I’ve resisted this one for a while. As far as I know, this was the guy who started, but let me know if I’m wrong so I can give props where props are due.
The idea is to list 101 things you intend to accomplish within the next 1001 days—that’s just shy of three years for the math impaired among you (like I didn’t just whip out a calculator or anything.) It’s a good length of time to set goals under: long enough to give you a false sense of security, but short enough to set a fire under your ass.
Post Dec 25, 2007 Update: Time's Up. For more info on the failures, click here.
The List - Tasks completed: 65 Actually difficult tasks completed: 15
Read
1. Read Ulysses
21. Read the Motley Crue biography - [Done: 04/17/05 - And I'm better for it.]
23. Read something by Salman Rushdie
24. Find out what the deal is with Ayn Rand
50. Read Fear and Loathing in
Write
2. Get published, dammit! [Done: 05/10/06 - Vanity published, but still published.]
7. Write four new stories that don’t suck rocks
32. Start writing a novel (we’ll consider 30 pages a start; will also count any 3-day novel or blog novel contests) - [Done 11/30/05 - He gave birth to a thing and lo it was called NaNoWriMo, then he left poor NaNo to die cold and alone.]
73. Get something published on the McSweeney’s website
95. Institute some kind of writing regimen
96. Follow this regiment for one month
Fit
4. Run a 22 minute 5K.
5. Run another half-marathon.
10. Bench press my own weight five times (in a row, folks)
54. Attend a class at the gym - [Done 10/26/05 - ...and it didn't kick my ass as much as I thought it would. Although ask me again tomorrow and you might hear something different.]
69. Run the canal from the Ottawa River to Dow's
77. Lose five pounds
89. Take up a winter sport [Done: 01/29/07]
Fun
3. Hold or attend a twenty-four hour movie marathon. - [Done - 01/07/06 - And it was bitchin.]
15. Make it to another Lowest of the Low concert - [Done - 05/16/05]
41. See three local bands
47. Touch my brother last before immediately jumping in the car and driving back to
63. Buy Jay a drink; preferably rye
67. Make a new friend [Done 28/07/05. And her name is Isha. Isha!]
68. Make a new enemy -- [Done 06/10/05. And her name is Eva. Eva!]
70. See the sun go down on Sacre Coeur (and so have lived the best verse of Rosy and Grey)
71. Have a Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. [Done - 12/07]
85. Reclaim the annual McLean Christmas Shooter party as my favourite party of the year - [Done 12/25/05 - It's not so much me as the family to thank for this one.]
90. Gamble, win a small fortune, and walk away
91. Participate in a Poker Night -- [Done 07/16/05 at Greg's bachelor party. I wasn't man enough for the big balls Texas Hold'em game downstairs, so it was just me, some uncles, and a pile of quarters.]
Smart
6. Have reasonably begun tracing my family’s genealogy - [Done: 08/10/07 - Just barely. While in Newfoundland, Sarah hit up my great Aunt Rita for info on her brothers and sisters. Now we know when my mom's side of the family came from Ireland, where before my parents were like, 'Pfft. I dunno. Didn't the family just appear in Newfoundland one day?'
8. Learn enough HTML to redesign this site
12. Figure out
86. Play Trivial Pursuit Book-Lovers Edition - [Done: 04/25/05 - Fatigue sent us all into a draw so I was robbed of my victory over Sarah... for now]
87. Play NTN at Don Cherry’s
88. Beat Sarah at both
99. Learn more about Access (particularly macros and visual basic) - [done 05/28/05 - By no means a genius, but learned an assload more due to a project at work.]
Travel
9. Visit
18. Visit Macchu Picchu
31. Go to Vegas [Done 02/09/05 until 07/09/05. Happy early 30th birthday to me from Sarah.]
45. Attend a training session at Abhaya – [Done: 07/11/05 – And I had a goddamn blast. I’m seriously thinking about taking BJJ up at a club in
46. Get to
48. Break up the winter by going somewhere warm for a week [Done: 02/14/06
101. Visit
Watch
11. Go to the Bytowne Cinema [Done: 04/21/05 - Saw a very slow French movie called "Look at Me," which I still enjoyed because it dealt with writers and with being a a fat girl--two things I feel I understand.]
