Memo Time

Memo to you… yes you.

I know working with others is hard. Not all of us like to play in the sandbox together, but when we have to there are a few rules of engagement. And they don’t involve banging Sally on the head with your shovel and then running to snake the swing out from under Kate. You should have learned that a long time ago… Also I know that meetings are the bane of our existence. But since you hold this bureacratic bullshite meeting at least once a quarter there are no more excuses, you should have already learned from the mistakes. So it is time someone went over a few simple facts with you.

First… If you are going to ask people at the last minute to cover your ass for inane shit, you’d best step up to the plate. It is not hard nor is it confusing. For once it is simple. If you ask me to come and help you get a meeting ready at 7:30am (when I rarely grace my office before 10am) you damn well better start by picking up your phone when I call and being there too. That is a basic form of respect. Also FYI it does not take 2.5 hours to put out folders, water and name cards. I’m just sayin.

Second… For the record in case you forgot, I work on Policy. Yes with a capital P. And don’t think I am playing hierarchical here like you are (who sits on which side of the Deputy Secretary Generale I don’t care… throw your temper tantrum elsewhere). I don’t think any work is beneath me, hell I have an assistant from hell that does nothing, so I do her job too. An assistant who I now thanks to the immature joys of working for an international organisation can say I am sending to Khartoum. You don’t like your assistant, send her to Sudan (for the record she is from the region and happy to go)… but it is saying a lot that NEITHER of your TWO assistants are there doing anything. And maybe before panicking and rounding up FOUR substantive consultants to do what is a ONE person 30 minute job… you should stop and think if you want to expend that kind of capital. Also learn to count!

See people round here think I am some kind of a miracle worker when we have to work to do in the Ivory Tower. Nope… I am just friendly and not beneath bribing people or whatever else it takes to get shit done. Also I am VERY VERY thankful to anyone who helps bail my ass out when the Arc springs a leak… Which has happened on more than one occasion. Hell in May I had the hull full choppered in half and thanks to being smart and the power of Vodka I kept the frigging boat afloat. Just like during prayers at the family table, you need to give thanks here too. Let’s be clear though, I don’t mean a half assed email saying thanks afterwards. I mean if it is 7:30am on a fecking Friday… BE THERE WITH FUCKING COFFEE. It is a gesture that opens doors.

As a matter of fact after this last go round with the bullshit I can now clearly say that I will feel no guilt next time round, cause there are always more Steering Meetings (we are steering more shit around than anyone knows what to do with I tell you). I will be the first to say No. HELL TO THE NOES. I am going to sleep in so that when 3pm sneaks around and I have yoga at 7pm I am not dreading the end of my week cause dude… ALL I WANT IS A NAP. And your head on a platter, so I can hand you your smacked ass.

 

Wow… Time To Update

Lots going on lately. Since this is more for me I am not going to do a very grand update. But just a hit and run. Rather go take pictures for a true knitting content posting!

Purchase (10/101)

1. Treat myself to a massage or a facial once a year
2. Buy a Lomo camera (I got a Holga instead… But a friend says he has found one for me, maybe one day soon )
   
3. Buy one piece of art
4. Buy fresh flowers for my room once a month for a year (so I bought them for my office last month…)
   
5. Buy a new “professional” set of luggage
6. Buy one piece of investment furniture
7. Get a subscription to National Geographic Traveller, New Yorker, Economist
8. Buy an antique map of Paris and frame it
9. Buy a new DSLR upgrade (wish this were purchased… but GRE and life plan called the budget over it. Sigh hopefully before the end of the year for tax deduction!)
10. Find and buy one pair of killer jeans

Health (15/101)

1. Run/Participate in a 5k, 10k, and half marathon
2. Participate in an olympic distance triathalon
3. 30 day trial… bikram yoga 3 times a week (I was going 2x a week there for a while. Things got hairy. I start back again tomorrow)
4. Visit a nutritionist/naturopath
5. Do a master body cleansing/fast/colonic

Travel (31/101)

