File this under - What was I thinking?!

Five years ago, on December 17, 2009, I drew up a list of 101 things I wanted to complete in 1001 days. I look back now, and...what was I thinking?! I've done 13 of them - in 5 years!  Not a stellar record, but looking back at them, some are pretty cool.  But hey, it's 5 years on, I am not quite the same person (in that Christian Laboutin shoes are not a desired item), so I decided to refresh and update some of these.  Some were just deleted because they no longer make any sense. Maybe the list isn't exactly of 101 things, but I shall try and complete them over the next 5 years.  The timeline has changed to, but hey, I got really, really fit and healthy and then really, really unfit and unhealthy.  So it's going to take me some time to do an Olympic distance triathlon and a half iron man.  So here's the revised list......

1. Get over my fear of deep water 
2. Do an Olympic distance triathlon 
3. Complete a half iron man 
4. Run the Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town 
5. Compete in a 5K snow shoe race 
6. Learn to Nordic ski properly 
7. Try doing a biathlon 
8. Learn to stand up and cycle 
9. Cycle in traffic  Ride in a cycle race. 
10. Race up the Empire State Building 
11. Race up the Hancock Tower in Chicago 
12. Run an interesting half marathon. 
13. Complete an official duathlon 
14. Win my age group in something 
15. Run a 5K in under 25 minutes 
16. Run the Paavo Nurmi marathon in Turku 
17. Run the Paavo Nurmi marathon in Wisconsin 
18. Run in Iceland 
19. Complete the 200 sit ups in 6 weeks challenge Complete the abs challenge in July 2015. 
20. Learn to breast stroke 
21. Learn to tread water (for at least 10 minutes) 
22. Learn to butterfly 
23. Knit a jumper scarf. 
24. Start a new blog with 1001 amazing photos 
25. Learn the rules of American Football 
26. Visit Salina in Toronto 
27. Visit Roxy in New Brunswick 
28. Climb the 4 Presidential Towers in Chicago 
29. Learn to play mahjong 
30. Complete a black and white Escher puzzle 
31. Watch Ingmar Bergman’s films (all 30 of them) 
32. Write an article for a magazine 
33. Put all my photographs on CDs 
34. Read my 4 bags of mail 
35. Have a sports massage every 2 months (at least) 
36. Categorize my cards in a box (bday, thank you etc) 
37. Write 5 letters and send them 
38. Rejuvenate the Siena facebook group 
39. Meet my Turkish penfriend after 30 years 
40. Go to an a-ha concert 
41. Bind my theses 
42. Get really healthy and fit 
43. Bake the perfect guilt-free chocolate cake 
44. Buy a painting by an art student 
45. Read all the books on the Man Booker 2009 shortlist (6) 
46. Read all the books on the Samuel Johnson Prize 2009 shortlist (6) 
47. Read the Guardian’s 2009 bestsellers (10) 
48. Read the top 20 Scandanavian bestsellers for 2009 
 49. Learn to play Texas Hold’Em 
50. Save 5 USD per day for 1001 days. 
 51. Learn CPR with the Red Cross 
52. Design and wear a costume for a road race 
53. Meditate every day for at least 30 minutes 
54. Bake something for my colleagues 5 times 
55. Learn 3 good jokes 
56. Write to 1 person who inspired me 
57. Find another source of income 
58. Use one new never tried recipe twice a month 
59. Buy a good set of Japanese knives 
60. Knit 10 items for charity 
61. Get a US driving licence 
62.
63. Have a birthday party 
64. Write down a memory of my parents once a month 
65. 
66. 
67. Make something for 10 different people 
68. Put together a care package for someone 
69. Let it go. Really 
70. Buy nothing for a week once a month 
71. Go to the airport and hop on a plane somewhere 
72. Write a letter to myself to be opened in 10 years time 
73. Convince 1 other person to do a 101 things list 
74. Learn to make sushi 
75. Laugh out loud every day. If no laughter by 10pm, take action
76. Learn the lyrics to 5 songs 
77. Attend 1 party a month. If no parties, organize a dinner party 
78. Acquire something exceptionally beautiful and useless 
79. Learn about stocks, investments, bonds 
80. Photograph all the stunning buildings in Boston 
81. Ride a mechanical bull 
82. Go away on a girls spa long weekend 
83. 
84. Listen to Wagner’s complete works 
85. Sponsor a child 
86. Learn to skip for at least 10 minutes 
87. Buy a homeless person a hot meal 
88. Send an anonymous gift 
89. 
90. Buy a pair of Christian Laboutin shoes 
91. Contribute an article to a feminist publication 
92. Send someone flowers 
93. Make a recipe book of 30 staple recipes 
94. Wake up every morning for 30 days and dance to a song (x6) 
95. Blog twice a week 
96. Donate a blanket to Project Linus 
97. Put away 20 USD for every task I complete 
98. Bake a cake/biscuits for the fire station 
99. Celebrate success by buying a fabulous memento on day 1001 
100. Make a new list of 101 things before this list is completed 
101. Donate 10 USD to charity for every goal I miss on this list

101 Things in 1001 Days - Update

                                         Hannes took a picture of us at the traffic lights!

