When I was a child, I got a balloon from a country fair or possibly one of the festivals in town. I loved that balloon. It was ivory and had a piano and musical notes on it. They tied it to my wrist with a pearl-coloured ribbon. I wanted to take it home, so it was with us in the car and I remember it bobbing around on the ceiling. I got out, and mum (and maybe dad) went inside as I was still outside. The ribbon was irritating my wrist so I had been working it off since I was crap at knots since I was between 4 and 6. I slipped the now broad loop off my wrist and didn’t think to grasp it before it floated away. The balloon went higher and higher and I got more and more upset. I tried jumping for it, but obviously that wasn’t going to work. I can’t remember if I cried or not, and I can’t remember if my parents knew or not. I do remember feeling a strong sadness and this was maybe my first encounter with loss. Every time I remember it, my chest tightens, even though I’m now an adult and at least 20 years separate from it…
balloons!
whenever i think about this memory i still get a little upset
A yearlytradition for me, I am going to add one more goal to my list of goals that I never actually complete but strive towards. I think writing these goals helps me find some direction in my life. The goals are in no particular order in terms of importance.
1. Hit a sweet throw or takedown in BJJ competition. I really like judo and I want to hit a beautiful throw or combination of throws. I feel like it will make me feel strong.
Smug shrug for cute nails
2. Keep my nails maintained and well groomed. So far I’m managing but sometimes I get lazy and let them get chipped. This sort of stems from one of my 25 before 25 goals of using all my nail varnishes at least once.
Job hunttt
3. Find meaningful employment. It would be nice to find a job that I like and gives me meaning. My motivation would be much better. This has carried over from last year’s list.
allowing for endless ‘artfully arranged’ instagram photos
4. Make macarons. I didn’t manage to do it last year, but this year I think I should manage it. I’ve got almost a full year, after all.
hopefully with a pretty pattern like a field of flowers
5. Hand-bind a notebook with a Chiyogami cover. I love all the origami paper I have, and I want to use it to make myself a writing notebook, or maybe even a day planner. Making my own day planner might be rewarding, since I can choose what features it will have.
6. Make a song. It’s been a very long time since I wrote and recorded any music, and I would like to try making another song. Sometimes I catch myself humming new melodies in the car (though my voice is not in tune ever at all). I obviously won’t include any singing in this song, since I actually can’t sing myself.
Also I can make my BJJ pals proud of me while still looking vaguely (ok completely) like a 14 year old boy
7. Win a BJJ match. I’m currently 0-5 in BJJ, and while I don’t mind losing my matches because I feel that I learn from these losses, I really want to experience the feeling of having my hand held up in victory after a match.
Lifting desks like I lift the ladies wat
8. Start lifting again. I miss the feeling of strength and satisfaction after a proper weightlifting session.
How I feel when people invite me camping and then conveniently forget to take me
9. Go camping. I’ve never been camping and I want to try it, but I’ve never had the chance to really. I mean mum’s invited me to come yurting (is that what you call it?) with her, but that’s not like camping camping with a tent and stuff…
Preferably places with breakfast and in the Serengeti. (Yes, this is another safari picture that I have yet to write up sorry bro, but I haven’t even really written up Los Angeles either since I’m the worst)
10. Visit 26 new places/towns/cities. I borrowed this from this blog. It’s an interesting idea, and it’s totally do-able on a budget. It’s nice to visit new places and try out new things. The blog is also really good, and has some interesting posts as Jen (the author) pursues her goals). She’s given herself five years to do 30 before she turns 30, which might be what I do next year, since coming up with so many goals every year is getting a little tricky.
Ideally leading to a pretty design-ey closet like this one, though I doubt I’ll ever own so few clothes.
