Fanfiction claims

"Reading and Writing" item number eleven is to complete my housefic50 table.

"Reading and Writing" item number twelve is to complete my 50scenes table.

"Reading and Writing" item number thirteen is to complete my 2x5obsessions table.


Today I decided to withdraw from being active in online fandoms, which means dropping these claims.

The happy scrapbook

"Exercising Creativity" item number two is to create a scrapbook documenting 100 things that make me happy.

28 March 2010 - I've made a list of the 100 things I want to talk/post about (it was way easier than I expected), and I've collected a few pictures I might want to use in the entries. I just have to choose where I'm going to do it (LJ? Tumblr? Here? A totally new [to me] site?) and get started.

Get a Kindle

"Reading and Writing" item number four is to get a Kindle.

The only thing I asked for for my 26th birthday was a Kindle. I even chipped in all the Christmas money I still had and helped pay for it. There's so much great content in the public domain that I could read for years and never actually buy a Kindle book, but that would be no fun. My first Kindle purchase was Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

Disney's Animated Features

"Entertainment" item number eight is to finish watching all of Disney's Animated Features. The movies I have not seen are bolded.


- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
- Pinocchio
- Fantasia
- Dumbo
- Bambi
- Saludos Amigos
- The Three Caballeros
- Make Mine Music
- Fun and Fancy Free
- Melody Time
- The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
- Cinderella
- Alice in Wonderland
- Peter Pan
- Lady and the Tramp
- Sleeping Beauty
- 101 Dalmatians
- The Sword in the Stone
- The Jungle Book
- The Aristocats
- Robin Hood
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- The Rescuers
- The Fox and the Hound
- The Black Cauldron
- The Great Mouse Detective
- Oliver & Company
- The Little Mermaid
- The Rescuers Down Under
- Beauty and the Beast
- Aladdin
- The Lion King
- Pocahontas
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- Hercules
- Mulan
- Tarzan
- Fantasia 2000
- Dinosaur
- The Emperor's New Groove
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire
- Lilo & Stitch
- Treasure Planet
- Brother Bear
- Home on the Range
- Chicken Little
- Meet the Robinsons
- Bolt
- The Princess and the Frog

[40/49]

AFI's Top 10 Movies of the Year from 2000-2009

"Entertainment" item number four is to finish watching all of AFI's Top 10 Movies of the Year from 2000-2009. The movies I have not seen are bolded.


- Almost Famous
- Before Night Falls
- Best in Show
- Erin Brockovich
- Gladiator
- High Fidelity
- Requiem for a Dream
- Traffic
- Wonder Boys
- You Can Count on Me
- A Beautiful Mind
- Black Hawk Down
- In the Bedroom
- The Fellowship of the Ring
- The Man Who Wasn't There
- Memento
- Monster's Ball
- Moulin Rouge!
- Mulholland Drive
- Shrek
- About a Boy
- About Schmidt
- Adaptation
- Antwone Fisher
- Chicago
- Frida
- Gangs of New York
- The Hours
- The Two Towers
- The Quiet American
- American Splendor
- Finding Nemo
- The Human Stain
- In America
- The Last Samurai
- The Return of the King
- Lost in Translation
- Master and Commander
- Monster
- Mystic River
- The Aviator
- Collateral
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Friday Night Lights
- The Incredibles
- Kinsey
- Maria Full of Grace
- Million Dollar Baby
- Sideways
- Spider-Man 2
- The 40-Year-Old Virgin
- Brokeback Mountain
- Capote
- Crash
- Good Night, and Good Luck
- A History of Violence
- King Kong
- Munich
- The Squid and the Whale
- Syriana
- Babel
- Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
- The Devil Wears Prada
- Dreamgirls
- Half Nelson
- Happy Feet
- Inside Man
- Letters from Iwo Jima
- Little Miss Sunshine
- United 93
- Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
- Into the Wild
- Juno
- Knocked Up
- Michael Clayton
- No Country for Old Men
- Ratatouille
- The Savages
- There Will Be Blood
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- The Dark Knight
- Frost/Nixon
- Frozen River
- Gran Torino
- Iron Man
- Milk
- Wall-E
- Wendy and Lucy
- The Wrestler
- Coraline
- The Hangover
- The Hurt Locker
- The Messenger
- Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
- A Serious Man
- A Single Man
- Sugar
- Up
- Up in the Air

[51/100]

AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies

"Entertainment" item number three is to finish watching all the films on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies 10th Anniversary list. The ones I have not seen are bolded.


