Goal #25: Get a snowboard

I decided that August is clearly the best time to buy winter sports equipment. All the new-year gear is arriving at stores, and they've got to get rid of last year's models. So, on a recent jaunt to Vermont, J--- and I decided to hit up the ski shops in search of crazy deals. We shopped around, chatted with "the kids" in the shops (it's all downhill from here, folks -- for the first time ever I felt way older than the shopkids, instead of feeling like a peer. Although, one of them did call my sunglasses "rad" so I guess I'm still, y'know, rad.) and ended up getting some quality, brand-name secondhand boards and bindings, and brand-new boots, for less than the cost of a new board. Sweet.

Doubly sweet was that the gear was heavily subsidized by the Best In-Laws Ever!!! I am pleased with myself for accomplishing a financially based goal without actually having to shell out on the financial end. That's what I get for being the Best Daughter In-Law Ever.

Hey, I made peach crumble for a dinner party.

It's really good peach crumble.

Goal #91: Leave IATSE

I almost forgot about this one!
Here's the background: I worked my butt off to get into the union. I mean, I worked HARD. It was like bootcamp, but in the end I don't have the skills to kill a rival assassin with a dishtowel or a hardcover book. Instead, I got to pay the union even more money. I was a little pissed off that after a year and a half of slugging it out for minimum wage, my "upgrade" fee was over a thousand bones. I had to cash out part of my union-sponsored group RRSP in order to pay it. And, of course, my quarterly dues went up substantially. But it was worth it--when I was working. When I was stressing about my next gig and my next paycheck, it all seemed a little useless.
When I finally decided to change careers (like, I got a new job, with a regular paycheck), I naturally stopped paying my union dues, and I sent my local chapter of IATSE a letter telling them kindly and professionally that I wanted to leave, or rescind my membership, give up my privileges or whatever. Although I hadn't worked a union gig in over a year, they responded by telling me that in order to "honourably withdraw", I had to pay my outstanding fees. Um... No. Dishonourably discharge me then, I thought. I kept getting requests to pay my dues, and I was on the verge of calling on Ken the Axe, my buddy and labour-negotiator extraordinaire, when I finally got their version of a "final notice" letter, letting me know that I would soon be suspended for non-payment of dues. It's a crummy way to end things, especially since I tried to do it properly. But if neglect is the only thing that will let me reach my goals, so be it.
I'm out!
I think.

Goal # 83: Make a Strong Development Plan at Work.

Since I'm all about having goals these days, the fact that the company I work for strongly encourages us all to create a plan for our own professional development, and then helps us to accomplish this self-driven plan, really appeals to me. I wanted to create a strong one in order to fully take advantage of the corporate resources being offered to me, and also to generate some excitement about my own career. It would be all too easy to float along here, stress-free in my cubicle, just doing what I need to get by. And frankly, that's not good enough. I used to be really ambitious. I'm trying to reignite that ambition by exploring where my career could go, and quashing my insecurities by actively seeking to improve my skills. Adding a little fiber to the ol' resume, as it were.
So, I handed in my Personal Development Plan today, and I think it's a good one.

Goal #49 and Goal #19

Goal #49: Finish my 13-week walk-to-run program with the same diligence I began it.
I did this. I had a few stalls due to illness and injury, but I basically kept with the program. It wasn't with exactly the same diligence or enthusiasm that I started, mainly due to the fact that I started my training on the treadmill, and so felt bound to finish it there, and was really pretty bored by the end. As my final session, I went for a 5km run outside through the park/cemetary. It was sooo nice. I know that the actual goal of the walk-run program is to run a 10km race, but since my training had been spotty towards the end, and since running on a treadmill is a poor substitute for running outside, I decided that my first outdoor run was challenge enough. (And I'll be getting ready for a 10km in the fall.) Felt great doing it. Quads killing me today. Can't wait until I go for my next run, tomorrow!

