A Bug's Life

Game Over. I've had a good time doing this - of course I was never going to complete everything, but it's had the desired effect of stirring me into doing more things that I purport to enjoy. "I'm particularly keen on things that take me away from the computer and involve social activity and/or different sorts of thinking from the analytics of work." I said; and I see I've been waaaaaay more successful on things that don't involve sitting in front of the computer.

I feel good when I can get in an hour of exercise a day, ideally walking. There were maybe 20 days of the 101 when I couldn't walk due to back/cold/snow/whatever, which I should perhaps factor in to future challenges. And why is it so hard to start on Tai Chi and Pilates when I feel so much better for them? Screen free days are good, I shall endeavour to keep on with that.

I've done a lot of fun stuff here, and the things I've not completed I have still to look forwards to :-) And there's still space for six more things...

44 Successes
1. Eat 505 portions of fruit and vegetables.
2. Drink 505 pints of water.
3. Read 9 books by New Year (making 31 this year).
4. Read another 6 books by Day 101.
5. Leave Cambridge 3 times (London, Boffoonery; London Comica + Hope Sandoval; London and Farnham for Grandma birthday)
6. Cook 3 interesting dinners for people. Sort of - through many new party-type dishes rather than sit-down meals. Candied sweet potato casserole, mince pie brownies etc.
22. Do 2008/09 tax return (with many thanks to ms_cataclysm)
23. Track all my spending for a month. £19.27 more out than in.
24. Mooch some books with my BookMooch points.
25. Make 50 Christmas cards.
28. Close my CiX account.
29. Plan my personal/development objectives for work for the next year AND how to go about achieving them.
31. Spring clean the study. Yes! Things are sorted into sensible heaps (for further sorting/filing), I've cleaned the dust off loads of nooks and crannies that were hidden behind boxes. Rar! And hidden a load of crap in my bedroom wardrobe :-)
32. Finish a piece of cross stitch.
34.Find the three things in my wardrobe I'd most like to wear but never have the opportunity, and make those opportunities (purple corset and tailcoat to burlesque club, blue ballgown, stretchy bright sequinny thing).
36. Do silk painting kit. Nice, or garish? I'm not quite sure...
38. Make baklava. Om nom nom! Bit greasier than other people's, but jolly good fun.
41. Go to three art exhibitions. Helena Almeida, Kettle's Yard. Anish Kapoor, Royal Academy. World Press Photo, Royal Festival Hall.
42. Organise my towels. All clean, dry, and folded neatly in cupboard.
43. Have seven screen-free days. It's got so hard to take a day off from a screen every couple of weeks. I suspect I shouldn't have spent so much of the last doing needlework, that's just as bad for the eyes and wrists as the laptop is!
53. Go to Carlton Arms on a Thursday.
54. Go to Cambridge Blue monthly pub meet.
55. Play boardgames three times. (2xArkham Horror with Monkeys; SPANC with P)
56. Drink more tea.
58. Write an end-of-year books-I've-read post (here)
59. and a films-I've-seen post (here)
62. Make secrit confectionery. Tiger-stripe honeycomb candy! The stripes were too gooey, but the candy (on its third attempt) was omnomnom.
65. Try a new sort of chocolate. Nice Xmas present single bean, and rather horrid Plamil vegan chocolate.
67. Make a micro loan.
68. Eat vegan for a week. As far as I know. The sureness was the hardest part.
69. Go for a day without making lewd innuendo or puns (if you count "trying extremely hard but letting a few slip")
70. Watch/discard 8 home-taped videos. Space made in cupboard, and some old favourites found.
71. Accept three invitations (should I receive them). Burlesque Club, Christmas dinner, service at Kings.
77. Take up my trousers.
80. Go out dancing till 2 in the morning.
81. Make the telly work.
82. Do some proof reading.
83. Watch all of Battlestar Galactica (original series).
88. Do a newspaper crossword (except for Eluned, but I got five letters of it).
89. Sort read/unread books (finding 491 unread fiction).
90. And sort CDs and DVDs. Now in order, with duplicates removed.
92. Meet three Strange Men Off The Internet (partly accomplished by going to a pub where I knew them to be).
93. Watch two seasons of Stargate Atlantis.
94. Have a day without lists.