1. Rent a beach house for a getaway
2. Go surfing in Costa Rica or Hawaii
3. Visit 3 national parks (i.e. Antelope Canyon, Grand Canyon, Muir Woods, Yosemite, Moab, The Arches, Grand Tetons)
4. Take a working vacation at a winery in the south of France
5. Play in the tulips in Netherlands and Skagit Valley
6. Visit 10 friends (I visited friends in SF and Seattle so I am going to say I am now down to 7 more friends to find and visit )
7. Rent a convertible and go on a road trip
8. Do an Ashram in India or Bali
9. Camp out in Wadi Rum
10. Climb up Macchu Picchu
11. Visit a buddhist temple in a buddhist country
12. Watch an opera at La Scala and a ballet at Opera Garnier
13. See the northern lights in Iceland
14. Go to Ireland
15. Go on a crazy Thelma Louise girls trip
16. Stay in a luxurious 5 star hotel

Finance (42/101)

1. Work to better credit score (by 50-100 points)
2. Contribute at least 50% of max out to my Roth IRA annually (approx. $2000-2500)
3. Create, maintain and track my budget for one year (need to finish out the medical reimbursement requests, shipping reimbursements should be sent soon… and while not budgeting have lived within the paycheck limitations and am still working to rebalance all the accounts, moving apartments and new furniture have set things a bit off)
4. Pay off all credit cards and maintain zero balances (all balances can be paid off with savings if need be)
5. Save $5 for 1001 days (Very Bad… need to catch this up! Will try to recuperate half of what I need to this month)
6. Do my taxes annually (need to fix the state one… ASAP!)
7. Invest in retirement and net worth (10% of income)
8. Pay off 50% of remaining student loans (Perkins Loan is now Paid OFF!)
9. Invest in socially responsible mutual funds (2% of income)
10. Get a major credit card: use and pay of in full monthly (I bit the bullet… I have a major credit card, I use it, and it makes me twitch)
11. Save $10000 towards a major investment (purchase of property etc)

Learning (53/101)

1. Take a photography course on light and flash
2. Learn how to fly the trapeze (this IS what I did on my 31st birthday! and it freaking ROCKED)
3. Take an intensive Spanish language course in Spain
4. Get my a scuba diving certification
5. Learn how to drive a Vespa
6. Take a wine tasting course
7. Learn how to dye yarn
8. Learn more about buddhism
9. Research travel photography and writing
10. Take skiing lessons in the alps
11. Learn 5 Photoshop tricks (I learned one… Photomerge, now to use it :))

Reading (59/101)

1. Go to 3 book readings
2. Read 6 classics and 5 works pre- 1950 (Read Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth)
3. Read a banned book, a booker book, a pulitzer prize book
4. Read the Tao Te Ching
5. Read 3 biographies per year (bought Jane Goodall for the next one)
6. Enter all my books into Library Thing
   

Creativity (69/101)

1. Design my blog (working with a friend to finalise what the Etsy person didn’t deliver on)
2. Do a photographic travel/documentary project
3. Knit three sweaters for myself (Sweater #1 to be finished… Sweater #2 Bought the yarn)
4. Document all my yarn stash (might be one of this month’s photographic projects…)
5. Print 10 of my photos for framing and hanging (doing a test printing of photos I like this month!)
6. Keep a film and book list
7. Sell 5 photos
8. Participate in Sunday scribbles
9. Go to the cinema once a month (Went more than once… cant remember everything but I have gone to see The Dark Knight, Kung-fu Panda, The Counterfeiters, The Indiana Jones movie)
10. Make a quotes book

Gastronomy (74/101)

1. Go berry picking (went lavender picking… ok not the same and yes I want to do this at the end of the month… now to find people’s and a place )
2. Eat at 12 new restaurants- one three star (I have now eaten at a Ruth’s Chris, but the best was the Slanted Door in SF- good people, awesome drinks and killer food, I dream of that place)
3. Try one new recipe a month
4. Throw a dinner party for 8 friends
5. Try 6 new foods and 6 foods I “dont like” (I tried sushi- yellowfin Tuna I believe it was. not like what I remembered other sushi as, not my exact cup of tea but I could eat it just fine too. 3 more to go!)