13. See The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly - [Done: 04/31/05]
14. See The Maltese Falcon - [Done: 12/09/05 - Sucked.]
16. See The Searchers - [Done: 12/09/05 - It was there.]
17. See Midnight Cowboy [Done 07/07]
22. See Deliverance - [Done: 01/07/05 - Started off the movie marathon, providing the Sore Asses portion of the night.]
29. Watch the first season of Carnivale
30. Watch the first season of Deadwood [Done: 11/25/07]
Misc
20. Fix the two pairs of too-short pants I have [Done 10/07/05. I asked Sarah's Mom if she could help a brother out, and she helped a brother out.]
27. Get a cat [Done 27/08/05. We got two, Gunther and Moe, from the Arnprior Humane Society.]
28. Spend a day at the National Gallery (maybe not an entire day, but at least do more than check out the Group of Seven stuff and bail)
38. Learn three brand new songs on guitar, start to finish
39. One of these songs must be recognizable to the general populace
44. E-mail my niece. Receive a response. [Done: 12/06 - We talked about her Hamster, Sammy.]
51. Use Firefox solely as my new browser [Done: 11/01/05 - At least as much as I can. Tyrannical IT at work won’t let me use it there.]
52. Send a random, unannounced mix CD to three friends - [Done: 11/10/06]
56. Be more sensitive to Sarah when she is sick (apparently smug distain isn’t as comforting as I’d thought)
58. Identify the gaps in my wardrobe
59. Fill them
60. Fix the drawers in our living room set [Done: 03/10/06 - Yeah, so Sarah's dad actually did all the work, but look carefully and you'll see that I didn't claim that I would fix them.]
66. Put together our honeymoon scrapbook - [Done: 05/25/05 -- This one was all Sarah, but it's done either way so don't give me that look.]
76. Give blood (and, ideally, bleed effectively. Haven’t done this one since high school where the technician kept accusing me of playing with the needle. Back then, my blood ran like tar, apparently)
78. Receive a call on my cell phone from someone other then my wife or a Telus representative - [Done 06/08/05 -- Jorge called my cell phone from his while our respective wives were using our respective landlines.]
81. Take more pictures [Done: throughout the years, thanks to travel]
82. See a local play
84. Make a dime off my Amazon links
Eats
19. Learn to make two more go-to meals (I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of omelettes but it’s time to move on)
42. Figure out how to use our espresso maker - [Done: not sure exactly when]
37. Learn how to make an impressive mixed drink (something that involves a stylishly cut orange peel or Cocktail-like bottle tossing)
72. Find three more go-to restaurants – [Done: 11/01/05 – Urbanwell,
97. Eat at the vegetarian restaurant that is fourteen steps away from our front door [Done - 06/06/05 - Props to Beth, the visiting vegetarian, for giving us the impetus to go.]
98. Eat at The Works [Done 07/22/05, the Westboro location. Yummy.]
100. Try Molson Kick (because apparently I need to be drunk and up all night) - [Done - 04/16/05; a sadly token taste test. I promise to get a six-pack some time and just go mental. For the fans.]
Grow Up
25. Own a home [Done: 08/15/07]
33. Save some damn money! [Done - See above, re: home owning]
49. Shake my fear and loathing of having unread books on my shelf [Done: 11/01/05]
53. Not behave in such a way that makes Sarah say the words, “You’re grumpy” for an entire week [Done: not sure exactly when - She's learned the secret of stuffing bon-bons in my mouth on a regular basis, which keeps the grumpy at bay.]
55. Move two notches up the scale of extroversion [Done - Thanks, Toastmasters!]
64. Keep my cell phone charged for an entire month [Done 06/24/05.]
75. Buy a suit - [Done: 06/05/05 - Bought two--one plain black, one a pinstriped tan that makes me look like the mack fucking daddy.]
