Hi there,

November brings in the beginning of the 10th NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which is an event celebrated by the feverish pounding of keys around the world. From a naming perspective, the opposite of the World Series I guess.
Don’t worry though, whilst doing NaNoWriMo is on my 101in1001 list, I haven’t given in to the insanity yet.
Instead, I’ve set my sights on a goal which is an offshoot of NaNoWriMo - NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month) in which people, like myself, attempt to post to their blog everyday for a month. For me this is attempt to jump back on the horse, as it were, since I have failed miserably at doing Blog365 (a blog post daily for a year, as you’ve no doubt surmised) and the similarly minded Project365 (taking a photo daily for a year) this year.

Other events inspired by NaNoWriMo starting this month include:

• NaPlWriMo - National Playwriting Month. Not to be confused with Script Frenzy
• NaPodPoMo - National Podcast Posting Month
• NaKniSweMo - National Knit a Sweater Month, in it’s third year :)
• NaSoAlMo - National Solo Album Month

I know there are many others including a photo related one which I can’t for the life of me locate right now. And of course there are other events like NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month) in which people, you guessed it, edit their novels from November.

So there you have it, my first post in a long time, and the completion of Day 1 of NaBloPoMo 2008 for me! May the rest of the day’s posts occur slightly earlier but occuring at all is good :)

So I’m in the midst of catching up with my reading. Since I last reported back, I’ve read:

• Wyrd Sisters - Terry Pratchett
• Pyramids - Terry Pratchett
• Deadly Decisions - Kathy Reichs
• Fatal Voyage - Kathy Reichs
• Grave Secrets - Kathy Reichs
• Bare Bones - Kathy Reichs

Can you tell I rediscovered Kathy Reichs work? Whilst I whizzed through the first three Kathy Reichs in that list, the last one - Bare Bones, was a different story. I put the book down with about a fifth of the story to go purely because I had to do something else and then it just sat there being avoided for the next few weeks. I picked it up again the other day because it’s more than due back at the library and whipped through it wondering why I hadn’t finished off this interesting story. I’m quite keen to read the next book in the series though I know I should be getting through the existing piles of books. I’ve slipped back into my old habits and have read a sizeable amount of romances and have also recently been through a period where I could only keep my eyes open for a few pages before giving up in disgust at my inability to stay awake.
My current book is Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett and I hope to have it finished in the next two days.

As far as 101 in 1001 is concerned - I should have read 21 books by now and be almost finished my 22. Instead my total is 8 going on 9. So a bit of catching up to do there and unless I have a lot of time on my hands in the short term this will probably require a concerted effort to catch up within 6 months. Not to worry :)
I have to say I’m quite surprised at how little I’m reading - though I guess that’s not entirely accurate as I’m still reading a lot, just not as many books as ebooks, websites, rss feeds, articles etc. This probably explains why the physical books to read are piling up.

Speaking of books piling up, I snaffled up some more books during the booksale season in Autumn. Not only did I get to go to do the customary Palmerston North Red Cross Book Sale, but the Palmerston North City Library held a sizeable booksale at the Convention Centre and the Rangitikei District Libraries held a book sale at the Bulls Town Hall as part of the centenary of the Bulls Library.
Overall I think, though it was the smallest, the Bulls Booksale was the best of the lot. I walked away with a huge box of Children’s non-fiction including some nice reference works for I think it was $30. It probably helped that we arrived not long after it had opened and the volume of people in the room at all wasn’t huge til we were on our way out the door.
The Red Cross Book sale was better than the previous year, but I made some silly purchases that lessened the delight once we’d got home and opened all the bags. Last year the plan to visit the individually priced section paid off, whereas this year there was a lot of good books in the main area (especially in the children’s non-fiction section - which I couldn’t figure out how that could happen!). Best buys there were uncovering a treasure trove of primary school teachers guides and the like. I spent about $300 *gasp*, but on the upside I scored myself an awesome carpark only a few metres from the door care of my vast past experience of the event which came in handy as this year it rained yet again!
The PNCL Booksale is the hardest to recall. I know I filled two grocery bags and that there were slim pickings in the children’s non-fiction (though with the Red Cross Book Sale a few weeks later that became a non-issue). As I recall, the prices were low but I don’t think I had overly full bags when I left and came in under the budget of $50. Next year I’ll definitely be a bit more conservative with the book sale purchasing. We’ve got a nice range at present and I think the gaps might have to filled with brand-new books, which is a scary thought. As it is, I’ve been banned from obtaining more bookshelves - which isn’t that surprising as there are precious few places we could put any more. Though I must say we could always replace some of the existing ones with taller ones - Oops bad thought! :)

Though I won’t go into much detail, earlier this year I did splurge a bit and made an Amazon purchase of some homeschool-type books which I knew I’d have difficulty finding secondhand and cost simply too much firsthand in New Zealand. I know we need to get a few modern guidebooks based in New Zealand and I’m dreading purchasing them due to the cost - I’m such a skinflint at odd moments.