Career (77/101)

1. Take GRE Course and Exam (1350 score goal) (I took the GRE Strategies Course. I am now trying to force myself to do the prep work… sigh. must set a date here soon)
2. Apply to 10 PhD programmes
3. Work on creating a career path

Do (101/101)

1. Go galopping on a horse out in the free range
2. Participate in some volunteer/public service project (maybe dealing with sexual health or at a soup kitchen)
3. Go canoeing in Central Park (Check did that around my birthday with visiting friends!)
4. Watch one classic movie per month
5. Go to a live music festival
6. Go to Shakespeare in the Park
7. Meditate for 5 minutes 3 times a week
8. Purge my wardrobe (of at least 30%) (hmmm well I got rid of some and then some in storage… but I still need to weed more )
   
9. Attend a meditation retreat (5+ days)
10. Go snowshoeing
11. Get rid of 101 things
12. Consolidate and reduce my storage needs and use (I have closed out the Paris unit, and reduced out of the Seattle unit enough to fit some furniture from my mom if I have to- good me!)
13. Go to the HCB museum in Paris
14. Reduce my carbon footprint (by 10-20%)
15. Donate “one meal out” per month to a Food Bank
16. Spend 5 minutes daily in total silence and inactivity for a month
17. Visit my grandmother and father’s graves and take flowers
18. Go to an outdoor movie
19. Live in a new city in 1001 days
20. Hang my mirror, shelves and frames (have moved so not all needs to be hung but will see…)
21. Trace my Irish geneology
22. See a broadway play
23. Preserve my family photos
24. Go to a museum once every other month (Tenement Museum this month… promise )

 

Another meme…

So I am on holiday in Seattle for the next 2 weeks. A bit of a working one, but I might be able to get some knitting material along side my love of where I call “home” in the US. If nothing else photos will be in the uploading soon In the meantime another one of the memes that has been making the rounds…

1. What was I doing ten years ago:

A newly minted 21 year old… I had recently moved back to Seattle and was back at UW for my junior year of college, after a semester long joy ride to hell I decided to take. Silly girl I was back then I was in summer school diving back into what really interested me oblivious to much else. I was working at a pool teaching swim lessons and enjoying my first summer living on Greenlake (a place that will always hold a dear place in my heart) and trying to figure out how to live life.

2. What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:

- Check DMV renewal requirements
- Organise the photos on the hard drive
- Cosmetics shop at Nordys
- Relax
- Start to look at my GRE books…

3. Snacks I enjoy:

Nuts, string cheese, pretzel chips, red licorice, fruit leather, baby carrots, edamame, and so much more. I am a muncher…

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

After purchasing/building a house for myself and those I love, as well as a vacation house… I would buy me a new DSLR and set of pro-lenses, put most into savings (I am boring and fiscally responsible like that), set aside enough to do my PhD, travel a whole hell of a lot with the killer photos to prove it and create a charitable foundation to help fund development and women. Then I’d probably volunteer whatever time I had left. Oh and I might do a bit of shopping

5. Places I have lived:

Scottsdale, AZ; North Platte, NE; Lexington, Kentucky; Seattle, WA; Grado, Italy; Chapel Hill, NC; Firenza/Siena, Italy; Paris, France; New York, NY.

6. Jobs I’ve had:

Lifeguard/Swim Instructor/Water Aerobics Instructor; Personal Trainer, Victoria’s Secret Stock and Visual Display Store Manager, Administrative Assistant, Marketing Specialist/Manager, Graduate Student, Attache aux Cabinet, Research Assistant, and Project Officer.

Tag… your it

 

Meme…

No doubt, you have seen the mosaic meme all across blogland and flickr. I’ve enjoyed from the sidelines - I love to see into people through visual imagery choices- and now I as I am low on content… a participant. If you haven’t jumped on this bandwagon yet and want to give it a try, feel free and send me a link to go look and I will, here’s what you do:

- Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
- Using only the first page, pick an image.
- Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name? K
2. What is your favorite food? Milk
3. What high school did you go to? Shadow Mountain
4. What is your favorite color? Green
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Eddie Izzard
6. Favorite drink? Gin and Tonic
7. Dream vacation? Maldives
8. Favorite dessert? (Abuela’s) Arroz con Leche
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Professor
10. What do you love most in life? Serendipity
11. One Word to describe you? Unscripted
12. Your flickr name? Stinkerbell1

Et voila!

