Fat Tuesday

I've never been quite sure how I feel about lent.  I didn't grow up celebrating it, and even when I did participate I never really got much from it.  I find that there's something terrifying about finding something you would be willing to give up for a month.  To be honest, I still only loosely grasp the idea behind it, but I'm going to take a whack at it nonetheless.  Besides, this will also fulfill my 21 Before 21 goal of going a month without mirrors.  And then I'll do my learning makeup to do on, or immediately following, Easter.  I do like that I have a plan for it.

In any case, this is the last self-portrait in a mirror for a while, and then a picture of the mirror all covered up.  I want to make that vast expanse of white prettier, but we'll see if I get around to it.

In other news, my sister is on her way to my apartment from the airport.  Yay!

Right Now...

excited for the retreat I'm going on.  I get to use my new backpack to pack.  There's a pool at the place we're staying.

glad to be back in a routine.

really liking my paper topics.  Plural.  Because I somehow wound up with three writing intensive classes this semester.

looking forward to my sister coming to town next week.  We're going to have a blast.

going to sleep earlier.

needing to stop worrying about German.  I feel like I'm not learning it, but all the work I'm getting back and such seem to be decent.  Not fluent, but why should I be, I've only just begun.

started the 100 Push-up Challenge.  Not too hard so far, but looking ahead scares me.

A Proper Dinner?

I have been wanting to have a proper dinner party for a while.  It's even on my 21 Before 21 list.  I don't really consider this a proper dinner party.  There were no invitations.  There were no RSVPs, but it was a sit down meal which is a step in the right direction.

There are no people in these pictures, but there were people there I promise.  I'm just not sure that the people who were there would like me to post their pictures.  I know them, but they are more Emma's friends than mine.  Sort of.  But we don't have to get into my whole I don't really know who is my friend in college issues, that seems like a post for another time.

21 Before 21: Skipping Class and Going Out for Breakfast

I decided that the more important part of this task was the going out to breakfast, and not necessarily skipping class.  My roommate and I went out for breakfast before our Wednesday class last semester.  I didn't take any pictures, but my roommate did.  They are on her blog, HERE.

It was fun to be able to get out bright and early.  I haven't had a meal like that in a long time, and probably wont have another in an even longer time.  I used to go out to breakfast with my dad every other Saturday (I would switch off with my sister), but that tradition has collapsed with our move to San Francisco, and the new tradition of going to the Farmer's Market for breakfast.  Don't get me wrong, I love that tradition too.  I just don't get diner food as often anymore.  Now that I think about it, that might not be a bad thing.

21 Before 21: Finish a Knitting Project

Wearing my new scarf.  Scraggly ends and all.

I've been taught how to knit before.  That's why I wanted to finally finish something, I think it was sad that I'd never finished a project.  In some ways I knew this would be an easier goal.  Not only was it fairly easy, but it was really, really fun!  Once I figured it out I could watch TV and knit at the same time which was great because I always feel a little lazy if I'm sitting just watching TV if I'm not super invested in the plot (which lets face it, is often, but not often enough).

One thing I was really surprised with was the conversations that took place while I was knitting.  For some reason a college kid pulling out a half-knit scarf really throws people and can easily wind up in a philosophical discussion about women's roles, religion, or Amish people.  Interesting.

21 Before 21: The List

This will be an everlaaaaaasting love.  Oh wait, no.  This will be the post where I finally say my list of 21 before 21.  Twenty-one things I want to do before I turn twenty-one.  I've sort of kidnapped this idea from Sarah Von of Yes and Yes, so I always feel like I should give credit whenever I talk about it.  Go check out her blog, it's kind of one of the reasons I started a real blog.

Anywho.  21 Before 21 is my way of doing New Years Resolutions.  Some are more resolute-y than others, but the general idea is to get a bunch of stuff done throughout the year.  Since I have a September birthday it's also a great way of setting goals for the school year.  Well then, without further ado:

1. Read the whole bible
2. Go to a clothing swap
3. Vote
4. Create a Cookbook of Rachel
5. Start and complete a knitting project
6. Do a lead climb
7. Go snowboarding with friends
8. Go scuba diving
9. Bake Bread
10. Have a real sit-down dinner party
11. Plant a mini herb garden
12. Learn how to apply make-up
13. 100 push-up challenge
14. Improve my typing speed (I'm at around 60 wpm, and I think it's be really cool to get up to 80 or so)
15. Dye my hair with Kool-Aid
16. Go paint balling
17. Get my fortune told
18. Go for a month without looking in the mirror
19. Skip class and go out to breakfast
20. Go camping
21. * <edit> Buy Christmas presents with money saved </edit>

The last one is an asterisk because I actually still don't know what it's going to be.  No clue, which is a little irritating to me.  Everything I think of is too simple or completely impossible.  Maybe it should be a reading one, but I wouldn't know what book (to be honest, the "grown-up" section of the library scares me a bit).**

So, there's the list.  I haven't really done anything yet other than start a bible reading plan that will get me through the whole thing (awesome).  I have some recipes collected, some people in mind for a dinner party, and a connection to go diving, but other than that... Let's do this.

