Day 29 - Check by Check

Two, count them, two bold items today!

#6 - Complete lace scarf

I finally finished the North Star Scarf that's been weighing on my mind this past month. It's pinned out and drying now, so no pictures quite yet. I have a couple of un-photographed FOs lying about... I may just have a photo session tomorrow or the next day. ^_^

#58 - Procure a fitting black necklace cord

I actually did one better--I fixed the one I have. The lobster clasp had broken, dropping my favorite stained glass necklace down into my bra several times a day. I found an extra clasp I bought last year and replaced the old with my bare hands (who needs pliers?). I saved money and got instant gratification. Sweet.

I also made some headway towards partials this week. Tried a new tea (#21), the Pettiagalla I mentioned. ...it's kinda weak. I like more robust black teas. Nice for mid-morning sipping, though. I'm this close to buying the pattern for the Irtfa'a shawl. Always more with the Japanese, of course, and while I tried to make it though the New Yorker in time it didn't happen. Always next week.

It didn't fit any of my listed goals, but Ken and I went to the SF Zoo Thursday. It was a bunch of fun, if a little cold. The animals were great, though.

Day 23 - A Couple of Things

Before I forget:

#5 - Another dishcloth has been completed; all I need is a picture.

#6 - The lace scarf I'm working on is over half done. Woo!

#12 - I'm now keeping a running count of how much audio I have in my podcast folder. I've been downloading without listening lately, boo. Today I listened to two hours worth of audio only to have that gain swallowed by downloading a single podcast. Gah. Still at 33 hours.

#42 - I've been doing more Japanese than radio recently (125 of the third grade characters done, woo!). Is this just a fad? Dunno...

#83 - Material thing number two--a pair of pants beyond mending.

Day 20 - Another One Down

I get to use the bold button again. ^_^

#38 - Update info at work

It took all of five minutes. Yea! I now have two truly complete items and 11 "partials" done. Using the math I figured out in an earlier post that's 39 days worth of "work". At least I'm not behind!

I've tried a couple of new teas (#21) since I last posted - Bigelow's Darjeeling and a Green Apple herbal they have at the coffeeshop my knitting group meets at. Wasn't a big fan of either. I have tried darjeeling before and didn't like it, but thought a couple of years and a different brand would make the difference. Nope. And the green apple just tasted... gimmicky. Yesterday I went to Lupica and picked up black tea called Pettiagalla. I've never (knowingly) had a plantation specified tea before, so it'll be neat to discern this particular grove's characteristics. The tea I really wanted, Monte Cristo, was out, but hopefully I'll be able to get some next time.

I forgot to mention a "me" lunch (#72) I had the other day--Indian buffet. Ken doesn't like spicy food very much so I tend to hit the all you can eat Indian places on my own. I've been to this restaurant several times and this time the selection was kinda meh. Won't prevent me from going back, though.

The third grade kanji (#42) are now half done, which is nice. If I do ten a day I should be able to finish the rest this month. Hopefully.

Day 18 - Little Bits

Yan and I went on a field trip on her Vespa last weekend. Riding the scooter is a ton of fun, though it took some getting used to. Rule number one--don't flail about. Rule number two--squeeze Yan's butt with your knees. Rule number three--lean forward when going uphill. Rule number four--try not to kick Yan with your looong legs. -_^



Yan and Red Sonja. Yan has a thing for red.

While out we went to Outback (#71), and I can't say that I cared for it. Then again, I don't care for steakhouses much, period. The french onion soup was pretty good, though.

We also went to JoAnns so I could finally use the $25 gift card I got for Christmas. I picked up sock needles, stitch holders, stitch markers... all the stupid little stuff you need but always forget to buy. I also grabbed two balls of self-striping dishcloth cotton.



Miter dishcloth based on Mason-Dixon Knitting's miter square. One towards #5--woot!

As far as other knitting goes I'm trying to make a lace scarf (#6) in time for my mom's big Alaskan cruise. I've finished four of nine pattern repeats, so it's getting there! I also finished a pair of socks (#1), which I'll show you as soon as I get some pictures taken.

I'm saddened to report that I lapsed in taking my vitamins for a few days so #26 has been reset and told to sit in the corner for a while.

I like the way that thinking about this list has kept me goal oriented. Just making it was a wonderful exercise in figuring out what is important in my life. It also prevents me from living on auto pilot. Who wants to do that?

Days 10, 11, and 12 - Ups and Downs

I get my New Yorker on Thursday or Friday, always. In Albany I got it on Monday or Tuesday, but I'm on the West Coast now. It takes longer to mail things out here. Then why oh why did my New Yorker come on Tuesday this week?? I was only half finished with last week's. #10 has been reset. Simply opening my mailbox made for an insta-fail.