Photo Credits:
1. Bubbles. 2. More milk 3. Shadow Mountain 4. Forest Green 5. Eddie Izzard IV 6. 1888 Gin and Tonic 7. MALDIVES… the sunny side of life 23 8. arroz con leche 9. Little Professor Hand-held Calculator 10. performative rhizome serendipity . . 11. unscripted love 12. Untitled

 

Hope… I want to hope…

I know that very few people come round, and that is ok. God knows I dont really blog anymore…

But here are my vageuties… I finally made a decision for myself, one that I have needed to make for a long time but resisted as I hate change, only sacrificing myself is no longer really appealing to me. So I went with it, felt good about it and my change, was looking forward to it. Then the rug was pulled out from underneath me on it. And I feel crappy and looped. Trying not to full on pity party and wonder why cant things go positively for me, or why cant it just be resolved. There is one other wee option, short of starting over again from scratch and hoping for the best.

So if anyone out there sees this… and can spare a positive thought… I will be eternally grateful and promise that the next post will have at least a photo of yarn (in my moment of thinking that things were coming together and my impending birthday… I bought myself some Beaujolais, not the wine but a yarn named after it and I LOVE the colour!!)

 

Reading Is Fun-da-mental

Katie is having a blog contest… and about two weeks ago Crazy Aunt Purl had a post about books that had me “wishlisting” on Amazon like crazy (I am the only one ever buying anything from that dang list though). And this all made me think… I want to talk about books here too. This blog (if I can really call it that) is going to be everything BUT knitting (and the sweater I am done knitting but still have to finish) by the time I am done… Sigh, but at least I am trying to get back up on the horse.

When I was a kid it was hard to find me without my nose in a book. But by the time I got through undergrad and then grad school, the idea of reading… well it was strapped on to the notion of work. So for a while there I stopped reading for fun. Then I realised that there was so little I had read of the classics, I LOVED being in the UVillage Barnes and Noble and damn don’t I want to be a well rounded person?? So I fell back in love with books and have commited more money to the Amazon Gods than any river can carry. As a matter of fact of the 350 lbs of things I shipped to myself from Paris, 275 of them… Books/Papers. Now I know I commit heresy, but I read not knit on my subway rides- and that is where most of my reading takes place. My commute takes me 45 minutes door to door (with my morning muffin stop) each way and it is a rare occasion that I am to be found without a book on my person (cause you never know how long you are going to be in transit, especially if you live on the L train like I do…). Currently in rotation is The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton. And you know what, it indeed does make me happy to read the book.

So I thought I should repost my top ten favorite reads, and a list of reading. So here goes…

A selection of my favorites (not necessarily including everything) from my library thing (which I totally love!)

1. The Zahir (Paolo Coehlo) Brilliant man anything by him is worth the time.
2. Fountain Head (Ayn Rand- lots to read but love to read it!)
3. How Proust Can Change Your Life (Alain de Botton) This book and this author changed my life and has had me pulled into all his books!
4. Cod (Mark Kurlansy) any of the “food” as more than food books from Mark Kurlansy are worth reading and so damn interesting
5. Kafka on the Shore (Haruki Murakami) Liked it enough to get Norwegian Wood which I wizzed through too
6. Lemon Tree (Sandy Tolan) An incredible book on a conflict that has been tearing a region apart for longer than I care to think… a region that has a special place in my heart
7. The Mandarins (Simone de Beauvoir) great to read about when I was living there, but it is still nice when you arent there.
8. Me Talk Pretty One Day (Dave Sedaris) I adore this man. Got to meet and have drinks with him. He makes me laugh inordinately.
9. I Am A Stranger Here Myself (Bill Bryson) Anything by the man is worth it! He often makes me laugh out loud and as a recent “re”patriate from the expatriate life this one totally touches me.
10. Stretching Lessons (Sue Bender) Whenever I feel myself a bit adrift or torn apart a bit… this book brings me a bit back together.

My Summer Time Reading is FUN-da-mental list (a list that will probably carry on into other seasons :))

1. Anna Karenina
2. Life of Pi
3. Great Expectations
4. Foucault’s Pendulum
5. The Grapes of Wrath
6. Les Misérables
7. A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present
8. Dubliners
9. Eats, Shoots & Leaves
10. Lolita
11. Persuasion
12. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values
13. The House of Mirth

 

Rolling Rolling Rolling…

Keep those doggies rolling…

Where in the world has the time gone and what have I managed to do with my time. NYC has a distinct way of being a time warp/vacuum that sucks people in alive I think. Kind of like how life is a rollercoaster. Eternal things can’t do much about, so it is onwards and upwards.

