101 Things — The Final List

Here's my final 101 Things list. I'm really excited about getting started! [Crossed out items are completed.]

Guitar & Songwriting
1. Finish recording 1st CD
2. Get CD mixed and mastered
3. Design CD sleeve
4. Get CD photographs taken
5. Get CD duplicated at Oasis
6. Plan a CD release party
7. Play at least six full gigs
8. Play at least 12 open mics
9. Sell at least 100 CDs
10. Program at least one drum track with keyboard/Reason
11. Finalize songs for 2nd CD
12. Write 15 new songs for 3rd CD [7]
13. Write a song in a different tuning (2/28/07)
14. Visit a Hudson Valley open mic
15. Attend a new songwriting camp
16. Attend NERFA
17. Get guitar professionally set up
18. Work through my set of voice lesson CDs
19. Build a proper personal Web site

Work
20. Update portfolio and get new case
21. Sort design samples in file cabinet
22. Find new job 2/19/08
23. Decorate new office
24. Buy a proper work wardrobe
25. Learn enough Flash to use in Web site
26. Get to work on time for two consecutive weeks

Fitness/Wellness
27. Visit YMCA at least 35 times in 3 months
28. Do weight-training 3x/wk. for 8 weeks straight
29. Lose at least 30 lbs. (started 1/1/07)
30. Keep the weight off for 6 months
31. Lose another 30 lbs.
32. Keep the weight off for 6 months
33. Run a 5K
34. Run a 10K
35. Get a comprehensive physical (1/26/07)
36. Take another yoga class
37. Try a spinning class
38. Get to bed by 11, up by 6:30, 14 straight days
39. Quit caffeine completely for 3 months
40. Floss every day for 14 days
41. No TV at all for a week

Family
42. Call Jim in California 3 times
43. Take Matt somewhere fun (NYC?)
44. Complete a recording of one of Matt’s songs
45. Do something special for Mom

Love & Friendship
46. Try speed dating
47. Join online dating site
48. Try Contemporary Singles (1/17/07)
49. Speak with Y
50. Find a girlfriend
51. Try Number 5
52. Have G&D over to my house
53. Have K&J over to my house
54. Host a songwriters’ get-together
55. Exchange visits w/RB, BW, JR

Home
56. Buy living room furniture
57. Fix (or get fixed) bathroom
58. Organize bedroom closet
59. Clean out kitchen cupboards/fridge
60. Sort and discard/sell old magazines
61. Get and use safe deposit box
62. Replace entertainment center/TV
63. Shampoo carpets
64. Repair and clean window treatments
65. Clean garage
66. Repair/reseal driveway
67. Trim hedges and mulch bushes
68. Remove flower garden
69. Fix and clean gutters
70. Touch-up paint front door
71. Get deck painted
72. Clean dryer vent
73. Sell, donate, or throw away 101 items [10]
74. Decorate the house for Christmas

Reading & Writing
75. Edit novel so I can show it to people
76. Find someone to read it
77. Write another NaNoNovel
78. Take a college writing class
79. Write three new short stories
80. Submit stories (or novel) to three publications
81. Find a good list of classic novels
82. Read 10 novels from that list
83. Read 101 books
84. Organize bookshelves

Finances
85. Reallocate 401k
86. Refinance or move
87. Go 14 straight days without eating out
88. Photograph my stuff for insurance purposes

Other
89. Go on vacation outside the Northeast
90. Walk Max for 20 minutes, 14 straight days
91. Take Max to a dog park
92. Take Max on a vacation
93. See a NY Jets football game
94. Spend a day visiting NYC museums
95. Buy a car
96. Volunteer for something

Computer
97. Organize iTunes completely
98. Overhaul backup system
99. Archive backups in safe deposit box
100. Keep track of progress on this list
101. Make a new list when this one ends

Prepping for 101

Just two days left in the year — two days to finish off all the high-calorie food in the house! Tomorrow I'll shop for healthy groceries, and try to make plans for the new fitness regime. That's priority one, and I'll probably be at the YMCA all next week, along with everyone else.

I need to get back into the CD project. I'd hoped to do it this week while on vacation, but have been putting it off, waiting for…what?…a day when I'm feeling confident and ambitious? Like that's ever going to happen! I need to put together a drum track for the title song. That's been frustrating me for months, and I think I finally have a set of loops that will work.

Happy New Year to all my friends and fellow 101ers!

iPod Madness

I celebrated my success at NaNoNovel by buying an iPod. It's the 80GB model, big enough to hold my entire CD collection. I love the idea of having all my music organized and always on hand, but, boy, it's a pain ripping all those CDs. It's hard to get anything else done when you're swapping discs every 10 minutes! It's been almost a week, and I'm only up to the Ds!

It is cool, though, to be able to have everything in a searchable database, and to be able to set up smart playlists that will shuffle just the recent additions, or only top-rated songs, or all my Summersongs friends' CDs. And nothing goes out of circulation, stuck on a dusty shelf and unplayed.

I love the iPod, but it's extremely prone to scratching. I'm afraid to even touch it! I researched cases, bought one that didn't really work, took it back and got another. That one stinks too. Without a case, though, it'll be all marked up in no time. The iPod is so cool and small by itself. Cases just make it less so. Maybe I should add that to my 101 Things list — shop for a better case. That would be an easy task to take care of!

NaNoNowWhat?

The NaNoNovel's done and put away. I somehow managed to get to 75,000 words. (It helps to have someone to chase — I had two buddies who managed well over 100,000.) Now I've set it aside, and am in no hurry to get into the editing. The story's full of holes. I have to remember, first drafts are supposed to stink!

I miss the writing though. What's going to take its place? More work on the CD? It would be nice to have that done and duplicated in time for Wintersongs (February), but Summersongs (August) is much more reasonable. I'm desperate to get it finished, so I can get started on the next one.

I'm thinking about trying 101 things in 1001 days. It's like a New Year's Resolution list on steroids. Right now I'm working on the list itself, and 101 items is a lot. So far I've got about 80. Of course, making the list, sitting on the sofa, is fun. Doing the tasks on the list is going to be a lot more like work!

If it'll get me off the couch…