izmeina: a snippet of Escher's circle of serpents (Default)
izmeina ([personal profile] izmeina) wrote2009-05-25 10:00 am
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The Izzie List - Two Years On

It's that time of year again. Time to dust off the list and see what has been done and remains to be done

Also time to get out the pruning shears to remove the clutter of completed items

101 Things in 1001 Days




Lurking in the Lair 4/12

5.Create a Circle Mandala garden (07/07/07 laid sawdust on some of the paths)
7.Grow 12 varieties of poisonous plants
Wormwood
The wolfsbane seeds are still sitting in the freezer waiting for winter
Planted them for the new moon in July but the little critters are either very dead or still snoozing
11.Find a way of getting the essential oils out of oranges and eucalyptus
12.Lure galahs and corellas to lurk around the Lair

Out and about 5/12

14.Visit One Tree Hill (Orcland) at Full Moon
15.Organize itinery for 2010 Grand European Tour
16.Visit Tasmania
20.Go whale watching in Albany
21.Stay overnight at Rotto

Goblin Business 8/12

25.Do the Izzie taxes online (taxes done and big juicy refund cheque arrived but not online so it doesn't count)
Last week (24 October 2008) finally went to the ATO website to download their evil software but met an unexpected obstacle. So unless the idiots at the Evil Empire bring in Mac friendly software between now and October 2009 this one rates as a big FAIL.
26.Finish CV
27.Apply for 12 jobs
28.Start Chartered Accountant registration and study
30.Pay $40,000 off house (It's probably 25,000 at this stage. Needs to find a statement from back in May 2007 to see the progress on this one)
31.Write a will (a total disaster on the procrastination front)
32.Finish making Snowflake Bear
33.Buy 4 bookcases (7th August 1 bookcase as a present ... 1/4)

Geekish Things 8/12

37.Find and learn five free open source software programs
1 Stellarium Jan to June 2009
2 Google Docs November 2009
38.Learn Linux basics
Got the software 06/06/09. Now it is just a case of practice makes perfect
39.Get a new Preciousss ( we don't really need one but we wants one)06/06/09
This so very nearly ended up in the Decadent, Unnecessary and Unaffordable Luxury Basket until a bit of lateral thinking led Izzie down another path

40.Back up important files at least once per month (last complete backup 11th June 2008)
(last backup of document files and new music files - 8th August 2008)
(last baby backup 30th December 2008)
(last complete backup 16th January 2009)
(last baby backup 3rd April 2009)
(last complete backup 7th July 2009)
(last complete backup 5th January 2010)
Just installed Time Machine so back ups are now never more than a click away and a handful of the latest files instead of the whole 20 something GB each time. 12/02/2010

41.Learn to use a graphics tablet
(29/05/09 Installed software and played around with pen. Still trying to work out how to save our squiggles)
(30/05/09 Worked out how to operate the tablet and paint programs. Now it's just a case of practice makes perfect)

42.Sort out and watch DVD collection
(Got them all in the one place but not watched any of them yet .... 31st August 2007)
43.Sort and put all computer related stuff in one place The presence of the Big Mac is excellent motivation for this particular goal
44.Find 101 nice things to say about Bill Gates
45.Invent an alphabet
(06/06/08 Chosen which sounds/letters to include. Next step is choosing the order before finally turning to the main game which is inventing the squiggly bits)
46.Translate the numbers from 0-144 in an Izzie invented language
47.Translate the Babel text also
48.Design a font

Bookish Bits 10/12

49.Reread "Gödel, Escher, Bach"
51.Reread “1984”
52.Read the Potter series again from start to finish
(Philosopher's Stone - 27/11/07 to 07/12/07)
(Chamber of Secrets 08/12/07 to 31/12/07)
(Prisoner of Azkaban 02/01/08 to 06/02/08)
(Goblet of Fire 07/02/0 to 06/06/08)
(Order of the Phoenix 21/06/08 to 31/05/09)
(The Half Blood Prince 19/06/09 to 04/09/09)
(Deathly Hallows 02/02/10 to 31/01/10)

53.Read "Lord of the Rings" from start to finish without skipping all the boring bits
54.Read “This Perfect Day”
55.See all the Matrix movies
56.Read 12 science fiction/fantasy novels (1 March 2009........3/12)
1- Dante's Equation - Jane Jensen ... finished 7 June 2007
2 The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho 22/02/09 Abominable and appallingly awful
3 Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury 01/03/09
4 Time Machines repaired while u wait - K A Bedford 09/12/09
5 Tales of Beedle the Bard J K Rowling 31/01/10
6 Artemis Fowl Eoin Colfer 05/02/10
57.Read “M C Escher – Visions of Symmetry”
58.Finish reading “Against the Gods”
(18/04/09) Finally picked up where we left off many moons ago)
59.Learn to make handmade paper
60.Make at least one handbound book from scratch – paper and all
(18/06/09 Got stuff in a 30% off sale for cutting, punching and doing all sorts of crafty things with paper and leather. But not yet practised covering a book)