- Citizen Kane
- The Godfather
- Casablanca
- Raging Bull
- Singin' in the Rain
- Gone with the Wind
- Lawrence of Arabia
- Schindler's List
- Vertigo
- The Wizard of Oz
- City Lights
- The Searchers
- Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope
- Psycho
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Sunset Boulevard
- The Graduate
- The General
- On the Waterfront
- It's a Wonderful Life
- Chinatown
- Some Like It Hot
- The Grapes of Wrath
- ET the Extra-Terrestrial
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
- High Noon
- All About Eve
- Double Indemnity
- Apocalypse Now
- The Maltese Falcon
- The Godfather, Part II
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
- Annie Hall
- The Bridge on the River Kwai
- The Best Years of Our Lives
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
- Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
- The Sound of Music
- King Kong
- Bonnie and Clyde
- Midnight Cowboy
- The Philadelphia Story
- Shane
- It Happened One Night
- A Streetcar Named Desire
- Rear Window
- Intolerance
- The Fellowship of the Ring
- West Side Story
- Taxi Driver
- The Deer Hunter
- M*A*S*H
- North by Northwest
- Jaws
- Rocky
- The Gold Rush
- Nashville
- Duck Soup
- Sullivan's Travels
- American Graffiti
- Cabaret
- Network
- The African Queen
- Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- Unforgiven
- Tootsie
- A Clockwork Orange
- Saving Private Ryan
- The Shawshank Redemption
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- The Silence of the Lambs
- In the Heat of the Night
- Forrest Gump
- All the President's Men
- Modern Times
- The Wild Bunch
- The Apartment
- Spartacus
- Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
- Titanic
- Easy Rider
- A Night at the Opera
- Platoon
- 12 Angry Men
- Bringing Up Baby
- The Sixth Sense
- Swing Time
- Sophie's Choice
- Goodfellas
- The French Connection
- Pulp Fiction
- The Last Picture Show
- Do the Right Thing
- Blade Runner
- Yankee Doodle Dandy
- Toy Story
- Ben-Hur

[41/100]

Do holiday cards

"Exercising Creativity" item number four is to design, create and send (on time) cards for The December Holidays at least once in my 1001 days. In 2009, despite having brain surgery on the 18th of December, I succeeded. It actually might have been because of the brain surgery, actually. I knew the holidays were coming up fast, and I had to get my shit together before going to the hospital.

Get published on PostSecret

"Exercising Creativity" item number three is to admit to as many of my secrets as it takes until one of my cards is published in a PostSecret book or on the website.

I didn't keep track of exactly how many secrets I sent, but I think it probably had to be about a dozen. Eventually, one Sunday, there it was! One of my secrets! I'm going to totally defeat the purpose of admitting to secrets by not linking to it or saying which one it was. I even waited for a long time before changing the color of the text on the sidebar here, and I waited even longer than that before doing this post. But ... I did get one published. \o/

See Avenue Q

"Entertainment" item number six is to see Avenue Q. I did, on August 11, 2009. Here's part of the LiveJournal entry I wrote about it:


Once again, we made it to the station with more than enough time to spare, and our train was late. But that was fine! Froda described the Hudson station as "super-cute!" and the benches were nowhere near as uncomfortable as the chairs in the Boston station. It was about an hour late and, frankly, that was fine with me because it meant that we got into the city right about at our hotel's check-in time, so we didn't have to wait around or have them hold our bags or anything.

Unfortunately, the foot that I hurt last year when I was in Lincoln decided that it had done more than enough work in the past week or so, and it gave up on me. Everywhere we needed to be was within, like ... a four-block radius. But I couldn't walk it. Cabs had to be hailed and I had to hobble to them and climb into them using the straps attached to the partitions. I felt like such a fucking loser. :(

I took a short nap when we got there. We ordered dinner delivered to our room (spinach ravioli for me, baked ziti for Froda) and watched a couple of episodes of Bones while we ate. (Dangerous, I know.) Then we headed for the John Golden Theatre to see Avenue Q.