That said, I am pretty impressed with this month of April… despite all (and I have had my annoyed, angry and lonely moments), things have actually turned out well, or it is me choosing to look at them from that side. So without further ado… here is the 101 in 1001 run down- seemingly the only thing I can every bring myself to blog on… One day I do hope to find my voice again.

Purchase (10/101)

1. Treat myself to a massage or a facial once a year
2. Buy a Lomo camera (Getting one in a deal the first week of May)
3. Buy one piece of art
4. Buy fresh flowers for my room once a month for a year
5. Buy a new “professional” set of luggage
6. Buy one piece of investment furniture
7. Get a subscription to National Geographic Traveller, New Yorker, Economist
8. Buy an antique map of Paris and frame it
9. Buy a new DSLR upgrade (Definitely to be purchased before my birthday)
10. Find and buy one pair of killer jeans

Health (15/101)

1. Run/Participate in a 5k, 10k, and half marathon
2. Participate in an olympic distance triathalon
3. 30 day trial… bikram yoga 3 times a week (Managed twice a week this month. hoping to make it 3 soon)
4. Visit a nutritionist/naturopath
5. Do a master body cleansing/fast/colonic

Travel (31/101)

1. Rent a beach house for a getaway
2. Go surfing in Costa Rica or Hawaii
3. Visit 3 national parks (i.e. Antelope Canyon, Grand Canyon, Muir Woods, Yosemite, Moab, The Arches, Grand Tetons)
4. Take a working vacation at a winery in the south of France
5. Play in the tulips in Netherlands and Skagit Valley
6. Visit 10 friends (SF next month here I come! Yes it will only count as one friend but I am still happy about it :))
7. Rent a convertible and go on a road trip
8. Do an Ashram in India or Bali
9. Camp out in Wadi Rum
10. Climb up Macchu Picchu (Change in plans… but this will happen, yes it will!)
    
11. Visit a buddhist temple
12. Watch an opera at La Scala and a ballet at Opera Garnier (I went and saw the La Fille du Regiment Opera on Gala Opening Night no less, but at the Lincoln Center :))
13. See the northern lights in Iceland
14. Go to Ireland
15. Go on a crazy Thelma Louise girls trip
16. Stay in a luxurious 5 star hotel

Finance (42/101)

1. Work to better credit score (by 50-100 points)
2. Contribute at least 50% of max out to my Roth IRA annually (approx. $2000-2500) (I sucked it up and put $3000 in… camera will wait a little longer)
3. Create, maintain and track my budget for one year (Got part of my medical reimbursements which goes back to savings, shipping reimbursements will be submitted next week… and while not budgeting I have lived within something close to my paycheck  and am working to rebalance all the accounts. Hopefully that will be done definitively in June)
4. Pay off all credit cards and maintain zero balances (Financial flows still going buckwild and I am giving myself a bit of reprieve, but they are all close to zero balances)
5. Save $5 for 1001 days (YUP)
6. Do my taxes annually (2007 done, sent and buggered up but clearing up and looking forward to getting a tax rebate :))
7. Invest in retirement and net worth (10% of income)
8. Pay off 50% of remaining student loans (“High-ish” interest rate loan is set to be paid off possibly by around my birthday! Am also almost 18 months prepaid on the rest of the loans. And then I attack the unsubsidized amount)
9. Invest in socially responsible mutual funds (2% of income)
10. Get a major credit card: use and pay of in full monthly (so I got one… I am a big girl now! Waiting for it to arrive so I can hide it… Ok use it but try not to abuse it.)
11. Save $10000 towards a major investment (purchase of property etc)

Learning (53/101)

1. Take a photography course on light and flash (Going to a speaking engagement with a guru of light May 8th to see if I like him enough to take a class with him)
2. Learn how to fly the trapeze (I am going to do an intro to silks class next month. And this is what I will be doing on the day of my 31st birthday!)
3. Take an intensive Spanish language course in Spain
4. Get my a scuba diving certification
5. Learn how to drive a Vespa
6. Take a wine tasting course
7. Learn how to dye yarn
8. Learn more about buddhism
9. Research travel photography and writing
10. Take skiing lessons in the alps
11. Learn 5 Photoshop tricks

Reading (59/101)

1. Go to 3 book readings
2. Read 6 classics and 5 works pre- 1950
3. Read a banned book, a booker book, a pulitzer prize book
4. Read the Tao Te Ching
5. Read 3 biographies per year
6. Enter all my books into Library Thing (Need to add the boxes of books I just got from Paris storage…)
   

