Life list

#55 seemed like a good birthday to make a life list of 100 things. Following the example of Mighty Girl, I'm putting these intentions out into the universe, in no particular order. Some will be fun, some will be hard, some may not happen for a while. But I've learned that the first step is to say it out loud, and then I can make it happen.

Updating...
Updated Dec 29, 2013 
updated July 20, 2014
updated November 2015 
updated January 1, 2017 
updated October 23, 2017 

updated February 3, 2021 

1. DONE Change my work-life for the better-- on medical leave, decision to go on phased retirement, or negotiate some other form of flexibility at work. Chronic illness is forcing me to stop work, for now. Not exactly how I had planned to do this, but my intention remains to see how this can change my life for the better. I have now been on medical leave for over a year, and am receiving SSDI. What I could not negotiate was forced on my by illness. Pending results of EOAA investigation. I am now officially Emerita.  Resigned Retired.   Returned to Berkeley . Done.
2. Improve my overall flexibility until I can touch the floor with the palms of my hands, maybe even touch my knees with my forehead.---Updated 3/28/13: I can touch the floor! It will take a long time to get my knees close to my forehead. Not doing so well here, but this does not require a membership at the gym. I need to start over with this, because my illness knocked me on my butt. Back to the Y. The Y is not working out so I've decided to save that money and do it at home. Back at the Y for free with my health plan. Starting over, again. Walking.  Doing yoga almost every day, I can touch the floor, but still not quite to palms.
   
3. Try a new recipe each week and share it on my blog. Doing the recipes, just too lazy to write them up. Take the next step and write about them! always so ambitious. I have been cooking Korean side dishes and using my slow cooker. Writing is not the goal; cooking is. Having fun with my CSA box and my slow cooker. Try the recipes on My Berkeley Bowl. Lots of fun with paleo diet, ruling out food allergies, losing weight. I'd like to get back to this intention.
   
4. Plant a vegetable garden in the back yard, with tomatoes.---bought some seeds to start, talked to my neighbor about building a raised bed plot; he did a garden next door, and has lots of compost to share. Did a few perrenials, but next spring I'll build a square foot gardening plot. for now, my gardening energy will go  into keeping the existing garden alive. On hold for now. Take advantage of the garden this spring. Double handfuls of scarlet runner beans; had to freeze a bunch. We lost the vegetable garden when Chuck and Cindy sold the place. I could try to do some planting but the gardener would just mow it down unless I asked him to stop.
   
5. Get some good binoculars and learn to identify birds in MN. Shop for binoculars! Found the binos, put on my Amazon wish list. Binoculars acquired! now, take them with me as I explore Bay Area parks. This remains an intention. Left the binos in a rental car in Santa Fe, bummer.
   
6. Live an unconventional life. I suppose I could say that I already do this.Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Covid has this on hold, but Yup.
   
7. Run all the way around Lake Calhoun without stopping. I can run about 1/2 a block. 5/ 23: This one is going to take some gradual work, but I can start tomorrow. I am NOT motivated to do this in the winter, but I can start using a treadmill at the Y. Tomorrow. I hate the treadmill, but it got me moving. Now I'm aiming for walking every day, outdoors or in. So far, hitting about 4-5 days out of 7.Need to recommit to this one. Couch to 5K? Nah. I should take this one off the list. I have been walking a lot, though. I walk every day, usually about 2.5 miles, feels good.
   
8. Grow kitchen herbs year-long, outdoors and in. 5/23 Planted basil and tomatoes, oregano and thyme coming back outside. Next up: tarragon. Can I start some herbs from seed? On hold for now. See #4. Lovage, parsley and mint in the garden already. I like the garden. I will see about buying some herbs for the kitchen at Berkeley Bowl.
   
9. Go to Japan and see Kabuki, climb Mt Fuji, and visit the places I remember from my childhood. Japan in 2015? Yes! October 2016 is the plan. Done! when will I return? Planning to return in 2018, with Rosemary. this time, I hope to stay longer, and to have really improved my language skills. Rosemary and I went for a second time in 2018; now I need to make some picture albums!
   
10. Take a drawing class. 5/28 I guess I could start drawing any time now, eh? I have a book called How to Draw Anything: A Complete Guide! Pick up a pencil... Now I have the supplies, so just do it! I did a few sketches, but haven't made it a daily practice, yet. Honestly, I never follow up on drawing because it just doesn't hold my interest.
    