As a personal reward, I swung by the New Balance store --since I saw they were having a sale-- and completed Goal #19: Get some really good running shoes that are good for my feet. After the kindly salesgirl watched my flat-footed walk around the store, and stood by while I hemmed and hawed and bounced on the spot and ran on the treadmill in the back, I am now the happy owner of a pair of New Balance W767s. Can't wait to take them for a spin.


p.s. This is my 100th post! (my one-year anniversary passed unnoticed a wee while ago)

Goal #36: Take a Belly Dancing Class

I have wanted to try belly dancing for over ten years. Seriously, even back in the day I thought to myself, well, I certainly have the belly... But back then I had very little income -- squandered mainly on afternoon-long coffee binges -- and all my spare time was taken up with trying to figure out which bars would serve us booze, or who looked the oldest and should thus go to the door when the Dial-A-Bottle guy arrived. (Shockingly enough, that was me on more than one occasion. Man, the booze-delivery guys must have had wobbly moral compasses. And for that we thank them.)
Shortly after compiling my "101 things" list, I realized that these days I am in charge of my own time, and I have an income that at least keeps me comfortably in coffee, and there was nothing stopping me from signing up for a class. This belly was ready to dance!
I'm only four classes in, and I love it. It is so much fun to just go move your body. There's no other motive -- I'm not trying to burn calories, or build strength, or achieve a personal best time -- I am there to have fun. And fun it is! The class is all women, obviously, and it is pure girlishness. We pretend we're princesses, and our hands are flowers. We play with prettily coloured silk scarves. We shake and shimmy our fleshy booties. The class has a wide range of ages in it, and women of very diverse ethnic heritage. We all giggle and smile at each other, united by figuring out the right way to shake your tits.
Belly dancing has to be sexy. It simply doesn't work if the moves aren't sexy, and there is something incredibly liberating about being "allowed" to move like that. You don't have to be strong. You don't have to be smart. You have to relax, and let your hips undulate.
I can see myself doing this for a long time.
Because don't I look awesome in the costume?

Goal #97: Prepare a Moroccan breakfast

It has been a year since we explored Morocco on our honeymoon, and we had a craving for homemade "country bread" and "soft white cheese." Here is a picture of the breakfast we were fed every morning at our wonderful little Riad in Fes. I took the picture on the one day we received a brioche-type bread instead of the more traditional flat, round loaves. The small bowls contain: dates, olives, apricot jam, fig jam, honey, butter, sugar, and soft white cheese. We were given a pot of coffee and a jug of warm milk. The small mugs contain gorgeous freshly squeezed orange juice -- impossible to replicate here, because the oranges in Morocco were local and fresh and out-of-this-world good. The local olives were also incredible and incomparable to anything I've found over here.
I did, however, go the distance and bake some round loaves of Moroccan bread from scratch.

That's right. I bake my own bread...

And here is the finished product:

That's our homemade labneh (aka "soft white cheese") in the middle.

Our apartment's balcony doesn't have quite the same view as looking out over the Fes medina, but there was one token satellite dish for atmosphere. Favourite topping: soft white cheese and fig jam together. Or straight honey. Delicious!

Goal #20: Buy a Bike

Check out my sweet ride! I love this baby.

1 thing down, 100 to go!

101 Things in 1001 Days

I am a big fan of To Do lists. They are the only way I ever get things done, and I love finding old lists under the piles on my desk and discovering that everything on them is done.
The idea behind the 101 list is to clearly define your goals, and give yourself enough time in which to accomplish them. Read more here.
The first, unwritten item on the list is "Manage to think of 101 things." This was not easy. I had to branch out quite a bit, including things that had, up until now, just tickled the edges of my thoughts. I've tried to stay away from too many purchase-oriented goals, so that this doesn't become a shopping list of stuff that I just want (then I'd have to retitle it "1001 things in 101 days"). Anything on this list that requires money will in itself represent the accomplishment of another kind of goal -- managing to save the cash in order to do it. I'm actually really looking forward to getting some of this stuff done!
I'll update my progress as I cross items off the list.

101 Things in 1001 Days

Stuff to Do
1. Put together wedding albums.
2. Put together honeymoon album.
3. Plant flowers in the boxes on our balcony.
4. Make a roof for my cubicle at work to cut down the overhead glare.
5. Re-organize and de-clutter basement storage locker.
6. Sell old camera-assisting gear on Craigslist/Kijiji/Mandy.
7. Replace all my old cassettes with CD versions of the same.
8. Take all my CDs out of their cases and reorganize them into book storage, also find somewhere that recycles jewel cases and/or get rid of them via Craigslist.
9. Put all my contacts into one, nice, organized address book.
10. Catalog all my books on LibraryThing
11. Complete magazine archiving project.
12. Complete “sentimental” sweatshirt project.
13. Finish reading Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children” (may have to start over).
14. Tidy and organize my desk and filing cabinet, getting rid of old, unnecessary stuff and establishing a system that will make it easy to keep it orderly in the future.
15. Refinish coffee table (or have it professionally refinished).
16. Replace all my toiletries with natural, earth-friendly alternatives.
17. Replace all my household cleaning products with natural, earth-friendly alternatives.