Creativity (69/101)

1. Design my blog (Waiting to hear back from the Etsy designer for my banner… may put a bat-call out to the other savvy friends to get it done with)
2. Do a photographic travel/documentary project (A high up from UNICEF has offered to open the door for me on this… now I need to get myself together on it and pick a place and a story!)
3. Knit three sweaters for myself (Sweater #1: Finished the knitting, now to block and seam)
4. Document all my yarn stash (the box from Paris is here… the accounting will be had shortly!)
5. Print 10 of my photos for framing and hanging
6. Keep a film and book list
7. Sell 5 photos
8. Participate in Sunday scribbles
9. Go to the cinema once a month (Went to see Smart People… I REALLY want to see The Visitor and The Band’s Visit soon though!)
10. Make a quotes book

Gastronomy (74/101)

1. Go berry picking
2. Eat at 12 new restaurants- one three star. (Balthazar’s- fun NYC “cool people” experience! Also part of a very long day/night)
3. Try one new recipe a month
4. Throw a dinner party for 8 friends
5. Try 6 new foods and 6 foods I “dont like” (I had oysters at Balthazars, had never tried them before had thought I didnt like them. Only it wasn’t like I thought :))

Career (77/101)

1. Take GRE Course and Exam (1350 score goal) (Must schedule a test date this month)
2. Apply to 10 PhD programmes
3. Work on creating a career path (While not a career path I applied to two jobs I would be happy to have)

Do (101/101)

1. Go galopping on a horse out in the free range
2. Participate in some volunteer/public service project (maybe dealing with sexual health or at a soup kitchen)
3. Go canoeing in Central Park
4. Watch one classic movie per month
5. Go to a live music festival
6. Go to Shakespeare in the Park
7. Meditate for 5 minutes 3 times a week
8. Purge my wardrobe (of at least 30%) (I think a spring cleaning and closet change is upon me this month…)
9. Attend a meditation retreat (5+ days) (I heard about this one where you dont talk… could possibly be the biggest challenge for me, and something I so want to do! in a very odd turn of thoughts)
10. Go snowshoeing
11. Get rid of 101 things
12. Consolidate and reduce my storage needs and use
13. Go to the HCB museum in Paris
14. Reduce my carbon footprint (by 10-20%)
15. Donate “one meal out” per month to a Food Bank
16. Spend 5 minutes daily in total silence and inactivity for a month
17. Visit my grandmother and father’s graves and take flowers
18. Go to an outdoor movie
19. Live in a new city in 1001 days
20. Hang my mirror, shelves and frames
21. Trace my Irish geneology
22. See a broadway play
23. Preserve my family photos
24. Go to a museum once every other month

 

Another Month, Another 1001

You know it is starting to get pathetic that I can barely bring myself to update more than once between my 1001 posts… even though I have done creatively related stuff. Even finally visited one of the yarn stores in town (hello Purl you are WAY tinier than I expected).

So this time I am writing from my old home (Paris) and feeling a bit off not knowing where is home etc (am here to go through my storage unit and ship things back before you get all romantic on me- well that, visit friends and take a weekend in Copenhagen :)). Anyways, I think we can all just count off the month of March as a slag month and try to step into Spring with a new step! And for whatever the reason, this time I am doing it with an uncharacteristically positive spring in my step

Purchase (10/101)

1. Treat myself to a massage or a facial once a year
2. Buy a Lomo camera
3. Buy one piece of art
4. Buy fresh flowers for my room once a month for a year (Ummm nope. BAD me. Though I was only in town half the month)
5. Buy a new “professional” set of luggage
6. Buy one piece of investment furniture
7. Get a subscription to National Geographic Traveller, New Yorker, Economist
8. Buy an antique map of Paris and frame it (looked but didn’t find one I liked enough… next trip the hunt will continue!)
9. Buy a new DSLR upgrade
10. Find and buy one pair of killer jeans

Health (15/101)

1. Run/Participate in a 5k, 10k, and half marathon
2. Participate in an olympic distance triathalon
3. 30 day trial… bikram yoga 3 times a week
4. Visit a nutritionist/naturopath
5. Do a master body cleansing/fast/colonic

Travel (31/101)