<edited to add>I'm adding "Buy Christmas presents for immediate family with money saved" to the list.  In past years I've always gone to get Christmas presents for people with my parents and they they would pay for the gifts.  This year I'm going to buy gifts for immediate family and some friends with my own money.  I've already started looking, and it's turning out to be a little harder than I thought.  But no matter, I'm pretty determined about this one.</edit>

20 Before 20: A Disappointing Wrap-Up

As many of you know it was a goal of mine to attempt 20 new things before my 20th birthday.  Sadly my birthday has come and gone, and half the list goes undone.  I hold out hope for next year though as I am putting the finishing touches on the 21 Before 21 list, and putting in place plans to actually go do the things on the list.  Yeah.  Anywho, here goes; the list of 20 things that were done or not done by my 20th birthday.


1.  Have a fancy tea party.  Not done, but I threw one for my old roommate's birthday which was immediately after mine.  Counts?
2.  Try out a crown braid.  DONE.  Has become a near-staple.
3.  Knit a hat. Not done, learning this winter from Elspeth.
4.  Bake a pie.  DONE.
5.  Read the whole bible.  Not done, on the list for next year and already working on it.
6.  Sew a pair of pants.  DONE.  Sort of, shorts count.
7.  Grow a herb garden.  Not done.
8.  Go on a hike.  DONE
9.  Go to a real concert.  DONE
10.Learn to navigate by bike  DONE
11.Send a care package.  Not done.
12.Organize a clothing swap.  Not done.
13.Learn to apply make-up.  Not done.
14.Be in a performance.  DONE  Sort of.
15.Go to a Critical Mass ride.  Not done.
16.Teach myself to play a song on the piano.  Not done
17.Post poetry online.  DONE
18.Skip class and go out to breakfast.  Not done.
19.Try yoga.  DONE
20.Go camping.  Not done.


Total things done: 9
Total things not done: 11
Things from this year on next years list: 7


Next week look for my new list of 21 Before 21.

20 Before 20: Learn to Navigate by Bike

I set out at the begining of the summer with this as my goal. What I lreaned: there's really not much to it. I already knew how to ride a bike, and since I have a drivers license (in two states even), I know the rules of the road. Really all it took to navigate by bike was combining the two together. There were some things that I did learn over this summer of spuratic bike riding though in San Francisco, Montreal, and Chicago. These are the rules I try to follow when I ride.

1. Comunicate. This is sort of a blanket rule that I think a lot of things can be squished in to. Motion to drivers when you're going to be going into their lane. Shout that you're about to pass another biker. Make eye contact with drivers, pedestrians, anyone who's path you may cross who you want to make sure they know you're there, try to make eye contact. Smile and say hello to people who can hear you. Just for fun.
2. Lock it up. Properly. Get a big old hefty U-lock. Find either a bike rack or a tall pole to tie your bike to. If you choose to lock it to a parking meter then the more power to you, but be sure that your lock dosen't allow the bike to be lifted over the meter (learned that one the hard way. When you lock up the bike you want to make sure that both the frame of the bike and the front tire are included with the lock. If you know how, then for extra protection you can pop the front tire off the bike and then lock that, the back tire and the bike frame to the rack/pole. I've found that back wheels are much more difficult to take off and are less prone to being stolen.
3. Put your phone/keys/other things likely to fall out of your pocket in your bag. There's nothing worse than your phone falling out of your pocket while you're riding down a busy street. I've had it happen to me a few times, and while nothing's broken yet, it's still very inconvenient. Backtracking means you loose momentum and time. No one wants that.
4. Know where you're going. I think this may be the most important thing of all. You do not want to be stopping in the middle of traffic to try and figure out if you're supposed to turn or go straight. You don't want to find out at the last second that you were supposed to be turning left up here, and should have gotten in the turn lane half a block back. If I'm going someplace I've never been I study the map carefully and then draw my route on a post it and stick it to the handlebar for reference. Works every time.