11. Cull and curate my wardrobe. This is probably the most obnoxious and onomatopoeic way of putting this. I feel like the word ‘curate’ has lost all meaning and become a buzzword. An-y-ways, I have too many clothes. I want to have fewer. I’d really love to be able to put together outfits quickly and have everything laid out and sorted out nicely. I’ve starting hanging some of my clothes, but I need to sort through and decide what to keep and what to give away (or put on consignment, though since most of my clothes are cheap (but well looked after!), they probably won’t fetch any money…).
12. Find my camera and start taking more bird photos again. I really like taking photos of birds, and I currently can’t find my camera body (I can, however, find my telephoto lens). I think it’s in my large rucksack, but I can’t find that rucksack. It’s weird. I’m going to tidy up to try to find it.
I want to be so good that even when I’m half-conscious I still try to lock that choke
13. Improve my wrasslin’ and grappling. This is a little vaguer and less concrete than #1 and #7. I just want to get better and better and better and betterer. I really hope this will be my hobby for a long time.
And then flip over into a sweet handstand
14. Do a handstand. Reflecting on my plank goal last year, this might be somewhere to go from there. I’ve never done one, and my balance is crap, so we’ll see if I can do it.
Cosy
15. Knit myself some cosy socks. I know socks are hard to do, and that I’m crap at knitting, but I think having a difficult and almost unattainable goal is probably a major characteristic of my list (see ‘french braid’ and other goals from previous years).
A terrible fate of being super slow at finishing video games
16. Finish three games on my Steam account that I haven’t played. Thanks to all the sales, bundles, deals, and gifts from friends, I have a giant backlog on my Steam account. I want to finish three games, which I think is attainable (unlike #15 <_<).
Thesis writing encapsulated in one gif. It’s a little scary how accurate this is for me.
17. Get into the PhD program of my choice, working on a project that I have chosen and designed, though still taking into account the interests of my advisor, the department in question, and the funder. I want to do my PhD, but I want to work on something that I have decided solely by myself. I adjusted my MA project to my own interests but ultimately I did not feel 100% about it for a long time. It took me a little while to come to terms with it, and I did in the end. Going in with my own project I think will help me stay motivated.
I will profile the fellowship first, obviously, and sassily
18. Start the “Cool People I Know” (CPIK) blog series. I have had this idea for a long time, but I haven’t decided on the format. I want to profile people I know who are cool and rad and stuff. I always find everyone so fascinating, because everyone is almost their own universe unto themselves, and it’s almost impossible to understand or perceive the depth of feeling and thought that is within someone. But anyways, climbing out of that mire-ish train of thought, I think it would be fun to write this series.
From the (now closed) Hoof Café
19. Cook bone marrow. It’s been a while since I’ve eaten it, and I’ve never cooked it myself. Bones are fairly cheap, so I think this is eminently do-able. I’d like to have it with some nice bread too.
Planniiiiinnnnnggggg
20. Write a novel. I want to finish, and NaNoWriMo hasn’t really worked out for me (again) though I’ve got a lot more done this month (albeit only about 1/25 of what is necessary for NaNoWriMo). I have two main ideas. I might write the mystery novel first, since the fantasy-esque one I’ve been working on for NaNoWriMo has proven difficult.
yes yes yes yes yes papers papers papers papers
21. Publish two or three more papers. I think I can manage to get at least one or two from my thesis, and I have one or two I’m working on independently. I hope to finish these sooner rather than later.
Will it actually get done… maybe? <_< Please believe me
22. Make myself a dress with the kitenge I brought back from Tanzania. I love the pattern on the fabric and I want to make myself a shift dress with it.
There’s something inherently relaxing in language learning for me
23. Continue to improve my French, German, Russian, and Finnish by writing diaries, watching and listening to TV and radio, and reading texts. I have some books that I can start using.
That’s fascinating
24. Write short stories using writing prompts. I think I need some structure at first, as I found it difficult to get started on writing.
hi friends sorry if i randomly burst into tears or something like it’s not awkward whatevs
25. Post on this blog at least once a week. I tried to maintain this, though sometimes it’s difficult to keep writing when I feel down. I like blogging, so I want to try to keep to a sort of schedule.
