Technicalities, and another book

So, I finished another book for goal 47. Another book that I had started before the 1st (and hence, before my challenge). 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. Really, this is one book broken down into 5 thematic parts (also called books, so this might get a bit confusing), but then contained in 3 physical books. In the first physical book (total of 350 pages), are housed the first 3 thematic books--The Part About the Critics, The Part about Amalfitano, and The Part About Fate. This is the book I just finished, so I'm counting it as one, and then I'll count the other two physical books (housing parts 4 and 5, respectively) as one each as well. I don't think this is cheating, but obviously I wouldn't count War and Peace as more than one book (or Infinite Jest, which is actually on my to read list, for that matter).

So to the story: Ostensibly, 2666 centers around a series of murders that take place in Santa Teresa, a small town just across the Mexican boarder. I say "Ostensibly" because, so far, these murders (numbering in the hundreds, all of young women) seem to only float in the background, until the very end of the 3rd part (where some of the characters go to interview a man who has been arrested for the murders. The narrative structure disintegrates and the writing takes on a phantasmagoric quality).

So far, the first three parts seem to link up only in the most tenuous of ways, but the plot is interesting enough, and the writing engaging enough for me to slog on another 5 hundred pages and find out if it all comes together in the end.


Other continuing goals: Goal 42, donating to Freerice.com. So far I've donated 10,000 grains of rice. I've decided to do them in 5,000 grain increments, because it will be easier to keep track. I need to play 200 times total to complete this goal (198 to go!)


Still telling D I love him everyday. Last night he "reminded" me (I hadn't forgotten, just hadn't said it yet. It was about 11:30) which annoyed me, but probably won't be a bad thing later down the road when I actually might forget or lose track of time.


Oh, and for goal 30--saving a dollar a day--I've decided to get ahead of myself. I plucked out all the quarters from my change jar and rolled $10 dollars of them, so I'm set for the next 10 days. I figure since it's the final number (1001) that's important, rather than the daily ritual of sticking a dollar in a jar, this is the path of least resistance.

14. Start a blog for this project and include at least one entry a week

What is it: This blog, obviously. It's in progress because I've started the blog and am doing my best to get organized before my countdown actually begins. But I've got 0/143 posts because I'm not counting these initial organizational posts towards my total and my actual countdown hasn't started so I can't count anything I do before that as a completed goal (or as working towards my completed goals). I'm hoping my commitment to at least weekly updates will keep me motivated to complete the whole list. In this case, there might be weeks where I can't update--for example, I'm going to Wisconsin for a week in August and will likely be away from a computer/internet connection for the entire time--so the end total of 143 is more important than the dates of the posts.




Status: In progress. (8/143)

42. Donate 1 million grains of rice to freerice.com

What is it: While I was compiling my 101 list, I realized a lot of my goals were very self-focused. I really wanted to give back but I'm short on both time and money. Freerice.com provides me with a fun, easy (and free!) way to give to a cause I believe in (hunger). 1 million grains of rice seems like a lot,but the way the game is set up, its definitely feasible, plus it helps build my vocabulary for the GRE.






Status: In progress (25,000/1,000,000)

66. Tell D everyday that I love him

What is it: When I was compiling this list, I shared this one with D and he said, "But don't you already do that?" He's right, of course. I probably do. We have contact in some form or another everyday and I'm sure "I love you" makes an appearance in one of its many incarnations (we have a number of disgustingly cute code words and phrases that approximate to the same thing). But I put this on my list because I want "I love you" to be a deliberate action on my part, to think about why I'm saying it every day that I say it. In this case, "I love you too" doesn't count.





Status: In progress (119/1001)

47. Read at least a book a week

What is it: A book a week may sound like a lot--over 1001 days, it comes out to be about 143 books--but really, I don't think it's going to be that difficult. I'm a bookworm and a fast reader, besides which I read more than a book a week with classes anyhow. In this case, its not so much the book a week thing that's important, so much as that it averages out to be a book a week.