1. Rent a beach house for a getaway
2. Go surfing in Costa Rica or Hawaii
3. Visit 3 national parks (i.e. Antelope Canyon, Grand Canyon, Muir Woods, Yosemite, Moab, The Arches, Grand Tetons)
4. Take a working vacation at a winery in the south of France
5. Play in the tulips in Netherlands and Skagit Valley
6. Visit 10 friends (Visited more than 10 friends in Paris and one in Copenhagen, but I am only going to count it as one… Nine more to go!)
7. Rent a convertible and go on a road trip
8. Do an Ashram in India or Bali
9. Camp out in Wadi Rum
10. Climb up Macchu Picchu (Will be booking my tickets for June in April- who said turning 31 wasn’t going to be fun??)
11. Visit a buddhist temple
12. Watch an opera at La Scala and a ballet at Opera Garnier
13. See the northern lights in Iceland
14. Go to Ireland
15. Go on a crazy Thelma Louise girls trip
16. Stay in a luxurious 5 star hotel

Finance (42/101)

1. Work to better credit score (by 50-100 points)
2. Contribute at least 50% of max out to my Roth IRA annually (approx. $2000-2500) (I have the money set aside but it will be contributed in the beginning of April)
3. Create, maintain and track my budget for one year (Submitted my medical reimbursements, shipping reimbursements in April… and while not budgeting have lived within the paycheck limitations and am working to rebalance all the accounts)
4. Pay off all credit cards and maintain zero balances (Ummm financial flows going buckwild for the next 2 months- so I am giving myself a bit of reprieve)
5. Save $5 for 1001 days (YUP)
6. Do my taxes annually (2007 done, to be revised once more next month and sent in on the 1st of April)
7. Invest in retirement and net worth (10% of income)
8. Pay off 50% of remaining student loans (”High” interest student loan officially now paid OFF, next “High-ish” interest rate loan is set to be paid off in a few months)
9. Invest in socially responsible mutual funds (2% of income)
10. Get a major credit card: use and pay of in full monthly
11. Save $10000 towards a major investment (purchase of property etc) (Created the Investment account)

Learning (53/101)

1. Take a photography course on light and flash
2. Learn how to fly the trapeze (I found courses, I am going to do silks first and wait for it to warm up but this… it is sooooooo on! This is what I might just be doing on the day of my 31st birthday!)
3. Take an intensive Spanish language course in Spain
4. Get my a scuba diving certification
5. Learn how to drive a Vespa
6. Take a wine tasting course
7. Learn how to dye yarn
8. Learn more about buddhism
9. Research travel photography and writing (Bought a reference book on travel writing that I need to read now
10. Take skiing lessons in the alps
11. Learn 5 Photoshop tricks

Reading (59/101)

1. Go to 3 book readings
2. Read 6 classics and 5 works pre- 1950
3. Read a banned book, a booker book, a pulitzer prize book
4. Read the Tao Te Ching
5. Read 3 biographies per year (Finished Ms. Parker- one down for this year two to go)
6. Enter all my books into Library Thing
   

Creativity (69/101)

1. Design my blog (Working on finalising the banner font as I type)
2. Do a photographic travel/documentary project
3. Knit three sweaters for myself (Sweater #1: Finished the sleeves, and the back, this weekend I will probably start a front)
4. Document all my yarn stash (when that one box from Paris gets here… the accounting will be had!)
5. Print 10 of my photos for framing and hanging
6. Keep a film and book list
7. Sell 5 photos
8. Participate in Sunday scribbles
9. Go to the cinema once a month
10. Make a quotes book

Gastronomy (74/101)

1. Go berry picking
2. Eat at 12 new restaurants- one three star
3. Try one new recipe a month
4. Throw a dinner party for 8 friends
5. Try 6 new foods and 6 foods I “dont like” (I tried tofu, had never tried it before and it was eh- 5 new foods left to go)

Career (77/101)

1. Take GRE Course and Exam (1350 score goal)
2. Apply to 10 PhD programmes
3. Work on creating a career path

Do (101/101)