Drawing up this list immediately plunged my life into disorder!  It has really been the best of times, and the worst of times.  The former because I have diverted my attention to other aspects of my life which have been neglected for the past 2 years, and rediscovered my passion for reading, and have also started re-balancing my life.  It has been the worst of times because since I drew up that list, my running schedule has gone haywire, and I have totally gone off track with those goals.  In fact, there are none!

Still, having said that, I can cancel 3 things off my list: I have finally sorted through my 4 bags of unopened mail, got another person to draw up their list of 101 things to do, and have been to an a-ha concert - theme of this post.

Having stalked them for 25 years, I finally got to see them live last Friday in New York at the Nokia Theatre at their farewell concert.  My friend Kathy and I flew to NY that morning, and checked into the Waldorf Astoria (yes, it is very nice!), after which we spent the day shopping.  Ah, there is nothing quite like shopping in New York.  Therefore it was not surprising to find that we were running late for the concert.  Finding a taxi on a Friday night during rush hour in NY is impossible, and we ended up taking a 'green' taxi - one of those rickshaw-like contraptions.  I thought I would be flung to my death!  No, that is not an exaggeration, but Hannes, our cyclist-driver did u-turns in the face of 6 lanes of oncoming traffic, that did my head in.  Know too that these 'green' taxis are rather like articulated lorries - the front goes in one direction and the back in quite another.  It was exhilirating and surreal at the same time, but he got us there in good time.

The Nokia Theatre is like a night club, and although I was rather surprised to find that the concert had sold out, I soon discovered why.  All the Europeans living in NY were at the Nokia!  In fact it was like being back in Europe...the same style and atmosphere, and it was great.  We were standing fairly near the front, and had a good view of the band.

I had a fantastic time, but found it to be a highly emotional experience - this is the end of the line, their farewell concert.  And yes, it was like breaking up with 3 boyfriends all at the same time.  But it was a great night, and I am thrilled that I finally got to see them!

                                                                                                                                                                      

The long sought-after tickets.

                                          Magne, Morten and Pal.

The one and only, Morten Harket.

What food 'rules' do you live by?

The picture above is one that I have on my desktop, and look at almost everyday.  It is a picture that I really like, and it reminds me more of an Arcimboldo, than a Van Dijck still-life.  This post is generated by Tricia's question on her blog today: "What food 'rules' do you live by"?
In case it has not been obvious, I have a slightly conflicted relationship with food.  I grew up in a vegetarian family, with my mum following the tenets of ayurvedic cooking.  It was even worse when we had family come and stay with us.  There were even stricter variations on this, and my mum ended up having to cook several separate meals, with separate utensils.  One of my cousins had lived in an ashram in India for a couple of years, and he did not eat garlic or onions as they are Tamasic foods, "provoking mental dullness". Going on holiday was an experience as my mother would take her own pots and pans with her - the same with cutlery.  We never ate out, as no restaurant could follow the strict dietary  principles and tenets my family adhered to.  Food was a necessity, a fuel rather than a luxury, and 'treats' were never food-related.  So what changed?
Well, I moved to Italy and discovered the Mediterranean diet.  When I used to tell people I was a vegetarian, they really struggled to come to understand what exactly that meant - after all, this was Italy in the 1980s, and vegetarianism had not yet become mainstream.  Being invited to people's homes was always dramatic, as people just did not know what to make for me, and always felt that I "hardly ate anything".  My parents however had always encouraged me to try new things and have an open mind, so I decided to try all these things I had never eaten - salami, proscuitto, carpaccio etc etc.  It was fine, and I enjoyed it all immediately, as being a vegetarian was never really about 'ethics', though I guess it is the basis of ayurveda anyway.  However, my family never banged on about that aspect, so I really was free to make that leap.
When I left Italy and went up to Oxford, I went back to being a vegetarian.  Then, when we moved to Geneva things were no longer so black and white - my perception of food as fuel had changed and food was also now a luxury.  In Italy one spent hours talking about food and wine which is such an integral part of la bella vita.  I could not just undo all that.  Living such a focussed life in Oxford made sticking to a vegetarian diet easy, but once back in the 'real' world, it was hard to get the jack back into the box.    Food is part of a cultural backdrop and it is quite hard to now think of it as strictly 'fuel'.  Let me also add that Stuart has been very good about all of this, and he enjoys the vegetarian diet.  He can take ayurvedic cooking in small doses, but like me prefers a wider variety of world vegetarian dishes.  My bible in the kitchen is Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian Cookbook, but I vacillate wildly between Italian and Vegetarian cooking.  I just cannot choose.  In my mind I would like to go the vegetarian way, but how could I forget about all the other meat and fish-based dishes?
In addition, other issues have crept in: fast food and other stuff.  I had never eaten a McDonald's until I moved to Italy.  Firstly McDonald's did not exist in South Africa and secondly with all the ayurvedic goings-on, it was the furthest thing on my mind.  In Siena, there was 1 McDonald's in the whole town, and hardly anyone went there.  The only people who went there were the boys in the military because they had very little money to do anything else.  Mind you, a menu meal was about 6 Euros (about 8 USD).  Still, it quite a novelty to have it.  In Geneva, they send you free coupons in the post, so we used to wait for those to have a McDonald's.
But back to the original question in Tricia's post: What food 'rules' do you live  by?  I cook everything, we rarely eat out, pizza is a once a week treat.  McDonald's never happens.  I still struggle with crisps, chocolate, biscuits and nuts.  I try not to have them, because it is like opening the floodgates - once I start, it seems impossible to stop, so I just do not buy them.  The idea behind this is that if I want something, I am going to have to walk to the shops to get it.  Naturally, this plan does not always work, and some weeks I do buy stuff and think I can control it....   I have just had a quick chat with Stuart halfway through writing this post, and he has come up with a wonderful idea.
Stuart has suggested that I add another item to my 101 things: have a vegetarian week a month for 6 months, then have 2 vegetarian weeks for 6 months.  That will bring me (us) up to a year, and then I can decide what I want to do after that.  When friends come around we can still offer them meat etc, as I do not believe in foisting my choices upon others.  I love that idea of a vegetarian week a month, so watch this space for an update, and I love Stuart for being so supportive with my dilemmas!  So let me extend Tricia's question to everyone: What food 'rules' do you live by?