11.  Use Free-cycle to find good homes for all the stuff in my storage room. 5/28 or just take it to Arc Value Village, or, the Hennepin County drop-off site, load by load. Much purging has taken place, and more is on the way. Still making progress. OK for now, but slowing putting books in the My Little Library box on our block.
    Literally giving away all my stuff before I move to California. Gave almost all of it away, and no regrets. I hardly every have the urge to buy things, just to buy, any more.I can't wait until the pandemic is over so I can get rid of my modest surplus of stuff; this apartment is too small for any excess.
    
12. Get a juicer and make green drinks--->Took the plunge, and got a Vitamix. Well worth it.5/23 Today's drink was cucumber, apple, orange, basil and dates, with some ice. Made peanut butter with it and it gets used almost every day. Need to use up the frozen fruit.gave away my Vitamix, but have a bullet juicer and can start this again. Making big salads, instead. Have a blender wand, but I'm still more interested in salads than smoothies.
    
13. Volunteer or work abroad. Locally, I'm going to hook up with the Minneapolis Public Schools, and I hope I can work at my neighborhood school I sent in my volunteer application. I am now volunteering twice a week with kindergarten and 1st-2nd grade kids at Jefferson. on hold until I get my mood swings under better control *sad* Tried out Second Harvest Heartland; time to schedule a regular shift? Now volunteering at Berkeley High School tutoring center once a week, and ESL conversation classes at Library once a week. The HS kids were not a good fit for me, but I have been working with Marilyn through Berkeley Reads for a few months now, and I think we both like it. file under "after Covid" for intentions.
    
14. Contribute to Twin Cities Daily Planet.
    
15. Collaborate with my mother on a children's book. Well, we are talking about her family origins, and I have found lots of documents about her family's immigration from Italy. Next step: write this up to share with family. Find those documents. reading a memoir of a woman's southern Italian family investigations. on hold
    
16. Listen more carefully---practicing, practicing. This is so hard for me.I wish that the people I know could see how hard I am working on this, because they only seem to see my failures. Al-anon? I'm working on it. back at Al-Anon. Al-Anon co-secretary gig was good for me. a second round of being co-secretary is good service. I've seen real improvements in this intention.
    
17. Work with people who want help with their writing, outside the classroom.Maybe some day, but not now. BHS volunteering. On hold, but I can look into this again. Inactive.
    
18. Visit the Pacific Northwest.Plan a trip for next year or the year after. in Fall of 2017. Bought a guide book to Seattle, thinking about Spring of 2018. went to Seattle in 2019--it was fun!
    
19. Master that dang Pilates roll-up. ha! Nope. Ha ha ha, nope. Nah. Nope.
    
20. Walk around Ireland in 2016! in 2018? Hmm, maybe after Japan trip #2.file under "post Covid dreams" with all my other travel plans.
    
21. Relearn the Argentine tango and dance in a milonga. start dancing somewhere and work my way up to this. Looked up some dance nights, but still haven't shown up. I could do this, but it's not my top dance priority. Berkeley Folk Dance? no car, no dancing, dang.
22. See Berlin, ideally during the film festival.see above.
    
23. Sell the jewelry I make on Etsy. Play with Nancy's jewelry supplies. Dormant, for now. did make a few things last year but now I'm just sitting here staring at the box of tools and supplies, and no inspiration.
    
24. Blog regularly about the films I see. OK, this I can do. Keep a film list for 2017. Well, I'm watching a lot of films, but not writing about them. And that's OK. Using Letterboxd to track films; I could do some brief reviews but I'm not yet inspired.
    
25. Make a birthday calendar and send cards.I also need to update my address book! DO THIS. This one should be easy, but I keep forgetting it. At least get my family's birthdays!
    
26. Cultivate the habit of staying in touch with people---slowly, slowly, but surely. Working on it. well, I have been trying on my end, but without much uptake.This is a struggle. some small progress here.
27. Fix the sewing machine and make some clothing. Took a sewing class at Sewtropolis and learned to use the machine again! I am going to buy a new machine in January 2014. Got the sewing machine and set it up! Now to figure out what to sew!! Look through fabric box. Shop for flannel on Grand. Gave it away. But I can still hand sew: made pillow covers from fabric Nancy gave me! Did some embroidery, too. Embroidered a pillowcase and sent it to Rosemary.
    
