Obviously, I need to change #93

Okay, so I'm changing #93 to Kak's suggestion...

Learn to make bah-nah-nah bread.

What is the point of having a blog anyway? I am in the process of weaning myself off of Facebook for awhile and that has got me thinking about all the ways I am connected to other people via the internet. Hands down, my favorite thing about Facebook is the photo albums. I like sharing my pictures and looking at other people's albums. Also I like playing WordTwist, which is like the online game TextTwist except you get to play against your friends and I'm competitive so I like that. But right up there with the practical perks of photo sharing and game playing is the fact that I love the status update. Because I want someone to care about me and what I'm doing or how I'm feeling or what kind of day I'm having.

Really, I think it's the same thing with blogging. Why do people blog? People don't blog for themselves... that's called journaling. You know, with a pen filling up pages that nobody else reads until you're dead. People blog because they want other people to read what they write and find it interesting and valuable.

To completely overanalyze all of this, I propose that most internet communication (aside from email which can be likened to the ancient art of writing a letter... although a sad substitute for it... but I won't get on my soapbox)-- Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, blogs-- is really a desperate cry for community. When we post in our Facebook status that we are having a bad day, what we are really saying is, "Someone care about me!"

The injustice of the situation is that it only propagates our culture of increasingly isolated lives. While we lament to our friends via Twitter that we are having the worst day of the century, we ignore our co-worker in the next cubicle. Instead of building relationships with the real flesh-and-bones people surrounding us in any given day, we choose to exist as an internet persona. Is this because being somewhat vulnerable and authentic with those around us is too frightening? What on earth are we afraid of?

I could probably go on endlessly, but I've been up since WAY too early this morning and I'm going to bed.

I have a true fondness for the blogging community I'm a part of (especially because of people like Jules), but now I'm just questioning my motives. I could just say, "I'm cutting out blogging altogether!" but I think that would be silly because I enjoy it very much. But I'm not going to let it be something I hide behind. Every time I feel like updating my Facebook status, I think I'm just going to call someone I consider a friend to talk.

Good point

Okay, the married ladies pointed out that my 1001-day blogging commitment might need to be amended a tad... especially since there will be a wedding and honeymoon going on for me mid-year. Yeah, love you all-- not blogging on my honeymoon. ;)

I'm not sure if I really liked that one anyway. I mean, it's fun to blog. And I always appreciate it when people write more often than not. So I'm debating replacing that one altogether. Hmmm...

I'm thisclose to finishing up LOST Season 4. Only the final two episodes to go and then I'll be caught up for the January 21 premiere. Anybody else out there going to a premiere party? I think some friends of mine are having one where you get to dress up like your favorite character. Who is your favorite LOST character? In the past I was a die-hard Sayid fan, but these days I'm leaning more toward Jin. Although he dies at some point (sorry if that was a spoiler for you) so I probably should just stick with Sayid.

101 in 1001 - starting today!

101 in 1001

The idea is 101 goals to meet/things to do in 1001 days...
1001 days will take me from today, January 10, 2009 to October 9, 2011
(from 23 and single to 26 and married for two years!)

The Key:
Not started
In progress
Accomplished (with date)

1. Get married
   
2. Get my third tattoo after I turn 25
3. Read the Bible all the way through
4. Grow a vegetable garden
5. Send out Christmas cards in 2009 or 2010
6. Learn to live in the secret place
7. Make a habit of reading before bed
8. Buy seasons 2 through 5 of ER
9. Buy some sheet music and practice my reading skills to the point where I feel semi-comfortable sight reading
10. Spend one month eating locally
11. Secret Goal
    
12. Super Secret Goal
    
13. One candlelit and music-filled evening with Joshua
14. Take dance lessons
15. Take a Tai-chi class
16. Get a professional massage
17. Stay at the Grove Park Inn during winter and lounge in front of their cavernous fireplace
18. Visit my cousins
19. Take a trip with Josh to the Outer Banks
20. Walk across the Mile High Bridge at Grandfather Mountain
21. Spend time listening to my grandparents’ stories and write some of them down
22. Be 100% okay with disappointing people
23. Dig for the answers to my spiritual questions, and discover why I’m asking them
24. Secret Goal
    
25. Plan a progressive dinner party
26. Initiate a conversation with a stranger when I don’t feel like it
27. Wear a size four and stay that way
28. Make a habit of thinking differently
29. Quit soda for a year (again)…
30. Get contacts
31. Give away the clothes in my closet that I haven’t worn in over a year
32. Build a bonafide snowman
33. See what’s at the end of the yellow rope in the caves of Rumbling Bald
34. Have an emergency fund built up completely
35. Pay off debt
36. Learn to make biscuits from scratch from Grammy
37. Learn to sew
38. Make a quilt
39. Create a filing system that is actually useful
40. Own the game Settlers of Catan
41. Make a homemade pie
42. Visit the Biltmore Estate when it’s decorated for Christmas, preferably with snow on the ground outside
43. Carry on a Christmas tradition with Joshua
44. Hike up Cold Mountain
45. Run in a race of some sort
46. Ride my bicycle at Bent Creek
47. Hike to Graveyard Falls
48. Pick blueberries at Black Balsam
49. Secret Goal
    
50. Memorize the book of 1 John
51. Visit the Library of Congress
52. Secret Goal
    
53. Spend at least three weeks in Nicaragua
54. Become fluent in Spanish
55. Introduce my sister-in-love to a particular someone who shall not be mentioned here
56. Complete the wedding day chela photo sequence
57. Secret Goal (0/7)
    
58. Read a book of poetry
59. Make spanakopita ten times (0/10)
60. Work out for at least one hour a day for 120 days before my wedding (0/120)
61. Read all of my National Geographic magazines from 2008 (0/28)
62. Super Secret Goal
    
63. Spend a day reading by a waterfall
64. Run 10 miles on the Mountains to the Sea trail
65. Make the most comfortable bed possible for Joshua and I (down feather pillows, down feather mattress pad, high thread count sheets, duvet)
66. Secret Goal (0/143)
    
67. Have a dog
68. Have a cat
69. Travel somewhere by train
70. Have $3,000 saved toward a trip to Europe
71. Secret Goal
    
72. Secret Goal
    
73. Hike to the top of Mount Mitchell
74. Use teeth-whitening strips
75. Exfoliate regularly
76. Secret Goal
    
77. Change my diet to the point where at least 50% of what I put in my mouth is raw
78. Start a collection of board games that could rival Heather Heather’s
79. Practice my guitar at least once a week (0/143)
80. Grow out my hair until these 1001 days are up (excluding trims of up to two inches)
81. Buy a bookshelf
82. Slide down Sliding Rock ten times (0/10)
83. Secret Goal
    
84. Hike up to the top of Looking Glass Rock
85. Hike to the top of the Mount Pisgah Summit when the autumn foliage is at its height
86. Go camping
87. Take a trip with Matt and Breanna
88. Write Deborah an email every week in 2009 (1/52)
89. Try to find Skinny Dip Falls
90. Visit all 14 state parks in Western North Carolina (0/14)
91. Take a trip with Joshua to Highlands/Cashiers, NC and hike as much as possible
92. Read 50 books (0/50)
93. Learn to make banana bread
    
94. Go stargazing with Joshua ten times (0/10)
95. Go to India with Joshua
96. Wear a different necklace every day for two weeks (0/14)
97. Secret Goal
    
98. Make a work of art and send it to K-Smeltz
99. Secret Goal
    
100. Take my sister-in-love on a trip
101. Enjoy every moment of my wedding day