16 Partially completed
7. Walk 101 hours. So far: ~72h. There have been about 20 days in this period when I couldn't walk, whether due to back or flu or snow. But some days I walked 2-3 hours.
8. Do Pilates 33 times. So far: 16
15. Draw something every day. 15. A practise I enjoyed, but a habit I never fixed. I've improved a bit, but mostly realised I prefer looking at other people's drawings to making my own.
16. Find three new comics to read. Astro City, The Boys, Grandville. The last not published as single issues, and none of them obtained as part of their regular schedule.
19. Try to reach CNPS 550. (Starting at 516). Current: 537. It's easy to get stuck for a couple of weeks looking for a particular number. Rate of completion is 60 a year and falling :-(
26. Speak to/write to 14 family members (which is most of them!) So far 7: Mum, sister, great aunt, nephew, aunt, grandma, aunt&uncle.
30. Give a decent presentation on my work. Put together a presentation which was cancelled and rescheduled on a different topic for April. Grr.
39. Make theremin. Have soldered all components now, still have to wire up switches.
46. Let cat in and out 7007 times (or as required). I, um, let the cat out a few more times than I let him in. He was annoyed.
47. Do ten press ups with good form. 6, probably not great, but I can do 35kg on the chest press machine now.
52. Spend 14.5 hours thinking about art. Probably more like 6. Input, reflection, and development of ideas-type thing.
60. Play viola for 14.5 hours (quietly). Viola is not good when the back is at all bad, but I've surprised myself by putting in a few hours with the treble recorder.
61. Mend stained glass. Got a quote for the best part of a grand. The fixing part is now trivial (should I decide to spend that grand which I think not somehow)
73. More a statement of intent than a thing to do: no computer between midnight and 6am. ~55. I would feel so much better if I'd up this number, but some people don't come out till after 11pm.
74. Have some sort of personal insight into my feelings about procrastination and productivity. Thought: "It's bloody difficult." Lists help me a lot. And I hate to admit it, but I want to do far more things than fit into a week. This will, I suspect, be an ongoing struggle.
91. Get inbox to zero. Got it from 200+ to 47, with scope to go further.

35 Not done at all
9. Make five things #1
10. Make five things #2
11. Make five things #3
12. Make five things #4
13. Make five things #5
14. Upload 50 photos to Flickr
17. Finish Portal
18. Robot/gerbil war!
20. Learn to use the scanner, scan my grandma's photos and some line art
21. Do TAFF accounts
27. Loc every fanzine that comes through the door/email
33. Mend the lovely 50s dress I'll probably never fit into
35. Raise £101 for charity
37. Hang three pictures in the house
40. Make thing with polymorph
44. Sort the fanzines
45. Get the printer working
48. Do a chin up. HA HA HA yeah, right, in your dreams bugshaw, with your weedy arms and your hefty hips.
49. Make some postcards
50. Write three chapters of TAFF report
51. Make sock puppets in the form of famous artworks
57. Have a jolly nice dinner at a jolly nice restaurant. Had several nice meals, but nothing really fancy. Must get out more.
63. Get a new default icon
64. Go round Cambridge photographing sculpture
66. Something involving ducks
72. Electrocute a gherkin
75. Do Tai Chi 14 times.
76. Some sort of clothing/makeup thing - maybe in January. I don't shop much...
78. Get someone to fix the lights in the kitchen
79. Stop Life Insurance
84. Fix toilet flush buttons
85. Make an Xcelsius dashboard
86. Archive LJ entries for the last few years. Did manage to tidy up a couple of years.
87. Find Dad's gold watch and chain (they'll be in a Safe Place in another dimension). Not in the study. Not in the dining room.
95. Make another couple of gifts.