My apparent feelings on schedules
26. Be more organised because I’m a bit all over the place pretty much all the time. I try to keep a schedule and a diary but I find it difficult. I don’t know why.
Well that’s the list and hopefully I manage more than half this year. It took me a while to come up with everything, though I did once and then WordPress deleted my draft somehow and I don’t know what happened there but whatevs everything’s ok.
that’s right wordpress
If you know me IRL (in-real-life) then please help me hold to these goals. Thank you in advance and stuff even if I’m a little salty when you remind me.
So I’ve been thinking about cutting my hair for a while now. I’ve had long hair for pretty much my whole life, and I feel like now is the time, and it obviously has nothing to do with my quarter life crisis coming up. Cutting all my hair off is a natural reaction to officially becoming an old maid in a number of cultures. I’ve been reading Hana Yori Dango, or Boys over Flowers, a manga, and the main character cuts her hair into a short hairstyle I quite like. Searching for pictures wasn’t that difficult per se, since I took most of them from the manga, but once I tried to find more photos on Google Images, I ended up getting a rouges’ gallery of awful, awful blonde hairstyles. Then I remembered I liked Taylor Swift’s hairstyle in the disgustingly catchy “Shake it Off” video, so I just found photos of her style that I liked. Also it can be tied up, if you look in the video (though certainly parts of it are extensions, in the first ballet scene she has it in a bun).
I’m not even certain I’m going to cut it; I’m a little scared. I’m not very good at hair maintenance (ask my mum) and I know shorter hair requires more effort than just running a brush through it.
Given my inability to get out of bed in the morning this may be a bad idea
I’d really appreciate if anyone could tell me what they think either in the comments or by a message or whatever. That would be rad.
Nintendo is releasing Majora’s Mask on 3DS. I’m really feeling nostalgic and excited and I don’t even know if I can emotionally deal with this. I’m overwhelmed. I spent a lot of time with this game when it first game out. I asked for it for Christmas in 2000, and once I got it, I started playing almost right away. The darkness of the game at first threw me off – it was different than Ocarina of Time, which I never did have for Nintendo 64 – I borrowed it from friends or from the video store. The only thing in Ocarina of Time which might be so dark is either the Shadow Temple or the well.
At that point in my childhood, I was 11 years old, and I had just started middle school. I had already started to isolate myself from the other kids, and they had already started to bully me. I didn’t really think much of it, to tell the truth. Their words and actions didn’t affect the rest of my life nor do I remember any of them today. Maybe in a sense they made me a more lonely person. In any case, Majora’s Mask is a game about loneliness. Many of the characters you help are lonely and have to forgive someone or other, or trust someone, or even move on in their lives and grow up in order to progress forward with their lives. However, you must reset the clock after three days or else the world will end. The people you helped previously do not remember being helped, and are stuck making the same mistakes over and over.
Playing through Majora’s Mask as a child helped me grow as a person. I’m really excited to play it again when it comes out on 3DS. It’s strange how things like this can hold so much influence. I like walking outside on rainy days because of this game: on the second day, it rains, and a cheerful tune continues to play.
This cheerfulness sometimes cuts through the pervasive atmosphere of loneliness, but not always. Termina, the world in the game, is vast and often empty, with few people scattered about… In any case, I’ve got to get back to work.
this could be said for a large number of characters in the game..
I am so excited for Bee and Puppycat the series! Three more days until the first episode. I really like this show. I posted about it before. I guess I just really like cute things.
oh hello, it’s monday
Mum went away to England so I’m by myself in the house. It’s difficult to get going sometimes. I forgot to set my alarm so I didn’t manage to take the garbage out, so now I have to go to the dump and pay, though I’m somewhat inclined to just reduce my consumption so I can just put it out next Monday without any problems – I mostly eat fresh food anyways, so it’s hopefully doable.