                                                    

January Update on 101 things

While things were painfully limping along in the running department, I tried to get organized with my list. After all, it was supposed to have started on 1 January. Well, my new blog never got off the ground as I am finding it challenging enough to stay abreast of this one. However, the idea is not completely off the table, so it may still happen. I also think I know what it will be about, and am fairly excited by it!
I managed to book 2 tickets to A-HA's farewell concert. They are doing 4 concerts in North America, 2 in New York and 2 in LA. The pre-sale tickets were impossible to get as the site kept crashing. The tickets were all gone in 10 minutes! Who knew A-HA are so popular in North America?! Anyway, I began to think that I would not get tickets, and this would mean having to go to Norway or Sweden over the summer for their concerts there, and I was rather looking forward to it. Still, I was very pleased when I managed to get my hands on 2 tickets when they finally went on sale on 5 February. It took me the better part of the morning, but on 7 May, I will be at the Nokia theatre in New York with A-HA.
Next, I started reading the first book on the Man Booker 2009 shortlist: AS Byatt's The Children's Book. This is a good one, as I did not like her Possession very much. I am only a few chapters in, but it is superbly written, and a delicious use of words.
The next items were not spending money for a week, which called for organization and forethought, but I managed it. It also meant not going out or even buying a coffee. It was good for me; and today I am finishing my no-spending week for February! I also saved my $5 per day for January, and am also happy to report that I am now down to 2 bags of unopened mail.
The mail story is excruciating, as we get still get loads of mail from Geneva. In addition to all kinds of other stuff - it is truly a nightmare but I am determined to manage this better. Thankfully it does not involve bills, just lots of receipts, statements and what not.
We did not organize a dinner party this month as we were invited to one, which was very nice. This month though I am going to organize one here at home, and get some of our new friends to meet each other. Also, I have a plan to play secret cupid.....there are 2 people whom I think absolutely have to meet.....
I started learning French again, and it's amazing how much I have forgotten since leaving Geneva. For anyone else interested, there is a wonderful podcast (free) called "Learn French with Alexa", which is for complete beginners. There is another called "One thing in a French Day" and is a bit more advanced, but very entertaining! Leticia lives near Paris and has 2 young children. Her podcasts are about episodes of her daily life. The first podcast is good for slowly learning the grammar and pronounciation. If you speak any other romance language, know that French follows the same grammatical rules, and Alexa has a website where you can also download a cheat sheet for lessons 1-15. The second podcast is good for 'building your ear' and also helps you acquire a more colloquial, conversational French. Nice to build on the usual "hello, my name is X and I am from XX".
My final item starting in January, was to listen to one of Wagner's operas. Since my goal is to listen to them all, I started with the first - Das Liebesverbot. Well, Wagner wanted to be Beethoven when he grew up, so you can hear his and Weber's influence in this work. The work itself is easy to listen to, without the sturm und drang of his later work!
Starting the list made me realize how much there is still to do, and is a great way of actually getting things done. I would love to know how this is working for other people!