83. Get a decent tan - [Done: 10/05/06: And it lasted for about two days.]
Weak
26. Take a book out from the library (haven’t done that since I was a kid) - [Done: 06/07/05 - Broadsides, Mordecai Richler]
34. Compile a personal top 50 films list
35. Compile a personal top 50 albums list - [done: 04/21/05]
36. Compile a personal top 50 books list - [done: 03/31/05]
40. Buy something on ebay (without fear and without getting screwed) [Done: Power supply for my computer.]
43. Get my watch fixed - [done: 05/10/05]
57. Finish watching all the DVDs I own
61. Learn the bridge to At the Hundredth Meridian
62. Watch House; tell Jorge he was right - [done 05/31/05]
65. Organize the pictures on my computer [ done 07/08/05]
74. Write a blog entry entitled Word to Your Moms, I Came to Drop Bombs
79. Sell the CDs and DVDs that we really don’t want anymore - [done 05/01/05]
80. Buy Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - [done 03/30/05]
92. Listen to Folsom Prison Blues - [done 04/04/05]
93. Have a drink on our balcony - [done 04/18/05]
94. Complete a workday without visiting anyone’s blog, including my own - [done 04/14/05 - I mean, the first thing I did when I got home was go blog crazy, but my working day was a legitimate one.]
And three that didn't make the cut:
1. Kick a man when he’s down. Literally.
2. Shoot a man in
3. Cry Havoc and let slip the dogs of war
Comments
Ready for it..
WIN A ROUND OF ACADEMY.
There.
I said it.
And now I will lose all the time.
Also:
102) Buy BattleFront
103) Buy Battle for Middle Earth
104) Pay Jorge back for that night of Passion in Minsk.
Glad to see that visiting my city edges out literally kicking a man while he is down... if you come to Vancouver in the winter, that could kill two birds with one stone (101 and 48). Also, go for #77 before #10, then you will have to lift 5 less pounds!
Beth: Thanks for the advice. Better yet, if I lose 75 pounds, I can accomplish #10 today!
Beth: You rock. Visit me! Visit me!
I think as an act of final vengence, you should assign someone the task of finishing out your list in the event of your untimely demise.
But not me. I've already read Ulysses. I'll kill myself before doing it again. I would, however, like the privilege of knowing just 1 other person who has read it.
I must admit that:
-the only sort of publishing I'll ever lay claim to would be in an academic journal (like Beth) or a textbook (although I already did that...could I cross off the stuff I've already done?)
- If I were to go up two notches on the extrovert scale, I'd be off the charts, floating in space. I'm freaky like that.
- James Joyce...that would likely happen on day 1000 via Coles notes...
If Sarah was any more extroverted, everyone would never be shy again by osmosis.
My thoughts on various numbers of yours:
2) We've met at least once. I think twice. And I want to be a writer when I grow up, too. Thus, we should swap writings and critique each other. It would either rock or suck, but we should try it to find out.
7) I recommend the postcard-style 100 word stories. Surprisingly difficult to do well, and you could certainly write four that don't suck in 1001 days. Or perhaps you couldn't. I'll reserve judgement on that until we swap jottings.
32) Had you given in and posted this a few weeks back, I would've suggested hitting the national novel writing month site: http://www.nanowrimo.org/. Unforunately, they start in March. But it's basically a self-challenge (no actual contest, just self-satisfaction) to write 50,000 words of novel in a month. I did it last year, and it's now the basis for one of the... well... three novel concepts I'm working on.
40) Too bad you couldn't get in on that time machine action.
62) The problem is, Jorge is easily confused. Lost is the best show on television right now, hands down. And I can say that even though I've never watched House. Yes, it's that good.
78) If you give me your cell phone number I'll bite the bullet and call you, eating the long distance charge, to help a brother out with getting his List of 101 done.
92) I've heard two versions. I recommend the Reverend Horton Heat cover.
101) Bring an umbrella. And please say hi to my father.
... and as for Jorge's additions:
102) Jorge is right.
103) Jorge is right.
104) Jorge is scary.
2) Sounds like a plan. Let me first write something new, because I've been kicking around the same three stories for too long now.
7) I think the majority will have to be legit full-length stories, but at least one postcard story wouldn’t be a bad idea. Dave Eggers rocks that type of thing, and my name is also Dave. Coincidence? We’ll see.
32) Frig. Thought that was coming up in the summer. It is too bad about the time machine.
78) That’s an outright cheat. But ask my again when day 1000 rolls around.
104) You are correct.
If I can recommend a good book from Salman Rushdie if you havent gotten to it yet, 'The Satanic Verses' was an excellent read.
Good luck on finishing up everything. I'm just starting my own ^_^
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