Waking up and realising I needed to be up an hour earlier to put the garbage out
In all honesty, stuck in a cloud of malaise. For the past few months, I’ve isolated myself and withdrawn from people. At first it wasn’t intentional, but then it persisted over time. I’ve been trying to get out and do things and see the people I care about but sometimes it’s difficult for me. This doesn’t reflect on the people (or outside)… it’s just something inside of me. Anyway, I guess this part of the post is a public apology for my behaviour. I’m trying to take ownership of it and move forward with my life.
Since my last post, I started doing more (Brazilian) jiu-jitsu and judo and grappling (at least attempting to complete some of my 25 before 25…). I really enjoy it, and I also competed twice, though I haven’t won a match yet (0-5, the best record). BJJ and judo have been positive influences and have helped me come to terms with my feelings in some respects. I have never really been athletic nor has my body accepted physicality and movement well, but I don’t mind. I just put the time in so I can get better. I want to do more competitions, but most of the upcoming ones coincide with things I can’t miss.
I got my first stripe
A default bronze – a little bit curious why I and the other third place woman didn’t have a match for it…
Fought my team mate and had too many emotions. My teeth aren’t super dirty, that’s just my mouthguard
Almost didn’t have any matches in nogi but they found someone
Default silver because there were two of us – she was very nice though
The team, or at least part of it! 🙂
Anyway, I’m sitting here wondering what to write next.. I guess I’m going to post a series of photos that shows approximately what I’ve been up to when I’ve managed to leave the house:
Going to the Islands with Kate and Sonya!
Getting bubble tea!
Taking hilarious photos of Peaches!
Hiking!
Loving fish!
Graffiti with charcoal!
A whole fried onion!
apple pickin! (with Kate and James)
HIKING AGAIN
Me writing this post
In any case, I think it might be prudent too to review my 25 before 25:
1. Drawing from prompts every day: This one didn’t really work out so well, but I have been doodling on and off.
2. Read Muumipappa ja meri in Finnish: I’m not really that far in, and I haven’t read any for a while.
3. Finnish diary: Haven’t written in it for some time, but have actually written stuff, so that’s not bad, right?
doin’ ok
4. Keep a scrapbook from January 2014 to January 2015: I have actually kept my scrapbook going, so A+ on this one.
sad about lifting
5. Lift bodyweight: I haven’t been lifting for almost half the year now mostly because of money/time/locational issues. I’d rather do BJJ and judo and such, and my new gym doesn’t have a weight room, but that’s ok.
6. Improve my jiu-jitsu and grappling: I’ve been going pretty much every day to train BJJ and twice a week in judo. I feel that I’ve improved. 🙂
7. Catalogue my books: No way. Oops.
like a dress or something
8. Make myself an item of clothing: There’s still time, and I do have the material…
preferably by train with tea
9. Visit a country I haven’t been to before: I’d say South Wales, but since it’s a part of Wales and I went there last year, it doesn’t count. This one is probably not going to happen.
lol oops
10. Finish writing up my safari in Tanzania: Still working on it. There’s a lot of photos.
papppeers
11. Publish two to three papers: Kind of, I guess the ones I have count, since they were published after my birthday. Check mark!
they will be as pretty as roses and probably rose flavoured
12. Make macarons at least twice: I haven’t yet, but I will hopefully before my birthday.
13. Start a blog series: I guess I’ve done tea reviews, books I have recently read, and another kind of review series I’m posting soong (games I have recently played), so this is ok. Cool people I know has to wait, since I want to set out the parameters/questions for it.
yesss
14. Improve my plank: I’ve been doing circuits with *gasp*one handed planks. It’s going ok.
next yeaaarr
15. Do a pottery class: Not even close, but it’s going to probably carry over to next year’s list.
lippie lipsticks
16. Wear all of my lipsticks at least once: I have done this, but I haven’t reviewed them. Maybe I’ll start a make up series?
manicure activate! re-use the gif activate! yes!