OMG, guys. It was amazing. I love Avenue Q, and I have since the very first time I heard a song from it, so I knew I was going to have a great time. But it's just so much better in person! Normally when I watch a movie or a play, having more than one or two people around me gets on my nerves. I don't usually like other people's reactions to influence me. But since I already know Avenue Q so well, I already knew how I felt about everything, and I got to really enjoy those other people's reactions. I mean, the guy sitting next to me didn't even know what it was about before he got there! I really loved the laughter the first time a puppet said "fuck" and the first-timers started to understand what they'd gotten themselves into. :D It was just really, really fantastic.

Ten new foods (at home)

"Expanding Horizons" item number eight is to try ten foods that I've never tried before. Item seven is just about the same thing, only that's for eating in restaurants and this is for cooking at home..


01.) PB & Pickle Sandwich - Recently, the subject of peanut butter and pickle sandwiches has come up in several places in my life. No fewer than three people in more than one social circle have recommended it. So I got some pickles and I gave it a try. I made myself half a sandwich because, honestly, I expected it to make me gag as soon as I took a bite. As it turns out, I didn't hate it! It's never going to make it onto my list of favorite foods, but it was surprisingly not disgusting. The rest of the pickles in the jar are probably going to go on chicken sandwiches and burgers instead of on peanut butter sandwiches, but ... I'm glad I tried it. And if I ever want to gross people out by eating it in front of them, at least now I know I can!

02.) Corn Soufflé - When my sister came to visit between Christmas and New Year's, one night she made corn soufflé. It's whole corn, cream corn, corn muffin mix, eggs and sour cream all mixed together and baked with cheddar cheese sprinkled on top. And it's just about the best thing I have ever eaten. EVER.

03.) Fish - Yes, I'm in my mid-20s and "fish" is on a list of "new foods" for me. I have eaten fish before, I know, but I have no lasting memories of it. All I know is that when I did eat it as a child, I didn't like it. I've spent my whole life declaring that I do not like fish. Well, not long ago it occurred to me that I might not dislike it anymore and I probably ought to give it a try to make sure. And, as it turns out, I don't dislike it anymore. At least, not the kind I tried. (...Flounder, I think it was?) It's not my favorite; I'm unlikely ever to say, "Hey, let's have fish for dinner!" but it isn't disgusting. [Edit: I went and looked at the packaging. There were two different kinds of fish. One was, indeed, flounder. The other was tilapia. I liked the flounder a bit better.]

04.) Frosted Mini-Wheats Chocolate Little Bites - I wrote about this in my LiveJournal: "How goddamn 'mini' do mini-wheats have to get before they'll stop!? What the hell is next? Pre-chewed cereal? Don't they fucking call that 'oatmeal'? That said, it really does taste good. I just wish the pieces were at least normal mini-wheat size." They're one of the very few cereals that I'll eat that messes with the milk.

05.) Cottage Cheese (plain) - As a person whose food likes and dislikes rely more on consistency than on taste, I've always been a little bit afraid of cottage cheese. It just looks so ... er ... cottage cheesy... But my best friend Chantal said it's one of her favorite snack foods, so I decided I should give it a try, just to see. I really thought it was going to make me gag, but it didn't! I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it, though. It wasn't bad but I'm not completely sure I actually liked it, either. I have to think about it and try it again. I also plan on trying it with fruit eventually.

06.) Cottage Cheese (with STUFF) - I tried cottage cheese with pineapple chunks and I liked it. But by that time, I'd tasted a spoonful or two by itself so many times that I'd gotten used to it and actually preferred it to the pineapple. However, then a friend told me she eats it with jelly and I tried that. Woooooo, I found my preferred cottage cheese companion! So tasty.

07.) Cereal with chocolate milk - I was craving chocolate milk so I asked my mother to bring home a Stewart's refresher bottle of it for me. Since a quart is twice as much as a refresher and costs less than twice as much, that's what she brought home, so I had some milk to be creative with. I decided to pour it over my corn Chex this morning for breakfast. It wasn't bad but I don't think I'm going to make a habit of it. Chocolate milk tastes better by itself.