Tuesday was a great day otherwise--free museum day! Two friends and I went out for some free culture. We started the day at the Conservatory of Flowers, which is like a greenhouse on steroids. They have different rooms for different climates--tropical, mountain highlands--that are brimming with flowers.



Their special exhibit was about butterflies, which is a yearly thing, apparently. The coolest thing is that they're not in cages--they just flutter around the room as they please. You can watch them feed from pretty flowers and feeders or just plain ol' hang out.



This guy might have been my favorite.

Then we went to the de Young Museum and went up it's observation tower to get a look at the city and the bay. Didn't go through the exhibits, though. We took our time walking about of the park, and found this lake while we were at it:



It was huge. There were people in rowboats and peddleboats enjoying the weather. Really neat. Then it was off to the Legion of Honor. We arrived about an hour before close and realized that the Annie Leibovitz exhibit was there. We only had to pay five dollars to get into the special exhibit and man, it was amazing. We spent most of that hour in awe. So cool. We bought our postcards in the museum shop and were greeted by this happy sculpture on our way out:



First of all, San Francisco is one of the few places you could have this thing outside. (There was another one inside.) Number two... how cool is that?



After that we headed back to more familiar territory for dinner. It did end up being a new-to-me restaurant, though. I don't know the name, but it's the Thai place kitty corner from the coffeeshop in the Richmond. (It means something to me, trust me.) The pineapple fried rice was amazing. Definitely will be heading back.

So, in all that, what list items did I accomplish? While it looks like I went to three museums... I didn't. First of all, the Convervatory of Flowers is not a museum. Second of all, we didn't see any of the de Young past the observatory. And third of all, we only saw the special exhibit at the Legion of Honor. So... no checks for #64. The new restaurant counts as #71. #10 got put back to square one. And I did take my vitamins for #26. ...let's just called it a mixed day.

Day 10 - Simply Keeping Up

Work has started again, and so my life is crazy again. This week I'm a little short on hours, but it will give me three days off to enjoy. Tomorrow I'll go museum hopping with friends (#64), and who knows, maybe I'll get to try a new restaurant (#71). And the vitamin thing (#26) is still going strong.

I'm up to page 34 in this week's New Yorker (#10)--I love David Sedaris. Some of his essays are on the short side, but I'm savoring this four page reflection on quitting smoking. The rest of the magazine should go quickly, as I usually skip over the fiction. I want to work in radio and news, and any reading time spent on "fake" stuff kinda feels like wasted time. I aspire to fill my head with facts and true stories, instead.

I've been working on my Japanese 社会 textbook (#48) as well and have now reached page 43. To be fair it was a picture and graph heavy section. Having a Japanese boyfriend is absolutely wonderful when I reach weird parts of the text.

Me: Hey Ken, take a look at this sentence for me. I think it means this, but the way it's written confuses me.
Ken: That's not natural Japanese--it confuses me, too.

I love it when it's not just me.

I leave you with the most beautiful character I've scribbled down in a long time--a hiragana ki. It has the perfect proportions and swish factor. Starred for easy identification and my own amusement. ^_^

Day 6 - Unexpected Free Time

I thought I would be going to work today, but they have most everything set up for tomorrow's soft open so I just stayed at home. It didn't quite feel like a day off, but I can't quite figure out why. Action on a couple of new items today:

#4 - I now have yarn for the Irtfa'a shawl. It isn't exactly the shade I was hoping for, but getting 1,760 yards of laceweight for $10 isn't an everyday occurrence. It should be fine. My next "action step" (I think I picked that up from a 'steps to success' book somewhere... GTD?) is to buy the pattern from Anne's website. I won't be able to start working on it until I finish a lace scarf I have on the needles, though, so it might wait a couple of weeks.

#8 - Tomorrow ought to be the day I find out if I have this internship or not. The not knowing is not fun. Once I have the answer I'll be able to plan the next few months of my life, which I look forward to.

#10 - The next New Yorker just arrived today. I'm on page 24, which means I skipped over all the movie and show listings in the front and read half of a Talk of the Town article. -_^

#26 - Yes.

#48 - I'm up to page 38 in the 社会 textbook. This section is all about the jobs people do, from banker to construction worker. Not too much new vocab and lots of pictures make fast going (it'll be reversed in later chapters--I know, I already peeked). The best new word in this section is 勧誘する人, or roughly traveling salesman.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to have a "me" lunch, and there's a chance some friends and I will visit a museum or two on Tuesday. I like this feeling of making progress. ^_^