The List

The new and improved (or at least extended) list of thirty-three things before my thirty-third birthday in December 2015, with occasional updates.  For the explanatory post, see here.

1. Learn to use a sextant.

2. Memorise twelve poems by heart.

3. Read the complete works of Shakespeare.  I’ve been working on this on my travels — so far I’ve been stuck on Henry VI for three months.

4. Read the complete works of Plato.

5. Learn to tie twelve knots.

6. Cook Pad Thai from scratch.

7. Make pasta from scratch. On: 3rd December 2011.

8. Learn to make five really good cocktails, including martinis, Pimm’s Cup, and kir.

9. Play my flute in public. On: 18th December 2011.

10. Walk every street in the Halifax peninsula and across the two bridges. The bridges: on 21st July 2012.

11. Walk out of Halifax (and back). Out of town: on 10th November 2012.

12. Take each Halifax Transit bus to the end of its line.  Also take the ferry.

13. Make bagels from scratch. On: 7th June 2012.

14. Learn the major northern constellations and their primary stars’ names, and go star gazing one night to pick them out. Star gazing: on 10th August 2012.

15. Learn twelve useful and interesting things to do with a handkerchief.

16. Learn twelve interesting ways of wearing my hair and actually do them. I still haven’t quite got the hang of the herringbone braid, but I have been trying more options.

17. Become able to do 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and skip rope 100 times.  In case you are curious, I am starting very close to 0. (Update for January 2014: I’m still pretty much at 0 for most of them, but I now know I can walk 1000 km!!  And I’m much stronger in the thighs, so my squats are improving.)

18. Write one letter and one thank-you card each week.

19. Read all the books on one bookcase.

20. Read my writing aloud in public. To my colleagues and students, no less! On 11th October 2012.

21. Learn how to do a cartwheel.

22. Design and make a stained glass lamp. Edited to be: Audition for a choir. Completed 17th September 2012.

23. Make a tapestry (either woven or needlepoint) cover for my footstool. I did this for Christmas 2012, but seem not to have written about it as it was a Christmas present for my mother. Here’s the pictorial proof:

24. Learn to play two recognizable songs on the piano.

25. Read all of Montaigne’s Essays in French.

26. Improve my Latin fluency.

27. Read all of the Divine Comedy in Italian.

28. Write for a full hour every day.

29. Make phyllo pastry from scratch.

30. Host a movable dinner party.

31. Walk across a country. Completed 10th November 2013 — England from the Scottish Border to the English Channel! (I’ll put up a link once I’ve finished writing about this.)

32. Publish a book.

33. Write one hundred short stories.  (I’m starting with one — it’s currently on submission.)

 

*(The original list of the thirty things)