Call or email my sister at least once every two weeks

"Do Unto Others" item number five was to call or email my sister at least once every two weeks. After quite a lot of trying and hearing nothing in return, I've given up. If she wants to contact me, she's free to do so. Anyway, I have my own issues to worry about and I can't deal with the stress of hers, as well. She was on the right track but now she's gone back to handling everything poorly. She's going to drive me crazy if I don't distance myself a little bit.

Get health insurance

"Being Happy, Healthy and Safe" item number seven is to get health insurance. On February 23rd I went to the Department of Social Services and applied for Medicaid. I was approved on the spot and my proof of insurance card came in the mail on the 26th. I've made an appointment with my general practitioner and when I'm there I'll get advice on which specialists I should see and in what order. I'm on my way to getting fixed!

Participate in NaNoWriMo every November; finish at least once.

"Reading and Writing" item number six is to participate in NaNoWriMo every year and to finish at least once.

The first part of this one is a fail. I didn't do NaNo this year. However, there are still two more Novembers before my 1001 days are up, so the second part can still be completed! If I do, and the goal isn't a complete fail, I'll still donate $2.50 to my charity (which I still haven't picked) because of the first part.

Start a paper journal and update it weekly

"Reading and Writing" item number seven is to start a paper journal and update it weekly.

My first entry was on March 08, 2008. I kept it up for thirty-one weeks before I hit a serious funk and went several weeks without writing anything. I'm still going to keep writing when I feel like it but I'm not going to force entries and they're not going to count for this project anymore.

Read twenty "classics" before 26th birthday

"Reading and Writing" item number two is to read fifteen classics before I turn 25. I failed to do that, so "Reading and Writing" item number fourteen is to read twenty classics before I turn 26.


01.) Dracula by Bram Stoker - Finished on 09 October 2008. Took a little time to get into it because I've been reading so much stuff that's very simply written lately. I just had to get past the first two chapters in one sitting, though, and then I was used to Stoker's writing and I loved the rest of it. Except when Lucy kept hanging on and I just wanted the story to move forward. That was a little annoying.

02.) The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper - Finished on 19 November 2008. When a book is 375 pages long, it's not a good sign when I'm not into it until past the halfway point. I liked it as a whole but the beginning dragged sooooooo much that I wouldn't recommend it to people unless I'm more familiar with their reading likes and dislikes.

03.) The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - Finished on 01 December 2008. Why had I never read this? It's so short and it's a story that I've loved since I was very little. I mean ... I'm all about two-in-one creatures. Complete sucker for 'duality of man' stories, and this is probably the most famous one. Anyway, I'd never actually sat down and read it, but I'm glad I did. I LOVED it.

04.) The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling - Finished on 02 December 2008. I started reading Just So Stories when I was much younger and I never finished it. Reading The Jungle Book reminded me of why that is. Not a Kipling fan here.

05.) Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert - Finished on 13 December 2008. The beginning was boring. Then it got a little better. Then it became almost unbearable. Then it was okay for a while. But by the end I hated every character and was severely disappointed that more of them didn't die because they all should have.

06.) Brewster's Millions by George Barr McCutcheon - Finished on 12 March 2009. I really enjoyed this book. I "read" it in audio form, through LibriVox. It was a great way to relax at the end of the day before bed. Very funny, good characters, and even the love story aspect of it was tolerable. I'm glad I picked this one.

07.) The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells - Finished on 03 April 2009. I've known the basics of this story for as long as I can remember and I've always completely adored the concept. I'm not sure why I'd never read it before. Probably because I've seen a couple of movie versions and they're just so disappointing.

08.) Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome - Finished on 24 April 2009. I "read" this one in audio form. The reader was Hugh Laurie, who is a fantastic audio book performer. I'm pretty sure I would have really enjoyed this story even if I'd been reading it myself, though, despite the fact that it's really not the sort of thing I would normally pick out on my own based on the description. I mean, it was originally meant to be a serious travel guide, and then it turned into a comedy novel, neither of which is a genre I'm very enthusiastic about. Three Men in a Boat is really excellent, though.

09.) Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad - Finished on ?? May 2009.

10.) Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen - Finished on ?? May 2009.

11.) Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - Finished on ?? June 2009.