Stuff to Acquire
18. Replace my beta fish, and con the teenagers at Petsmart into selling me a googly-eyed fish.
19. Get some really good running shoes that are good for my feet.
20. Buy a bicycle.
21. Get a puppy.
22. Have my tattoo touched up.
23. Get another tattoo.
24. Buy a serger or sewing machine.
25. Get a snowboard (and bindings and boots).
26. Get plants for my cubicle.
27. Get lamps for our bedside tables.
28. Buy a really expensive, gorgeous pair of jeans.

Learning
29. Self-study Spanish (I’m thinking with that Rosetta Stone software).
30. Learn to knit.
31. Take a pottery class.
32. Take a silversmithing class.
33. Buy a guitar and a “learn to play” book.
34. Get my driver’s license.
35. Take a bicycle maintenance/repair course.
36. Take a belly dancing class.
37. Take a hip-hop dance class.
38. Take a cooking course with J---.

Travel
39. Visit Z--- in Red Deer.
40. Go on a weeklong backwoods camping trip.
41. Visit C and B in New York.
42. Visit C and C in San Diego.
43. Go on a hot, tropical vacation with J---.
44. Go on a road trip in the U.S.A.
45. Visit my friend M. in Virginia (If that’s where she still is).
46. Go on a trip with my parents.
47. Go to A’s wedding in Australia.
48. Go on a trip with just my sister.

Physical Challenges
49. Finish my 13-week Walk-to-Run program with the same diligence I began it.
50. Run the 10k race at the Zoo in October.
51. Do four sets of 25 proper military pushups in a row, without breaks.
52. Do three sets of 10 pull-ups.
53. Do a one-day fruit-only fast.
54. Do a one-day juice-only fast.
55. Eat a totally vegan diet for two weeks, just to check it out.
56. Do a Moksha yoga 30-day yoga challenge.
57. Do the WWF CN Tower stair climb.
58. Go back to Karate.
59. Join a hockey team.

Experiences
60. Go scuba diving.
61. Go berry picking at a farm north of the city.
62. Take the train to Niagara for the weekend, ride bicycles around the area and have a picnic.
63. Go to the Aberfoyle Antiques Market.
64. Have a picnic with friends on Centre Island.
65. Go away to a health resort or yoga retreat.
66. Watch the sun set over the Pacific Ocean.
67. Fire a gun.
68. Have a couples massage with J---.
69. See an opera at the new Four Seasons Center.
70. Go to a garage sale in a fancy neighbourhood.
71. Go to ten live concerts. (0/10)
72. Go see ten plays at smaller Toronto theaters. (0/10)
73. Go horseback riding.
74. Go to a maple-syrup farm in the winter.
75. Go for a walk along St. Clair Ave, west of Bathurst, to explore the shops and restaurants.
76. Drive around Forest Hill/Rosedale on the day when they put out large items for garbage collection to see if there’s any good stuff, and just to see what rich people throw out.

Work and Money
77. Pay off my MasterCard debt in full, and then only use the card for travel.
78. Contribute full available amount to my RRSP for 2007.
79. Contribute full available amount to my RRSP for 2008.
80. Figure out how to transfer the funds in my IATSE group plan into my personal account—shut account once this is done.
81. Have a piece published on the Facts & Arguments page of the Globe and Mail.
82. Have a poem published anywhere.
83. Make a really strong Personal Development Plan at work, and actively work to distinguish myself and advance my career within the company.
84. Get a raise or a new position with a higher salary.
85. Take another course with the Editor’s Association of Canada.
86. Write a romance novel.
87. Write a business plan for one of my various “genius” ideas.

Random
88. Get a consultation regarding laser eye surgery.
89. Get laser hair removal on bikini line.
90. Have my cousins over for dinner.
91. Leave IATSE. (will they ever let me out?)
92. Watch no television for three months.
93. Pierce my bellybutton.
94. Not wash my hair for a week to see if that thing about your hair cleaning itself is true.
95. Draw in my sketchbook every single day for one month.
96. Invent a “healthy” version of Nutella.
97. Prepare a breakfast like the ones we ate in Morocco, homemade bread included.
98. Set up a vermicomposter in my apartment.
99. Write a thank-you letter to my old pediatrician (I still miss him!).
100. Find a charity that I can volunteer for, and commit to a minimum of 48 hours of volunteer work.
101. Make a new friend.

END DATE: Thursday, January 28th 2010.