28. Eat greens every day, raw or cooked--probably 4-5 days a week now.This  one is fun! Could do better. Have improved in this area. Keep it up. I have really been happy with how much more I have been eating fruit and vegetables in the last several weeks doing this paleo thing. Back in the saddle!
    
29. Listen to all of Mozart.  Start with the operas! Do it! Some Schubert and Brahms detours. I would like to do this as part of a listening project.
    
30. Have a professional make-up consultation. Continue to use the stuff I got last year at Sephora. I'm using the make-up I have more regularly, and with more confidence. I haven't worn make-up for over a year since we are all sheltering in place.
    
31. Join or create a book-club. Where? Follow up. In a couple of movie discussion groups on Meet-up.
    
32. Watch all the Criterion movies on Hulu. This is fun. OK, subscribe to Film Struck and make a list for the weekly film blog project. I've done quite a few PFA series, and I've watched a metric ton of kdramas and kmovies. subscribed to the Criterion Channel.
    
33. Have 52 dance adventures in the Twin Cities Bay Area. Or at least one a month. This one should go to the top of the list. Boo, virus means no dancing!
    
34. Go to Brazil to learn to speak Portuguese. Start with reading some stories or a novel. On hold while I learn Korean. Need to jump-start my language learning again.
    
35. Read or reread the 100 novels in Jane Smiley's book 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel. On hold. At least I'm reading novels again after a couple of years of inability to read more than an article. Just don't really want to read a lot of these but I could crack the book again.
    
36. Attend the RIFF film festival in Reykjavik, and explore Iceland. In 2018? Hmmm. Covid yadda yadda.
    
37. Translate poetry from Spanish and French. On hold.  Not sure if I'll ever do this again.
    
38. Take a train trip with sleeping cars again. Where? In the US or in Europe? investigate.not an option, currently.
    
39. Write a work of fiction. Probably not. Not going to happen.
    
40. Learn ASL. Korean.I'm making slow progress. I will get back to this, after making some progress this past year.
    
41. Live car-free during the warm months--3/15/13 gave up my parking contract at work.It's too darn cold to give it up in the winter, but I can do more walking. Bay Area is good for this: love my Clipper Card! I hardly use my car these days. Sold my car! mostly don't miss it at all.
    
42. Go on a trail ride on a horse in Ritter Park.
43. Ride all the bike trails in the Twin Cities. I think my bike-riding days are over. Yeah, not going to challenge cars in Berkeley.
    
44. Learn to play that guitar that is sitting in my closet in the hallway. OK, I gave that guitar to someone who will play it. But I still want to play the bass. check out bass lessons at Twin Town. Gave it away. but I'm enjoying singing along with my Spotify playlist from time to time. Should I buy another guitar?
    
45. Have a make-over at ReVamp Salon, two blocks from my house!Found a decent hair stylist up on Solano. Growing my hair long and wearing it up.
    
46. Learn to play the blues on the piano that is sitting in my living room.The piano is open! Gave it away. Maybe some day when I'm living somewhere else. Not an option, currently.
    
47. Master my Mac. 5/23: Signed up for a free iMovies class at First Tech! Had to go to the hospital, so I missed the class. don't give up! try again! just lost interest.I don't need to be a techie. Maybe I just need to try to make a slide-show with music and my Japan photos.
    
48. Learn different ways to make an animated .gif. Nah. no longer motivated for this.
    
49. Plant an indoor succulent garden. Done! only lost two plants so far, not bad. love my plants! moving to the land of outdoor succulents....I have a few on the back porch, but need to relocate them. Well, the succulents are not thriving, but they have survived and I got some orchids to rebloom! need to get more succulents because almost all of them died.
    
50. Learn and sing a Schubert song cycle. Going to see Ian Bostridge sing Die Winterreise at Zellerbach. I should have an listening festival.
    
51. Become conversationally proficient in Japanese. I am so excited that I am back up to speed in Hiragana and reasonably proficient in Katakana. I'm remembering and recognizing vocabulary and sentence structures and even relearning some kanji! 15 minutes a day. Made some real progress with hiragana/katakana. currently "practicing" my Japanese by watching anime.
    
52. Learn to crochet, and make an afghan. looking at the january classes at Stephen Be. Use the book I bought. On hold. Ugh, still on hold, I'm so unmotivated even though I have hooks, yarn and books!
    
53. Learn to poach an egg. got a groovy egg cooker thingie, and I"m making fake poached eggs with it :)Not poaching eggs, but enjoying other egg dishes more. I like an egg in my ramen, not quite poached but almost.
    
