, or anthology) to a publisher.
9. Get a piece of writing, no matter how small or insignificant, published and paid for.
10. Reunite MAWB and have at least one more concert for our like... seven fans.

Becoming Cultured
1. Try 40 new beers (0/40).
2. Tour a brewery.
3. Go to a wine tasting.
4. Learn to bake bread from scratch.
5. Cook twenty-five new meals from recipe books/websites (0/25).
6. Visit five museums I've never been to before. (0/5)
7. Visit five zoos/aquariums that I've never been to before. (0/5)
8. Go to a professional rugby game.
9. Improve my Spanish.
10. Go see an opera.
11. See Senses Fail live.
12. See the Offspring live.
13. See Jim Gaffigan live.

Challenges
1. Exercise at least four days a week (0/143)
2. Go undefeated in a night of pool-playing against either Dad or Mike. This may be the toughest yet.
3. Go a week without using any non-essential electronics. No computer, radio, TV, etc--but I can use the lights, stove, etc. This has to be an ordinary week, not while I'm on vacation or camping.
4. Eat vegan for a week.
5. Go on a water-only fast for 48 full hours.
6. Go a month without using the internet for anything other than answering essential emails. No facebook, myspace, youtube or wikipedia. All my researching and communication will be done the old-fashioned way.
7. Run a mile in 7:30.
8. Go a week without using a microwave.
9. Go a month without using a microwave.
10. Go a month without eating out/ordering in/buying pre-made foods.
11. Go a week without products containing high fructose corn syrup.
12. Go a month without the same.
13. Go a week without products containing MSG--in any of its sneaky names.
14. Go a month without the same.

Adventure On
1. Skydive.
2. Bungee Jump.
3. Go kayaking.
4. Visit Machu Picchu.
5. Visit Australia.
6. Go skiing.
7. Learn to rollerblade.
8. Go paint balling.
9. Go fishing.
10. See the Grand Canyon.
11. Fire a real gun (in a controlled environment at an inanimate target--don't worry!)
12. Go snorkeling.

The Greater Good
1. Save money and the environment: don't buy bottled water. (0/143)
2. Spend 50 hours volunteering (0/50).
3. Donate 500,000 grains of rice on Freerice.org. (0/500,000)
4. Donate $2 to charity for every item crossed off my "101 Things in 1001 Days"
list, $5 for every item left uncompleted.
5. Reconnect with an old friend or relative, even if only for one conversation.
6. Assess my possessions, determine what I don't need, and take it to Salvation Army once every six months. (0/5)
7. Participate in a public demonstration/protest for a cause I believe in.
8. Donate $200 in food and toys to local food/toy drives. (0/200)
9. Do the Polar Bear Plunge again, should I find myself in Maryland at the right time.
10. Buy/consume only locally-grown/made food for a week.
11. Do the same for a month.
12. Buy nothing made in China for a month.
13. Apart from food, shop only at Salvation Army for a month.
14. Do ten big favors for friends or family. (0/10)

Personal/Self-Improvement
1. Write a letter to my future self, giving advice and hopes and details, and then don't look at it until the last day of this challenge.
2. Give contact lenses another shot.
3. Correct my posture.

For the Hell of it (here are the silly items and some that just didn't fit elsewhere)
1. Sing karaoke in public.
2. Go to a restaurant and eat in reverse: dessert, main course, appetizer. Bonus: no drinks until the end since that's usually what comes first.
3. Wrap 2009's Christmas presents in obituaries and personal ads.
4. Go into a store and pretend to not speak English while keeping a straight face.
5. Get a professional massage like Alexa keeps telling me to.
6. Write something profound on a bathroom wall.
7. Try to juggle eggs while drunk.
8. Make a movie with my friends--and not just a drunken music video.
9. Go camping with Christine, Gary, and the kids.
10. Go to a theme park with them too.
11. Go to Universal Studios when they open the Harry Potter Theme Park. (This is one I stole from another person's list. Look it up! It's awesome!)
12. Read all seven Harry Potter books in five days!
13. Send a postcard to post secret.
14. Eat something new and outside my comfort zone (real sushi, like a big hunk of raw fish, not the rolled-stuff. Or the internal organs of some poor animal, or something equally gross).


That's the list as it stands now. I'm not sure if the categories are logical, but I think they are. Obviously there are several items that fit into more than one category. Several of the "Challenges" could just as easily fit into "Personal/Self-Improvement," and many of the "Artistic Endeavors" could very well be "Challenges," and so on. I may end up making a separate category for the weekly ones (any containing [0/143]). A couple don't fit the SMART criteria--I'm not exactly sure how to measure "correct posture" or "Improve my Spanish" in any sort of objective way. Any ideas?

Soon I will make a separate blog to track my progress, because obviously it will be very annoying if The Eoin Zone is filled with massive 101-item long lists everytime I cross an item off. I just have to decide whether it's going to be here on blogspot or over in the dark, melancholy realm of LiveJournal. LiveJournal has the negative stigma of being filled with morose, whiney high schoolers, but at the same time it has a great community for 101 Things to Do in 1001 Days. The community has its fair share of whiney American teenagers, yes, but there are also a ton of other users from virtually every continent and age bracket. Goals range from high schoolers wanting their first kiss to aspiring graduates shooting for their first real job or opening their own business to middle-aged parents planning to spend more time with their children. The community can be found here for the interested.

If nothing else, sticking to this list should make the next 1001 days interesting. If any of you readers are inspired and decide to make your own list, let me know!

Anyway, I think I've made this post massive enough so I'll close with a few pictures.

Fireworks do not photograph well, sadly.

dDub, the live band playing on New Year's Eve. They were pretty good. Then again, I was blitzed, and of course drunk people think that any live music is THE MOST AWESOME THING EVER WOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I LOVE THIS BAND!

I don't know. I really don't.