Status: In Progress (24/143)

The Writing Class by Jincy Willet
2666 (1) by Roberto Bolaño
Lost Tribe: Jewish Fiction from the Edge ed. by Paul Zakrzewski
Silence by Shusaku Endo
My Antonia by Willa Cather
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers by Henry David Thoreau
Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov
A Feather on the Breath of God by Sigrid Nunez
Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Call it Sleep by Henry Roth
How to Write a Dirty Story by Susie Bright
The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
The Best of the Best American Erotica 2008 ed. by Susie Bright
War Trash by Ha Jin
A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul
Frauds, Myths and Mysteries by Kenneth Feder
Fables: Legends in Exile (graphic novel)
Fables: Animal Farm (graphic novel)
Live Nude Elf by Reverend Jen
Morphology of the Folktale by Vladimir Propp
The Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille

60. Finish a coloring book

What is it: Since D and I have gotten more in to age play, I've started coloring again and found that I find it incredibly relaxing. I've got a number of coloring books now, mostly from cartoon shows that I liked when I was little (even Rainbow Brite!) but they're all half-finished. Basically I'd just like to have a cute, nicely done little girl thing.




Status: In progress

46. Put poetry in 101 different bathroom stalls

What is it: In high school, I used to graffiti the bathroom stalls with poetry--not my own, which I feel would have been kind of self-aggrandizing (and slightly emo)--mostly short stuff by 'official' Poets that lent itself well to being scrawled on a bathroom wall. I've done it once or twice since going to college, but I've basically stopped at this point. I want to get back into injecting something beautiful into life.





Status: 1/101

70. Buy no more than 15 non-necessary books

What is it: I've changed the number here a bunch of times--first it was 5, and I thought there's no way I can buy so few books, then it was 25 and I thought that was way too high, especially given that I'm not counting books bought with gift cards in this number (because it's not my money, and in many cases, the card will depreciate over time). So I settled on 15. Enough so that I can run out get the new novel from my favorite author, or get stuff from the COOP (where I won't get gift cards), but low enough to make this to require a substantial amount of effort from me.

I'm a self-professed bibliophile and I own way too fucking many books (4 6x3 shelves and more books besides) and what's worse, is that there are still a ton of books I haven't read sitting on my shelves. By limiting my book purchases, I'm hoping to save some money and focus on reading the books I already own (maybe that'll be a goal for my next list).




Status: In progress (2/15)

8/12/09- Purchased Anais Nin's Delta of Venus, as an End of GRE gift to myself.
Some time ago- Purchased Nerve: Literate Smut at the Book Barn with D

30. Store $1 a day

What is it: In general, I'm not so great about saving money, mostly because I haven't had a reliable source of income and things like Christmas presents (and books) always seem to eat up whatever extra I have. $1 seems like a reasonable amount, even if it's just scrounging up 10 dimes or a hundred pennies. I'd like to keep a jar for this, and deposit the money into a bank account after every $100 I collect. This is another goal where it doesn't matter if it gets done every day, so long as it gets done (i.e. depositing 7 dollars once a week is acceptable)




Status: In Progress (30/1001)

48. Wear no make-up in public on 10 separate occasions

What is it: Ask my boyfriend D, and he will tell you that I am exasperatingly neurotic about wearing make-up whenever I leave the house, regardless of how few people will see more, or how low key the event we're leaving for is. I'd like to be more comfortable with myself without make up on, so I'm going to force myself to step out of my comfort zone for this one. It will definitely be good for my self-esteem, and probably won't hurt my skin either.




Status: (1/10)
1. 8/16/09

33. Visit 20 new states

What is it: So far, I've visited 17 states. Here's my map:

visited 17 states (34%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or jurisdische veraling duits?

As you can see, most of the states I've visited are concentrated along the Eastern Seaboard and Kentucky and surrounding areas (thanks to an Aunt and Uncle in Louisville). I want to branch out and explore other parts of my own country.

A bunch of my other tasks should aid in the completion of this one--62 and 84--and D and I are taking a road trip out to Wisconsin in August, so I should hit a few more in the process.





Status: 4/20
Illinois 8/14/09
Wisconsin 8/15/09
Minnesota 8/18/09
Michigan 8/22/09