54. Select, print, and frame my best photos. Consolidated iphotos library. Fucked up and deleted most of my photos and can't recover them. Crying bitter tears inside. do this with some of the pictures from Japan and Mexico. This should be in the top 5 of intentions. I WILL DO THIS! Soon!
    
55. Needlepoint pillows. Hmm. Not needlepoint, but I did embroider a pillowcase from Ikea! I have embroidered a few pillowcases but I'd like to get a needlepoint kit.
    
56. Repaint my home in colors I choose. 3/5/13: choosing colors. ARgh, still choosing colors, this is so hard! DONE! Ask Chuck and Cindy if I can do this. Waiting to see if I move over a unit to a quieter one at the end of the year....not likely to happen with the new owners, too bad.
    
57. Make a survival kit for when the power goes out for two weeks. Earthquake kit. Done.
    
58. Reupholster or make slipcovers for my couches. got a contact from Maria, need to get in touch with her! Set this aside until cat no longer claws and soils existing seat covers :( Done, with fabric from Nancy. Using the dark blue duvet cover on the sleeper pad. Looks good! Bought myself a great reclining armchair and ottoman instead.
    
59. Learn to edit a video with photos and music. On hold with all my other techie aspirations. moving to the top of the list.
    
60. Spend a month (or more) in Oaxaca in a place that has bouganvillia. Summer of 2014?Talk to Nancy and Mark about returning to Mexico? Leslie and I should do this. still on my wish list!
    
61. Visit Tikal. Hmm. Not really on my list any more, at least not to do alone. Not sure this will ever feel possible again.
    
62. Plan a leisurely cultural tour of New York City for me and my daughter to take together. May 2014? this year or next year? I think I'll visit Seattle first, but I may do a cheap trip if I can find a good bargain flight-hotel combo. Still holding on to the ticket from the trip that got postponed, but I will go see Rosemary in Brooklyn once I have been vaccinated!
    
63. Go gluten-free. Actually, I am revising this to be no white food. doing reasonably well with healthy food choices. No, better to focus on sugar-free. Sugar free, no white carbs. Yes! I have finally done this, and it has been a good thing. Need to go back to this.
    
64. Knit a sweater that I can actually wear (not wool, alas). It's OK to just knit scarves. Allergic to wool, boo hoo! I did teach myself to knit some caps and now have three of them!
    
65. Visit every island of Hawaii. Start planning this now. 2018 or 2019? Fantasy plan....so sad we can't travel now!
    
66. Read all the unread books on my shelves.  2/20/13 collected all the unread books and put them together. I could blog this. actually started going to the library and reading again. Baby steps. giving them away. Starting over, with the books I still have after the mega-purge. Churning through my library hold list, the My Little Library acquisitions. Ha ha I have so many books to read!
    
67. Take that tap dance class I had to give up when I broke my foot. Need to look up where to do this. OK, start with online! Folk dance, first. folk dancing will happen when we have reached herd immunity.
    
68. See the parts of Spain I haven't seen yet. ?Cuándo? Otro año será. Sigh.
    
69. Purge the clutter from my home. Big progress, lots more to go. 5/23 we are going to replace the steam boiler, and in the process, all that junk in the basement from building owners and tenants gone by will be carted out and disposed of, properly. I bought a new stove and got rid of that cracked old one. Almost time for my yearly purge. Empty the Next will take it all away in just a few weeks....Ha, ha. This happened. DONE
70. Practice yoga every week in class, every day at home. Up to 3xweek, sometimes 4 at the YWCA. Geneva is a great instructor, and Camilla's classes are great. Fell off the wagon, need to get back on. Now up to twice a week at total stretch classes. starting over, YET AGAIN, with a mat, a strap, and a book: at home. Uhhh....have been doing yoga daily at home, with a few periods of inactivity, using YouTube videos! yay!
    
71. Learn Tai Chi. Find out where.Probably not. I should look this up on YouTube!
    
72. Road trip across the U.S! with a buddy. Austin before the end of the summer? Look up an "ideal temperature route."Maybe I will look into the cost of renting a car and doing road trips in the Bay Area.
    
73. Get my own domain name and redesign my blog. This is a good cold weather project! January 2013. ??? I am going to start blogging again.
    
74. Go cross-country skiing again.OK, maybe not. OK, no.Nope.
75. Sand and repaint that green chair. Gave it away.
76. Get involved in my neighborhood association. CARAG's next meeting is Jan 21 2014. Berkeley equivalent? Tried the Next Door group but didn't like it.
    