Those are the rules I go by though I'm sure there are others. I've also just gotten a bike check up which has helped my bike emencely. My new favorite thing, now that I'm riding fairly regularly in Chicago, is riding under the El. When I come to a stop light I use the El support beams for balance so that I don't even have to put my feet on the ground. It's like a game for me. Riding over the Chicago River is fun too. A lot of the bridges have only grates as the street over the river so you can look straight down into the water.

20 Before 20: Take a Hike

This one was so easy, but it took so long for me to get around to it I was almost afraid it wouldn't get done.  My parent's are going to climb half dome at the end of the summer and in preparation Mom and I have been going on hikes.  Sort of.  So far we've only gone on two.  Better than none though.

In looking more and more at the number of posts that I have to do for my 20 Before 20 project I'm realizing that I'm not going to be able to write a post on all of them before my birthday (September 13) without feeling crowded.  So, I'm going to choose some of the best ones that I've done and then the rest will be summarized in a larger post closer to my birthday.  There will be a handful that don't get done which will be the basis for my 21 Before 21 list that I've already started writing.

20 Before 20: Go to a Real Concert

Let me first say that I am slightly embarrassed that I am almost 20 years old and have only recently been to my first real concert.  My dad may contest with this, but somehow going to a concert with your parents don't feel "real" even if it is a Van Morrison concert (it was great, just didn't seem quite right).  I feel like this should have happened ions ago.  I should have been sneaking out at night to go to concerts that my parents didn't want me to see and paying far too much money for crappy seats where I couldn't see anything.  I guess I just didn't have that kind of a childhood.

I did however, go to what I feel was a real concert this past April.  A friend of mine who used to go to a school right outside of Chicago called me saying I should come and visit her for the concert her school was having.  I agreed somewhat reluctantly as I had just spent all day on a shoot for my final project.  All I wanted to do was fall down and collapse into bed, but I decided to say yes anyway.  Funny that what I feel was my first real concert almost didn't even happen.  Hmmm.

Anyway, I got on the train and texted her saying I was on my way.  Her imediate reply was "Yeah!  Plain White T's!!!"  Wuht?  I was so excited that I didn't even remember how tired I had been only moments before.  I was going to see a real band at a real concert!  It got even better.  After a shady walk to her school's campus as I half stalked a guy to be sure I was going the right way, I found out the concert was free!!!  How much better could it get?

The concert was awesome!  We squished in to get as close as we could to the stage.  We cheered.  We sang as loud as we could and still couldn't hear ourselves.  We drooled over concert t-shirts and sweatshirts we couldn't afford, and then stopped each other from buying them.

Near the end of the show Tom Higgenson left the stage.  Everyone was so confused.  We knew it wasn't over yet, he had promised us Hey There Delilah.  We stood there, breathing down the backs of each other's necks, wondering what he would come back with and why he left while the band kept playing.  All of the sudden there's a spotlight behind us and he is standing on a chair by the audio board saying, "Come on over here and we'll sing Delilah."  It was incredible.  Instead of him singing Hey There Delilah he played guitar while the crowd sang.  So awesome.

At the end of the night I left with a few photos (not the best quality, sorry about that) and an awesome memory.  Even though I was exhausted I had trouble falling asleep because I was so hyped up.  All in all definitely worth it (I would have paid money for it too, but free was even better).  I can't wait for my next concert.  Hopefully then I'll be a little more prepared.

__ Before __

So, I'm not even sure when I started writing a list of __ before __.  Based on where it is in my book of lists (between a list of Nancy Drew Mystery games I've completed and a list of reasons to watch Doctor Who) it probably was around my birthday last year.  Which is logical, why didn't I think of that before?  I definitely made this list after having followed Sarah Von of Yes and Yes fame for a while.

Without further ado, my list of 20 Before 20:
1.  Have a fancy tea party.
2.  Try out a crown braid.
3.  Knit a hat.
4.  Bake a pie.
5.  Read the whole bible.
6.  Sew a pair of pants.
7.  Grow a herb garden.
8.  Go on a hike.
9.  Go to a real concert.
10.Learn to navigate by bike
11.Send a care package.
12.Organize a clothing swap.
13.Learn to apply make-up.
14.Be in a performance.
15.Go to a Critical Mass ride.
16.Teach myself to play a song on the piano.
17.Post poetry online.
18.Skip class and go out to breakfast.
19.Try yoga.
20.Go camping.

I'll admit that not everything is exactly new.  But there are some things on my list that I haven't done in a long time and really want to get back to.  Some are more long term goals that I made more of a conscious effort to reach over the year (my birthday is in September).  So, for the rest of the summer I will be occationally posting on the things from this list that I've done (and some that I haven't).  There is still half of the list to do and I'm running out of time, so I know that not everything will get done.  The things that I don't complete will be my basis for next years list.