Well I think we can successfully say that I’m not doing great at this but on the other hand with over 900 days to go I’m not doing as badly as I thought. I come across as being really negative in assessing the tasks below but I’m not that cut up about it - just giving myself a stern talking to. :)

Before this update:

101 in 1001
Start: 01 Jan 2008
Finish: 28 Sep 2010
Days Left: 947
Completed: 1/101

1. assemble a comprehensive family tree
Whilst I haven’t start this project yet, family have kindly loaned me several boxes of accumulated material (genealogy was one of the things we did as a family growing up) for a while so I have no excuses for getting stuck in.

3. bake something new each month 2/33
The birthday cake and cupcakes I made for my daughter’s birthday (with her assistance) were both new recipes for me. I didn’t care for the chocolate cake much as I believe a chocolate cake should contain chocolate rather than cocoa. I didn’t actually eat any cupcakes so I wouldn’t know much about how those turned out. The girls had more fun decorating them than anything I’d say. Does Icing count as baking? I avoid making icings like the plague as I can never get the proper consistency. I really wasn’t happy with the consistency of the icing on the cupcakes, though the chocolate icing on the cake came out okay.

9. buy a photo printer - Completed
As of Tuesday, this became a reality when we got a new Epson Stylus CX9300F. It was inexpensive and we needed to replace our scanner which was slowly eating away at my sanity with it’s ability to lock up and scream to be unlocked.

12. collect and grow my own seeds
Collected some Calendula seeds mid-january and today harvested Kowhai seeds which should be a nice challenge to germinate. Once the Marigold flowers die back I’ll be grabbing some of those too. This has been a good task as it’s made me open my eyes more to the entire lifecycle of growth in the garden.

16. do the blog 365
Yeah - this would have to be my biggest failure so far. Even counting the Project 365 posts, the total so far is 29 posts and 4 drafts (including this one - making a grand total of 33 if I get off my arse and finish off the other 3 drafts. Seeing as we’re at day 54 that’s pretty bad. Even worse if you think that counting the Project 365 posts is cheating.

19. do project 365 - In Progress
Well I’ve only put 21 days worth up on this site and I think I have another 7 days worth on the camera. So we’re at Day 54 and I only have a total of 28 days. That’s a bit of a difference. I haven’t been taking photos much recently at all and admittedly some days I’ve only taken photos where my daughter is the subject and I’m still a bit up in the air about posting photos of her - more from the she doesn’t get much say in the matter if I do perspective than anything else. I’m going to persevere with this.

30. frame favourite photos - In Progress
I framed a photo of our cat that I took late last year and it’s really brought out that corner of the room.

33. get digital photos printed and framed or albumed - In Progress
Well now we have a photo printer this should be much less work. Now I just need a frame replicator and I’m set. All I’ve done is a test print of a photo we got printed recently at the pharmacy. The tone from the printer isn’t as colour enhanced and I think is more true to life. I suspect the machine at the pharmacy does the equivalent of an auto-colour. I framed a photo of our cat that I took late last year and it’s really brought out that corner of the room. I’m noticing a bit of duplication in these tasks.

68. learn to recognise the southern constellations - In Progress
Well, I’ve gone through our collection of books and discovered we have one that’ll do as a nice primer to start with. Next step - refresher on the Southern Cross and how to find South - I’ve become a bit hazy on the concept. “3 and a half lengths of something, and middle of the pointer sisters? Then those two lines come together and that point drops down to the horizon?”.

73. make weekly contact with family and friends 7/143 (should be 8/143)
I got a bit overwhelmed around daughter’s birthday with a bunch of stuff and I’m afraid making contact with family and friends suffered as a result. I want to get better at this.

82. read 100 books (romances and rereads not included) 2/100 (should be 5/100)
I’m surprised at how little I’m managing to read and the discovery that romances are easier for me to wind down at the end of a day for sleep than other fiction - irregardless of the enjoyment factor. Perhaps this is just a habit I’ve trained myself in but I can guarantee a restless night’s sleep if I neglect to wind down before bed and that includes what I would consider normal reading material. So I figure I have two options, either carve out part of my day to get some proper reading happening, or retrain my mind to accept better fiction or recreational non-fiction as wind down material.
So far I’ve completed:
Mort by Terry Pratchett
Sourcery by Terry Pratchett

83. record sam’s daily activities 43/1001 (should be 54/1001)
This is something that is really hard to do if I let it slide. I can only vaguely recall details about something that happened 3 days - so I have to keep on top of this! On the other hand, this has been a wonderful task and I’m motivated to continue. This kind of exercise shows the flaw in trying to do something for every day of the 1001 days - the lack of a margin for error means you effectively fail the first time you miss a day.