77. Publish an article. NOPE
    
78. Write another book. Nope
    
79. Fix the stained ceiling tiles in the living room.TJ patched the hole I made tearing out the old ones. Next step: get an estimate to replace the ceiling tiles. DONE! I'm so happy at the results of the painting and ceiling repair job!! well I wonder if the folks who bought my condo repainted it.
    
80. Grow Gerbera Daisies.there's a thought.
    
81. Walk every street in my city, starting with my neighborhood, CARAG. When I get to Berkeley....found that blog. I have a map. Need to plot distances. I am walking the same 3-4 routes every day rather than branching out, as if I were running on a track. I guess it's good that I'm walking.
    
82. Make my own yoghurt. Do this. Nope.
    
83. Volunteer in the classroom with the kids at Jefferson School. Now doing this at Berkeley High. Had to give this up because I didn't like the kids.
    
84. Help my daughter finish college, debt-free. On track. 5/23 extra scholarship money this year is a huge help, and she did it herself! We did it!
85. Go on phased retirement to transition to another kind of work Forced to take disability and will not be able to work again at my old job. Need to talk to HR about the possibility of returning in some other capacity, pending result of EOAA investigation. This one is actually the same as #1, and that chapter is closed.
86. Get involved with Second Harvest Heartland. See above. So many tears.... Find the local equivalent.
    
87. Spend time in the country in southern France and northern Italy. Plan this using Rick Steves book. Will return to Paris with Rosemary some day!
    
88. Return to New Orleans. Plan with Leslie! When? well, that one is out.
    
89. Step across the Mississippi in Itasca State Park. Plan for next spring. ??? unlikely to happen now.
    
90. Join a chorus and sing the Messiah again. Singing the Messiah at home again.
91. Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Visit Maria! On New York Trip in Fall of 2017. WHen? Done! visited with Rosemary and Maria and will return.
    
92. Pay off my mortgage. On track. May even re-fi to a lower rate? talked to the bank, makes no sense to re-finance. I'm good. I took out a home equity loan to update and eventually sell my place. Good terms, already seeing the results! I will have paid off my mortage by August 2018. Will be paid off when the sale closes May 3.... Sold the condo, invested some of the $$, using the rest to keep my taxes down for the next few years....the profit from the sale kept me afloat until I could start drawing on my retirement accounts without tax penalty, yay!
    
93. Follow the example of the ladies of Advanced Style. Wear hats!or colorful Berkeley clothing. Losing weight so I can feel good about my style again.
    
94. Get an interpretation of my natal chart. Done! Now try to review and understand it on my own. Working with tarot. Get a new reading. Doing lots with the tarot. Time to revisit some of this work
    
95. Have my knives sharpened. Bought a knife sharpener!need to use it, though. Got my knives sharpened by the guy at the farmers' market on Saturdays.
    
96. Become a docent at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Joined the Asian Art Museum. making regular visits to Asian, OMCA, BAMPFA, others.can't wait until we are all able to go back to museums.
97. Use all my beads to make jewelry. Or donate them. Gave them away, but Nancy has my jewelry making tools.... Work with Nancy on this. On hold.  Just sitting there.
    
98. Continue to research fibromyalgia to find ways to manage it better. Working the Unlearn Your Pain program: first week pain free since age 17~3/20/13. Need to go back to this because it works. Feeling much better now that my life is less stressful. Talk to Kaiser about nutrition/fitness plan. Appointment tomorrow to see about possibility of hiatal hernia to explain abdominal pain. Generally less fibro flare-up stuff overall since I stopped working. Digestion issues responded to paleo diet.
    
99. Work with the therapist on that stuff under the rug. In progress. 7/15 enrolled in a DBT program. Hard core. Quit DBT, returned to Dr M. Using kdramas as therapy is much preferable. Seeing a psychoanalyst. find a therapist in the Bay Area. Found a therapist, but not getting much out of it. I think I'll stop. Have a better therapist now, talking weekly.
    
100. Choose joy every day. One day at a time. Taking a new med that might allow me to do this without panic attacks and bipolar episodes. Quit the meds and doing better. Je m'élance vers la gloire, OK. Jupiter in Libra in the 6th house, that's me.  I wish I still had that photo of the dancers captioned "choose joy!" from Oprah's magazine that I had on my office door for years!