17. Wear all of my nail varnishes at least once: Check and check. I’m doing nail looks that involve multiple colours so it’s easy to wear them all.
how employers seem to react to me
18. Find some sort of meaningful employment: Nope!
hi friends sorry if i randomly burst into tears or something like it’s not awkward whatevs
19. Try to get out of the house more: We all know how that’s gone for me…
just sittin in this field not blogging oops my bad
20. Try to blog at least once a week: Oops.. well.. I tried.
sometimes i have to take a break you know
21. Work on my short stories: I have been dabbling but haven’t produced anything yet.
pretty much
22. Work on my novel outline and maybe start writing for NaNoWriMo: I have started the outline now but I didn’t write anything for NaNoWriMo last year – I am planning to this year, though.
that’s at least one thing done on the list
23. Review the teas I drink: See my tea reviews series.
and so are ravioli
24. Make handmade pasta: There’s still time to complete this goal!
indeterminate feelings
25. Successfully defend my Master’s thesis in the spring: This is a bit delayed but hopefully I’ll finish soon.
This is probably enough for now, but I’ll write more later.
So where was I in May? I was yet again in England. My nan passed away only two days after I came back home. I’m really glad I got to see her before she died. I guess it reminds me of when grandma (dad’s mum) died when I was a kid in a way, but I didn’t get to see grandma really before she passed on. Having no grandparents left is an odd feeling. I always felt a bit odd about my grandparents in a sense because I never met my grandfathers. To me, grandparenthood is something entirely feminine, because the rugged masculinity (a cliché I suppose) of my grandfathers was entirely absent from my life. But again, it’s almost as if she isn’t really gone. The physical separation that was between us (namely, the Atlantic Ocean and eastern Canada) almost serves to delay my reaction to her death. This doesn’t mean that I loved or valued her any less. It just seems to have muted things. As she grew older, I think we talked less, and I regret that, in some respects. I wanted to collect all of her stories and hold them tightly, greedily to my chest. I think I’m obsessed with the past. I always look back and never forward. Maybe this is because I spent so little time with her growing up, compared with my brother. I had to fill in all the blanks myself; I needed a complete narrative. I don’t spite my parents for immigrating, because I think we have live a very good life here in Canada, and I do like it here. It’s just I think the (purely physical) distance between us and the rest of the family has caused me to cherish the moments I spend with them much more. I crave spending time with my other relatives. That’s why I want to move to England, at least for a little while, in order to get to know them better as people.
Nan and I
In any case, we held a beautiful service for her. I think it was good, because it was positive and upbeat, just like nan was.
Now that the mood is a bit gloomy and sombre, I’d like to write about everything else I did while I was away, but I’m probably going to do it in chunks, since I did do quite a few things. This isn’t going to be like the Los Angeles posts. I promise I will actually get around to it. Also the safari post is coming soon. I promise. Again. I just have so many photos!
Pretty much how the rest of the trip went, and my not posting about it. Ok, pretty much a metaphor for my whole life.
My friend Sharan over at the Dancing Orange has nominated me for the Liebster Award… kind of a while ago! That’s pretty cool! I don’t know if it’s really an official award so much as something you pass on to your friends so they know how much you care about them. I don’t really have many other friends who blog though, so I’m a bit scared that I’m going to break the chain…
What made you start to blog?
I started blogging because I like writing. I don’t really know why I do it other than that. Nothing really compelled me to do it that I remember… On my old blog I don’t identify a reason why. I guess there was some catalyst and I’m inclined to think it was Sharan, my friend who nominated me…
What kind of dessert would you be?
I would be a pastry with macarons like the one you can get at Nadège. I think it’s called a Marie Antoinette. I like the mini macaron because they’re really cute and crunchy, especially with the filling. I like the cream on the little cake, and I like the texture of the little cake underneath because it’s almost like pastry but it’s not quite. MYSTERIOUS LIKE ME.