101 Things in 1001 Days

I finally finished my list....it's not only about running, but I decided to post it here anyway! A thank you shout-out to Christina, as I liked her list so much, I wanted to make one of my own.

Start date 1 January 2010. Finish date 12 September 2012.

The Mission: 
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.
The 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 work on my part).
Why 1001 Days? 
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as New Year’s resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

1. Get over my fear of deep water
2. Do an Olympic distance triathlon
3. Complete a half iron man
4. Run the Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town
5. Compete in a 5K snow shoe race
6. Learn to Nordic ski properly
7. Try doing a biathlon
8. Learn to stand up and cycle
9. Cycle in traffic
10. Race up the Empire State Building
11. Race up the Hancock Tower in Chicago
12. Run an interesting half marathon.
13. Complete an official duathlon
14. Win my age group in something
15. Run a 5K in under 25 minutes
16. Run the Paavo Nurmi marathon in Turku
17. Run the Paavo Nurmi marathon in Wisconsin
18. Run in Iceland
19. Complete the 200 sit ups in 6 weeks challenge
20. Learn to breast stroke
21. Learn to tread water (for at least 10 minutes)
22. Learn to butterfly
23. Knit a jumper
24. Start a new blog with 1001 amazing photos
25. Learn the rules of American Football
26. Visit Salina in Toronto
27. Visit Roxy in New Brunswick
28. Climb the  4 Presidential Towers in Chicago
29. Learn to play mahjong
30. Complete a black and white Escher puzzle
31. Watch Ingmar Bergman’s films (all 30 of them)
32. Write an article for a magazine
33. Put all my photographs on CDs
34. Read my 4 bags of mail
35. Have a sports massage every 2 months (at least)
36. Categorize my cards in a box (bday, thank you etc)
37. Write 5 letters and send them
38. Rejuvenate the Siena facebook group
39. Meet my Turkish penfriend after 30 years
40. Go to an a-ha concert
41. Bind my theses
42. Get really healthy and fit
43. Bake the perfect guilt-free chocolate cake
44. Buy a painting by an art student
45. Read all the books on the Man Booker 2009 shortlist (6)
46. Read all the books on the Samuel Johnson Prize 2009 shortlist (6)
47. Read the Guardian’s 2009 bestsellers (10)
48. Read the top 20 Scandanavian bestsellers for 2009
49. Learn to play Texas Hold’Em
50. Save 5 USD per day for 1001 days.
51. Learn CPR with the Red Cross
52. Design and wear a costume for a road race
53. Meditate every day for at least 30 minutes
54. Bake something for my colleagues 5 times
55. Learn 3 good jokes
56. Write to 1 person who inspired me
57. Find another source of income
58. Use one new never tried recipe twice a month
59. Buy a good set of Japanese knives
60. Knit 10 items for charity
61.
62. Get a US driving licence
63. Have a birthday party
64. Write down a memory of my parents once a month
65.
66.
67. Make something for 10 different people
68. Put together a care package for someone
69. Let it go. Really
70. Buy nothing for a week once a month
71. Go to the airport and hop on a plane somewhere
72. Write a letter to myself to be opened in 10 years time
73. Convince 1 other person to do a 101 things list
74. Learn to make sushi
75. Laugh out loud every day. If no laughter by 10pm, take action
76. Learn the lyrics to 5 songs
77. Attend 1 party a month. If no parties, organize a dinner party
78. Acquire something exceptionally beautiful and useless
79. Learn about stocks, investments, bonds
80. Photograph all the stunning buildings in Boston
81. Ride a mechanical bull
82. Go away on a girls spa long weekend
83.
84. Listen to Wagner’s complete works
85. Sponsor a child
86. Learn to skip for at least 10 minutes
87. Buy a homeless person a hot meal
88. Send an anonymous gift
89.
90. Buy a pair of Christian Laboutin shoes
91. Contribute an article to a feminist publication
92. Send someone flowers
93. Make a recipe book of 30 staple recipes
94. Wake up every morning for 30 days and dance to a song (x6)
95. Blog twice a week
96. Donate a blanket to Project Linus
97. Put away 20 USD for every task I complete
98. Bake a cake/biscuits for the fire station
99. Celebrate success by buying a fabulous memento on day 1001
100. Make a new list of 101 things before this list is completed
101. Donate 10 USD to charity for every goal I miss on this list


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