91. solve the rubik’s cube - In Progress
Well this has certainly been an adventure. Father Christmas gave husband an imitation Rubik’s Cube a couple of years back and it’d been at the back of a drawer untouched so I snaffled it. And just the past week a friend returned a guide to solving the Rubik’s cube they’d borrowed. So I got out the cube and had a stab at it, and managed to almost break it - it didn’t come completely apart but enough to make me shove it back in the drawer and call it quits for the night. I pulled it out again tonight and investigated the damage and then had fun pulling it to bits to fix it. Required a screwdriver and some glue but it should be good as new once the glue sets.

After this update:

101 in 1001
Start: 01 Jan 2008
Finish: 28 Sep 2010
Days Left: 947
Technically Should Have Completed: 5/101
Completed: 2/101

Well I think we can say that I’ve fallen behind, it’s early days yet and with a bit of consistentcy I should be able to catch up.
The plan is to update on the 1st of March with another update, and a list of things to work on for the month.
For the remaining 6 days, I’ll be working on the following:
16. do the blog 365
19. do project 365
30. frame favourite photos
33. get digital photos printed and framed or albumed
68. learn to recognise the southern constellations
73. make weekly contact with family and friends
75. memorise origami designs
82. read 100 books (romances and rereads not included)
Complete reading Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett (which I’m struggling with because I’ve seen a comic adaption that had a script incredibly close to the book) and get stuck into the next book in the Discworld series, Pyramids.
83. record sam’s daily activities
90. send monthly handwritten letters
91. solve the rubik’s cube
Also, get the drafts published and daily photos up.

Yesterday I mentioned Brad Issac at Achieve-IT! is running a month-long series on Goal Setting and today we’re on Day Two: Start with a Big List. I found this a bit daunting starting with an empty page and personally could have done with a few starter questions but after a few minutes I wrote down a goal I was already working on and they just flew onto the page from there. Not nearly as many as the 75-100 he was talking about so I might go back and have another stab at it later.

Also, I got something already knocked off my 101 in 1001 list. I was getting some takeaways in Wanganui today and saw a sign right in front of my face (behind the person serving me) and when they asked me whether that was all they moved slightly and I saw it - Deep Fried Moro Bar! Finally! I have tasted one. Really yummy - not something I’d get more than once a year I’d say due to Moro’s being too sweet for me now … but it was well worth having on the list and I’m really happy I’ve tried it now. :) Now - only 100 tasks to go! :P

Well, how about that - another year has slipped from our grasp and whilst I won’t make any comments on the year that has past, I have a feeling that 2008 will be a really wonderful year.

Earlier in the year I noted somewhere that there are many points in the year when you can reevaluate things. The ones that stick out for me are your birthday, Winter Solstice, New Years, the end of Financial Year - and looking back at this list I can see each having a goal “category”, Solstice for Spiritual, Birthday for Personal, New Years for General, Financial a no-brainer as Financial/Business. Interestingly, one for Family hasn’t made itself apparent to me - is this because we don’t celebrate any particular day in New Zealand as an obviously family day? Christmas seems like a bit of a reach for this to me - and besides who isn’t concentrating on the celebrating part of that event to take the time to contemplate long term goals.

So leading up to today I’ve been contemplating my lack of clear long-term goals and just when I thought to put that on the too hard basket and deal with it next time round I saw that Brad Issac at Achieve-IT! is running a month-long series on Goal Setting which sounds simply serendipitous to me. So here’s the introductory post and here is the post for Day One: Letting go of the fear of dreaming or goal setting.

So what apart from Learning how to Goal Set, do I have organised so far?

• My Diary - a standard A5 one page a day with no appointment times. Whilst I love the GTD way of working out what to do each day, I didn’t kick the habit of writing up a list each day of the tasks I want to achieve and then carrying over anything not completed onto a later day which kinda defeats the purpose of a custom printed planner. Perhaps this is something to work on next year.
• Sam’s Diary - a tiny one page per day diary for recording her daily activities and new words as a way to encourage us about her progress, and conversely to let us know when we’re slacking off in the providing her with useful activities department.
• A Monthly wall chart showing habits I’m working on. This month’s has Read a book to Sam, Put up a Trademe Listing, Blog Post, Daily Photo, and cringing admitting this some better Oral hygiene for both Sam and I. This is a replacement for the A5 page packed with 45+ daily things I should be doing(!) and feels unsurprisingly very freeing despite it still being a challenge.
• Beginning the 101 in 1001 project - something different and along with that starting the Project 365 and Blog 365 project (pretty self-explanatory - a blog post for every day of the year). I might have bitten off more than I can chew but I want to achieve something this year and I’m looking forward to these challenges. I’m also concerned I’m going from the extreme of not doing much each day that is done purely for enjoyment to not enough
  actual work being accomplished. It’s always a struggle working out the ideal work:play ratio but I hold hope that one day (or even, optimistically, for two days) I’ll get it right.