Sybil Says 5/12

62.Recognize 12 or more (Zodiac) Constellations
(1 Scorpio 28 May 2007 ..... 1/12)
(2 Saggitarius 27 May 2008 ...... 2/12)
(3 Libra 6th June 2008 ..... 3/12)
(4 Virgo 2nd July 2008 ...... 4/12)
(5 Capricorn 6th August 2008 5/12)
(6 Aries 31st October 2008 6/12)
(7 Taurus 31st October 2008 7/12)
(8 Cancer 1st November 2008 8/12)
(9 Gemini 27th January 2009 9/12)
(10 Leo 3rd March 2009 10/12)
65.Design a tarot deck
(The Queen of Cats has sent Izzie the most seriously snaky sourcebook of ideas ever 29/05/08)
(Got several blank card decks each with 100 cards 06/12/08)
(General ideas for each suit and rough drefts for the first and last of the 22 Major Arcana 22/01/09)
Wrote a Tarot novel with each chapter based on the Major Arcana and random cards for generating plot but it doesn't quite count :(
66.Learn the properties of the SEP field
67.Learn to use it and other protective shields
(Desperately seeking such useful devices since the latest dementors' visit this week 16-20 March 2009. Found some good stuff and it is now a case of learning and using it)
Learning is one thing and lots of practice is quite another! Sometimes there's phases of dedication and concentration and useful results and other times total laziness and lack of work outs.

68.Do the 13 steps in Leslie Kenton's “Journey to Freedom”
69.Do 3 random acts of kindness each day for 101 days straight
71.Reread the Izzie green spiral notebooks from 2002
(02/01/08 Started with January 2002 and gradually got to the end)


Serpent Snacks 5/12

76.Find and make 10 recipes with chickpeas
(2nd August 2007 Chickpea curry 1/10)
(12th February 2008 another improvised curry 2/10)
(17th July 2008 Chickpea and Tomato stew 3/10)
(8th September 2008 Hummous and felafel 5/10)
(6th March 2009 Moroccan spiced chickpeas 6/10)
(27th April 2009 Cabbage and red chickpea stew 7/10)
77.Learn how to cook at least 10 Juicy Beetroot Cafe dishes
(21st January 2009 split pea dhal 1/10)
(3rd February 2009 pasta salad 2/10)
(15th May 2009 cauliflower cheese 3/10)
80.Make dark chocolate moon truffles
82.Make garlic soup
83.Make DIY Dukkah and Zaatar

Odds and ends 4/12

85.Adopt a Buchling (or even better - Become One)
(Buchlings are utterly adorable one eyed creatures obsessed with books who dedicate themselves to one writer and learn all their works word for word. We thinks that Anthony De Mello or Douglas Hofstadter are the most likely candidates for adoption)
89.Master the Dark Art of Feng Shui Sabotage
(Been reading some very interesting books about Feng Shui itself. Some silly and some sensible. But the motive for this goal no longer exists as the bitch who inspired it is no longer boss at our day job)
91.Make a frog pond
93.Design a quilt (bought a gorgeous quilt book from a second hand book sale 13/10/07)

The Final Five 3/5

97.Begin a business from home (06/07/07 obtained a home business guide book from small business centre)
98.Sort out our munchies hoarding problem
(January 2008 20 days of not buying munchies)
(February 2008 13 No munchies days)
(March 2008 19 No munchies days)
(April 2008 15 No munchies days)
(May 2008 20 No munchies days)
(June 2008 18 No munchies days)
Got the rest of them listed until the end of December but will post the numbers some other time

100.Find five things to be thankful for each day
101.Finish everything on this list
Not finished but replacing with something more realistic, specific, measurable and useful
100 Keep credit card balance under $$600
(In the black since 15th August)
(No longer in the black but still well under $$600 03/11/08)
(Finally back in the black and intending to stay that way 17/12/08)
(Still back in the black. So far so good 21/03/09)
(The goblins are still in their box. It's becoming a habit 01/05/09)
Izzie's been bad bad bad. The winter weeds and the water tank have blown this goal for the last three weeks 13/06/09
Izzie has now got into the very good habit of topping up with around $$300 per pay which means the evil plastic is now all shiny and in the black and is an unofficial sort of savings account

Latest update 01/02/10 Not only is the balance now under $600 for more than a year but has actually been in the black for nearly all of that time - except the disaster week with the Big Mac, plumbers bills and new gas water heater. Is now back in the black since 8th January and staying that way

101 Do one Livemocha lesson per week
(most recent lesson 10/06/08)
Guess this last one counts as a complete and total FAIL

Last edit Friday 12th February 2010

[identity profile] patentdragon.livejournal.com 2010-02-20 05:26 pm (UTC)(link)
The link in the notes for your task 67 may have given me some useful pointers for my task #5 - love some of your more bizarre tasks! Good luck with the rest of it!

[identity profile] izmeina.livejournal.com 2010-02-24 12:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Hope those exercises turn out to be useful. But Saizai is just an entree. For a feast of ideas - here is some amazing chaos (http://books.google.com.au/books?id=k7_U6HOBYXsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=hands+on+chaos+magic&source=bl&ots=qluDq-iIBx&sig=lRTZ_SqZ-8lCJmKlkRr5FlAZSes&hl=en&ei=rBqFS-OYBM-gkQX25uSfAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=&f=false)

In the end, only completed 48 of the 101 things on the list. Friday just gone was the last of the 1001 days. But there's no rules saying you can not do a new list.