1. Go galopping on a horse out in the free range
2. Participate in some volunteer/public service project (maybe dealing with sexual health or at a soup kitchen)
3. Go canoeing in Central Park
4. Watch one classic movie per month
5. Go to a live music festival
6. Go to Shakespeare in the Park (saw Macbeth at BAM- really really good though!)
7. Meditate for 5 minutes 3 times a week
8. Purge my wardrobe (of at least 30%) (does getting rid of 30% of the clothes I had in the box in storage count??
9. Attend a meditation retreat (5+ days)
10. Go snowshoeing
11. Get rid of 101 things
12. Consolidate and reduce my storage needs and use
13. Go to the HCB museum in Paris (GRRRR Next time I am in town their hours will not confound me!!)
14. Reduce my carbon footprint (by 10-20%)
15. Donate “one meal out” per month to a Food Bank
16. Spend 5 minutes daily in total silence and inactivity for a month
17. Visit my grandmother and father’s graves and take flowers
18. Go to an outdoor movie
19. Live in a new city in 1001 days
20. Hang my mirror, shelves and frames
21. Trace my Irish geneology
22. See a broadway play (well I saw a play at Bam but that doesn’t really count, still it was Patrick Stewart as Macbeth and was very good!)
23. Preserve my family photos
24. Go to a museum once every other month (I went to the Glypotek in Copenhagen, and the Round Tower if you consider that a museum too

 

Pog Mo Thoin

 

Writing is a muscle that when not used atrophies. And as a creature of habit, I am still working on trying to settle in and settle up my life, including trying to incorporate writing/blogging/finding my voice again back into it. So for the mean time you get my random drivel… and know that the blog redesign it be a coming to a theater near you! Soon

I have to laugh my arse off  at my day today… and while it isn’t exactly a NO TINK ONLY YOU story, it made me giggle so I figured I’d pass it on to all two people who stumble across this page.

I have been a special bit of a cheeky thing one might say this week… not that this is to be surprising. For all who think I have even an ounce of Pollyanna in me they are quickly and sharply reminded that I am much more like Mrs. Parker (Dorothy Parker that is) than anyone else. And I have no inhibitions about showing my cheek either.

This morning in my commute through the snow (wheee there is white stuff and it has stuck!) I had my head down to the stone and all. Trudging along grudgingly, I am most certainly not a morning person, I was walking along trying to avoid the sludge… and ALMOST at my office. So as I am crossing the last street, on a green walk light no less- said the jaybird… this diplomatic plated car aims to play bumper cars with my lower half. In my refreshing and ever so Pollyanna-ish way, and reminiscent of an altercation that me and an RATP bus once had, I hit the hood of the car and shouted WATCH IT, GREEN LIGHT! And then proceeded to notice that the diplomatic plated car, it happened to belong to the Irish Permanent Representative (whom I know and have had drinks with). There goes my chances of cajoling a futzing of an Irish passport for me…

As a funny yet related aside at every international organisation I work for I some how end up friendly with the Irish delegations. And everyone in the Irish delegations and that I encounter from ministries etc are 90 PROOF LIQUOR POSITIVE I am Irish. As in they think they know my family is from so and so county in Ireland and did I go to UCD or not Irish. I have had one or two of them call me an outright liar when I have told them that while I have the origins and the ability to say “Pog mo thoin”effectively (kiss my arse in Gaelic), it is unfortunate and as much as I would like to say to the contrary, I am not in possession of that passport. My story is that I enunciate, there is a different cadence to my speech (probably as Spanish was my first language and I do have an ear for language and dialects) and thanks to Grandpa Jack in my wee years of linguistic development, I pronounce a few things in a distinctly Irish manner, including the word Irish. That and my looks which are 120% from my Da’s side of the family scream Irish like no other banshee you have heard.

But what really made me laugh myself through lunch was the contrasting hilarity of having a Mongolian colleague of mine get back to me on some of the “Chinese” Lunar New Year things regarding myself. One of the pages was a Wikipedia one… which had this apropos quote “The person born in the year of snake is the wisest and most enchanting of all. He or she can become an Ambassador, a Mediator…” Yeah those bodies on the floor- them be anyone who knows me… and those aren’t convulsions those are fits of uncontrollable laughter.

Coming up next photos of a finished Clapotis in need of a blocking, the swatch erm… sleeve I have been knitting up for the Minimalist Cardigan (must order rest of yarn tonight!) and my entrance into the year 2008 thanks to a very nice friend

 

Seasons Greetings

Despite all the things that have happened this season to turn me into scrooge (including much twitching and utterances of BAH HUMBUG) there is much to be grateful for… much I need to be reminded of.

And if nothing else there is anxiety knitting that will see an FO in my next post.

I raise a glass of good cheer to you all!