12.) The Time Machine by H.G. Wells - Finished on 13 July 2009.

13.) The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Finished on 15 July 2009.

14.) The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells - Finished on 18 July 2009.

15.) The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan - Finished on 08 November 2009.

16.) The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - Finished on 12 November 2009. I've known this story for ages and I've also known how much I love Oscar Wilde's writing. Why has it taken me so long to get my hands on a copy of this book and actually read it? It's now firmly on my list of favorite novels of all time.

17.) A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett - Finished on 13 November 2009. Very simply put: While she is not one of my ZOMG ALL-TIME FAVORITES, I really enjoy Frances Hodgson Burnett's work (though none will beat The Secret Garden for me).

18.) Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - Finished on 13 February 2010. What a truly horrendous book. Ugh.

19.) Utopia by Thomas More - Finished on 14 February 2010. You know what? This so-called Utopia didn't actually sound all that great to me.

20.) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - Finished on 19 February 2010. Up until this point, I was only familiar with an abridged audio version of Great Expectations, read by Hugh Laurie. I'd listened to that dozens of times, though, so as I was reading this I heard his voice in my head, even for the parts that were omitted from the audio version. I'm glad I read the whole thing instead of sticking to the short one. It's so much deeper and richer this way. I love it.

Continue reading at least 50 books per year

"Reading and Writing" item number one is to continue reading at least fifty books per year.


2008 - I finished my 50th book on August 26th. Now the goal switches a little and I'm going to see if I can get to 25,000 pages in the last four months of the year.

2009 - I finished my 50th book on July 28th. Like last year, now I'm going to focus on trying to get to 25,000 pages. I didn't manage last year, but I only have about 10,000 pages to go this time. I think maybe I can do it!

Go six months without buying any new books

"Reading and Writing" item number nine is to go six months without buying any new books.

I DID IT. 05 March-05 September without purchasing a single book. I WILL NEVER DO THIS AGAIN. EVER. It was absolute hell, going so long without getting any new books. But I'm glad I did it. I set this goal because my reading list was enormous and growing. I kept acquiring books faster than I could read them. I figured if I went six months without getting anything new, I'd be able to shrink the reading list. It definitely helped a little. But getting new books makes me happy. I'm seriously never going that long without a new book again.

Find a therapist in Idaho

"Being Happy, Healthy and Safe" item number four is to find a therapist in Idaho.

This is my first official failure for this project. I didn't find a therapist in Idaho and I came back to New York. I think I'm going to be able to pick up with my old therapist here since I was only gone for a couple of months but I did fail to find a therapist in Idaho. I still haven't picked my charity but in December of 2010 it'll be getting at least five dollars.

Keeping Up With Gramma

"Do Unto Others" item number seven was to call, email or IM my gramma at least once a week after I moved to Idaho. I did keep that up (easily!) while I was in Idaho, but ... now I've moved back to New York. So I'm updating that goal and now the plan is to stop by her house and spend some time with her at least once every two weeks.

Edit: I got into a serious funk and didn't go see gramma for more than a whole month. I'm still going to keep visiting her as often as I can but it's not going to count for this anymore.

Lincoln

"Travel: US Cities to Visit" item number seven is Lincoln, Nebraska.

When I decided to move back to New York, I also decided to do it by driving across the country by myself. I've only just bought my car, after all, and if the thing will actually make it all the way back to New York, it would be great to have it. I really do need a car there.

Anyway, since I was going to drive so I could take my time, I thought I'd also use the opportunity to get a thing or two accomplished for 101 Things in 1001 Days. I arranged to stay a couple of days with my best friend in Nebraska, to hang out with her and see a couple of things in the city.

The original plan was to arrive on Friday (May 23) evening and leave on Tuesday (May 27) morning. But on Sunday I had a bit of an accident and wound up popping my knee out of joint, spraining my ankle and breaking two toes. I couldn't get out to do anything and I can't put pressure on a gas pedal for hours yet, either, so my stay is going to be longer than planned. We did go out yesterday and drove around and saw the city. But I really wanted to go to the state museum. We'll do that on Friday and if my foot is feeling up to it, I'll probably head out for New York again on Saturday.

I've been invited to stay for as long as I like, though. So who knows?