The Marie Antoinette
A movie you can watch again and again:
The Warriors, a weird dystopian film from the 70ies, filmed and set in New York City. It’s another era, and the costumes and slang are amazing. You can watch it here.
Ability to fly or breathe under water?
Fly, since underwater is a bit scary. Also flying seems like it would be fun.
A defining moment
When my New Year’s resolution was to always try new things. I got into a lot of interesting hobbies this way. What is your simple pleasure of life?
Tea and lazing around with a good book. Summarize yourself in 5 words
I like cats probably excessively.
Here are the rules!
1. Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.
2. Display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it.
3. Answer questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.
4. Provide random facts about yourself.
5. Nominate blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 1000 followers.
6. Create a new list of questions for the blogger to answer.
7. List these rules in your post. Once you have written and published it, you then have to inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it.
My Questions for Caren are:
1. How did you become a doula?
2. What’s your favourite thing to do on a lazy Sunday?
3. What’s your favourite smell?
4. What do you like most about geography?
5. If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be?
6. What’s your favourite snack?
Anyways, it took me a while to post this. I was away in England for most of the month and didn’t have time to blog. But I’m back!
Also, my friend Sharan posted about dealing with body-stress during exam time, and it’s really interesting. There are some things in there I haven’t really thought about during my thesis writing hours… it’s almost the same thing right? I especially agree about scented candles. Scented candles are my jam. I bought some from IKEA recently for a decent price. Candles are soothing and help me keep calm.
Not to be cliché and re-use a gif so soon like I don’t do that anyways but…
I also like to have a cup of tea at all times when I’m working at the computer. Or generally at all times. Pretty much all the time. I think I have an addiction.
One for me, another for me..
Using that gif to segue into something else… Last night I finally started reading Muumipappa ja meri, which is one of my 25 before 25 goals. So far so OK, but it’s slow. I should probably dedicate a notebook to it. I wonder if any of my Moomin notebooks are empty… I think so. I have to get back to my Finnish diary too – I didn’t write in it at all when I was in England, so it’s missing a lot of entries. I’ve also gotten better about wearing all my lipsticks. For the past three days I’ve kind of been on point with my lipstick game. Today I wore Wet n’ Wild “Fuschia with Blue Pearl“, which cost $1.50, which is pretty sweet for what it is. I neglected to take a picture of it on, but I assure you it looked nice, I think. On Friday I wore my Dior lipstick in “Beige Indecise“, which mum bought for me in Chicago on my birthday two years ago when we went to the Dior counter. It’s a perfect nude colour. I really like it a lot, and the formula is really nice. On Thursday, I wore my Mac lipstick in “Viva Glam I,” which is a matte red. I like “Russian Red” a little bit better, but I’ve come to like Viva Glam I more than when I first bought it. Anyway. I’ll probably do a make up post at some point in the future, just to change it up.
At the bike race with Margaret. I don’t know why I’m squinting. Eye smile? Smize?
I forgot last post to show off this photo from the bike race. I think mixing patterns is fun. The coat has a kind of London tourism theme to it, which I bought at Primark, whereas the scarf is a rip off ‘silk’ scarf pattern from H&M. I think maybe more fashion posts are due too, once I sort my clothes out. Anyways, I’ve got to get going! So here’s a cute cartoon called “Bee and Puppycat”
I really like how Puppycat talks. It’s really cute. Emily
I just realised actually after posting yesterday that I have another post with pretty much exactly the same name. Oops. Anyways.