The last few days I’ve also been fluffing around giving this site a bit of a makeover and working on Sam’s private site. We have a passworded blog which we’re updating with photos and a bit of commentary at times for family members. I haven’t been very good at the Baby Book thing so this is a chance to redeem myself :P.
I’m also working on getting my Google Reader Starred list down to manageable proportions. I’ve unsubscribed from a couple of rss feeds as they’re adding to the guilt of incompleteness and not much else. One I will undoubtedly access when I need/want to anyway and the other was mainly a source of longterm feeds to read with the plus of seeing what the community on a whole is interested in. I have a ton of posts saved from the second feed I can go through for the first purpose and I question whether I really care about the second point.

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).

Started: 01 Jan 2008
Finish: 28 Sep 2010
Days Left:
Completed: 1/101

1. assemble a comprehensive family tree
2. attend a concert
3. bake something new each month 0/33
4. be able to meditate for half an hour
5. become more proficient at illustrator
6. become more proficient at photoshop
7. build a snowman
8. buy a bike
9. buy a photo printer
10. buy and maintain an established bonsai
11. buy some digital music
12. collect and grow my own seeds
13. create a painting and hang it up
14. crochet an afghan
15. do 26 things
16. do the blog 365
17. do embodiment
18. do nanowrimo
19. do project 365
20. do the blogathon
21. donate $5 to charity for every uncompleted task
22. donate my time to a worthy cause at least once each year
23. eat a deep-fried moro bar
24. enjoy a sunrise
25. fill a journal
26. fill a sketchbook
27. finish all incomplete sewing projects
28. finish cross-stitch and frame it
29. fly a kite
30. frame favourite photos
31. gather together a complete emergency kit
32. get a good haircut
33. get digital photos printed and framed or albumed
34. get full license and become an organ donor
35. get professional family portrait done
36. go camping
37. go hiking
38. go horse riding
39. go indoor rock climbing
40. go kayaking
41. go on a bike ride
42. go on holiday somewhere i’ve never been before
43. go on the train
44. go to a driving range
45. go to a lecture or seminar
46. go to a play
47. go to a pub trivia night
48. go to a street fair or parade
49. go to an amusement park
50. go to an anzac dawn service
51. go to an art gallery
52. go to an orchestra concert
53. go to something on opening or release day
54. go to the beach and build a sandcastle
55. grow some mushrooms
56. have a card night
57. have a professional massage
58. have a traditional picnic under a tree
59. hold a games night
60. host a dinner party
61. knit something
62. learn a new programming language
63. learn how to use a camera properly
64. learn how to use a telescope properly
65. learn to identify native trees and plants 0/33
66. learn to juggle
67. learn to play chess
68. learn to recognise the southern constellations
69. learn to sightread music
70. learn to weave flax
71. make a proper afternoon tea and eat it with friends
72. make a scrapbook
73. make weekly contact with family and friends 0/143
74. memorise a poem
75. memorise origami designs 0/33
76. participate in a book club
77. participate in a crafting challenge
78. participate in postcrossing
79. pay for the person behind me at a fast food drive-thru
80. purchase some art work
81. read 10 works of poetry 0/10
82. read 100 books (romances and rereads not included) 0/100
83. record sam’s daily activities 0/1001
84. relearn calligraphy
85. research and grow a herb a month 0/33
86. research wines and do regular wine tastings
87. save $2 as every task completed
88. see 20 movies i wouldn’t normally have seen 0/20
89. send a package to a friend i’ve been out of touch with
90. send monthly handwritten letters 0/33
91. solve the rubic’s cube
92. sort my photos into albums
93. spend a day at a botanical gardens
94. spend a day going to garage sales
95. spend time by myself in a café
96. take a walk in the rain
97. take care of all dental work
98. take up archery
99. visit an observatory
100. visit the auckland or wellington zoo
101. write 10 letters of thanks or praise 0/10

This is a duplicate list of the sidebar which I intend to update rather than this post (though knowing me a flight of whimsy at a later date will have this list being updated in synch with the sidebar. This post was really just created for the official website where I’ve submitted the website for a bit of community feel :).

There are a few on there that I had difficulty succinctly quantifying and have left them ambiguous for now with the intent of working out the details later.