"why don't you come on back to the war"

 So my first attempt at this entry was talking about the idea of a bucket list, and what fraction of my life I suspect I've lived.   And then I rememebred that I had this 101 things in 1001 days list that I used to try to get myself motivated to do something, anything when   I was paralyzed by the dislocation of moving from western mass to eastern.

 

So I've dug up the google site I started eight years ago and instead of an emotionally meaningful post you're getting an analysis of what I previously had as some combination of to-do list and a bucket list.  It's not exactly 101 things, a couple things were redunant. 

 

Goals I set myself that were too abstract:  organize books, organize papers, learn a not-dead language (I took an ASL class, I did not learn ASL) go on a picnic (what _is_ a picnic?), study Tarot, control/modify my tshirt collection, learn ASL (see previous comment)

 

Things I did after the 1001 days deadline: (re)learned to drive, went to a Fetish Flea, got my retirement funds in order, went to a sporting event, got CPR recertification, went whale watching, listened to an audio book, vacationed with  J & S, wore a corset somewhere, saw a meteor shower in Hips and Hands' hottub and visited 4 relatives

 

Things I straight up didn't even try: a martial arts class, get involved in a theater production, learn to make jam, hike a mountain, put something on etsy, get the Henvy V tattoo, decoupage something, go to Vancouver, make pasta from scratch, vacuum fridge coils, go back to Acadiam visit someone I know from the internet that I've never met, picked apples, go to a humanist brunch, visit Skin & Grin (in Finland), make a steampunk costume, visit the Smithsonian, hug a beluga whale (scheduled for this June), transcribe all my grandfather's daily books,

 

Things that were just not going to happen: reduce my owned but unread books to two shelves, eat at Blue Hill, learn to bellydance (tried it, hated it), take a bubble bath once a month (not only is our water heater too small, my body doesn't like baths), volunteer at Passim 6 times (they stopped using volunteers), vacation with some people I'm no longer close with, return every book I've ever borrowed and reply to all my emails by Sunday evening every week for twelve weeks, 

 

Things for the next house:  solar panels, new cabinets, a stained glass window somewhere

 

Things I tried but didn't finish:  read moby dick, read an entire Booker Prize short list, visit a museum the equivalent of every month  (got about 25/33) (Peabody Essex, Museum of Science, Museum of Fine Arts, New Bedford Whaling Museum, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Harvard Museum of Natural History, Harvard Art museum, Sunnyside (Washington Irving's house), American Textile History Museum, Hancock Shaker Village, Institute of Contemporary Art) watch 52 hrs of science/history programming, give 10 food gifts (only gave about 6) walk the freedom trail, install curtains in all the rooms, send an average of ten postcards a month (207 out of 330), comment on livejournal every day for a month.  write fifteen letters (wrote six), listen to a podcast every week for three months, see six movies at Kendall Square Cinema, have three months of austerity (spending money on utilities and food andnothing else) 

 

Things I did: made five syrups for drinks, swam in the ocean six times, attended a midnight showing of something, clean the car every month for six months, go to a state I've never been to (Hawaii), ride a train (amtrak from NYC to Boston), learn to eat with chopsticks, one large cross-stitch project, acquire a juicer, vacation with Hands and Hips, see an author at PSB, Harvard Bookstore and Brookline Booksmith, go to a psychic, get an account at a credit union, make three new flavors of ice cream (bittersweet chocolate, balsamic brown sugar, orange honey sorbet) , weigh a particular amount, do something funky with my hair (went purple and went blue), ride a ferry, saw Mary Oliver speak, go to three new museums, repierce tragus and labia, shot a gun, baked bread, try three classes at my gym, did an entire month of gratitude, walked three miles a day three times a week for a month, reviwed every book I read on lj for a month, left the country, saw niagara falls, pickled something, got professionally photographed, made three cross-stitch projects to give away, get an unnecessary cosmetic procedure because it made me feel good (skin tags) went to a Good Vibes Class, travelled more than three hours to see a concert, revisited look park, made myself a garment

 

Tomorrow, an actual bucket list/rumination on mortality.   Or cute dog stories.