I’m really into this song right now:
It’s from Adventure Time, which is a children’s TV show I like probably way too much. I also use way too many gifs on this blog from that show. Gifs like these:
I drove 260km today on the highway both ways which I feel is pretty impressive, seeing as I didn’t want to ever go on the highway two weeks ago. I’m a decent driver, I think.. I hope. I try to be considerate of all road users, but those behind me get impatient and sometimes honk…
Oh, you wanted me to go over the speed limit and hit a pedestrian. Soz no – my face when you do this
The other day I went to Sephora to pick up yet more hair ties that mum and I really like, but they keep stretching out (like way too fast…) and getting lost. Also Brutus loves playing with them. I unfortunately don’t have an illustrative video of it, so you’ll have to take my word on that one.
The hair ties in question
I realised that I’ve saved over 1000 Sephora points, which is probably super shameful, though I have been saving them over 5 years, and it works out to a slightly more reasonable $200/year, some of which is from my mum (and some of which is gifts!), who doesn’t have her own Sephora card. I decided to take the plunge and spend 500 of those points on a cute Occitane en Provence set, which included five little products which I hope will be good for the plane. I got a free face cream from Occitane with a magazine in August (British magazines always include presents and it always disappoints me that they never do here) which I quite liked. The set comes with a shea butter hand cream, almond delicious hands (sounds a bit like they threw darts at a board to name this, but apparently it’s supposed to be reminiscent of macarons), almond shower oil, verbena body lotion, and almond supple skin oil. I hope they will be useful in keeping my skin from desiccating on the plane.
When I’m old and still have decent skin
The set.
The best part is that the set came with a cute little pouch that looks like a postcard. I like the pouch because it’s the perfect size for my phone. I try to always keep my phone in a pouch so it doesn’t get scratched or damaged.
I’m also really into music videos that include noise from the scene being acted out right now, especially this one that my friend sent me for “Odd Look” by Kavinsky:
Here’s hoping for a productive two days before leaving for England. I’ve reviewed my 25 before 25 in brief, and I’ve put the ones that I’ve actually made progress on in colour, so you can skip all the waffling about goals and junk.
Drawing every day – Well, not quite, but I’m trying to draw as much as possible.
Muumipappa ja meri– Haven’t started reading it yet
Finnish diary – Not every day, but I’m writing every so often
Scrapbook – Yes! It’s coming along
Lifting bodyweight – It’s hard to maintain a consistent schedule since I don’t know where I’m going to live and I don’t want to commit to a year of gym time/money if I’m not going to be there to lift. I’m lifting as much as possible.
Jiu jitsu/grappling – I’m getting a bit better. I’m working on it as much as I can. I’m probably still like, sub white belt level anyways.
Cataloguing books – I need to find an app/scanner to make it easier.
Make an item of clothing – I have plans and schemes and stuff but I haven’t started.
Travel to an unvisited country – Not yet, no plans.
Safari write up – Oooooopps. I’m just lazy. <_<
Publish 2-3 papers – They’re not submitted yet
Make macarons – When I’m back from England.
Blog series – I started my tea reviews though that ties in with 23.. Soon, soon.
Plank improvement – I have to start the plank challenge.
Pottery class – When I get a job.
Wear all my lipsticks – Doing it, but not documenting it, to Sharan’s chagrin.
Wear all my nail varnishes – Doing it, but I pick at them and then they look bad. WHATEVER.
Get meaningful employment – I’ll take anything to be honest, though I’m working on applications and hoping I come across as charming in 4 pages or less.
Getting out of the house more – Now that I can drive, I’ve been going to the café and working on my thesis and stuff.
Weekly blogs – Well you can see how that is going…
Short stories – I am working on a few, but don’t feel like showing any yet.
Outlining the novel – Putting all my papers together and hopefully will be able to do NaNoWriMo in November.
Tea reviews- I have already written one and I have two more in draft form, just waiting for my photos to be put together and more details to be added from my notes.
Handmade pasta- When I get my sweet job and move into my sweet apartment I hope to make this as a housewarming dish to serve to my lovely guests. Should probably look up vegan pasta too.
Defending my thesis – Hopefully in mid to late May.
Maybe I’ll write more tomorrow, or in a month, or whatever. That’s the joy of reading my blog.