29 Things Wrap-Up – Better Living Through Literature

On this last day of 2009 and third-to-last day of being 29, here’s the recap of the 29 Things. I accomplished 13 of them, scratched 11 of them, and am carrying over the rest.

I’m pretty pleased with what I did get done overall, considering how the year started. But while 2009 had some really rough spots and I can’t wait to put my 20’s behind me, the year was good to me. I have a job I like even better, friends and family who help me out, hobbies, and Toby. As Joseph Addison says, “Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.”

So here’s the report–green is done, red is scratched or not done, black is going on the 30 Things list, and any commentary is in italics:

Learn the names of the Wasatch mountain peaks–I only can point to Mt. Olympus––I can point to Twin Peaks, Lone Peak, and Dromedary Peak now, too.
Pay off the remaining debt—Seriously, I thought this day would never come.
Get a queen size mattress
Make a queen-sized quilt—Done! Another day I thought would never come.
Hike Bald Mountain in the Uintas again—This sounded less and less appealing as the year went on and I more fully embraced my fear of heights. So scratch this one.
Finish reading The Silmarillion—I have also fully embraced my inability to retain anything in this book. Scratch!
Knit Christmas stockings (starting with Toby’s, of course)—Only Toby’s is done but that’s the only one that really counts. It’s not like I’m going to hang and fill one for myself.
Visit the north end of Zion National Park
Be less wimpy about riding my bike on cooler days––I was still wimpy, but I’ve come up with a better plan for next year.
Eat at Red Iguana
Eat at The Paris
Chill a watermelon in a stream on a picnic in the mountains—I will now admit that I don’t like watermelon. And I will not be hiking Bald Mountain to give the melon time to chill. Scratch!
Knit at least one thing for charity using up yarn I have-–I bought yarn to knit a hat, which ended up being a practice hat for a gift, and then gave away the first hat to Big Brothers Big Sisters and never took a picture of the gift hat.
Get a new desk chair, if an affordable molded Eames chair exists--I am going to force myself to spend the money for a new chair in 2010. I’ll just pretend it’s a pair of shoes.
Cook moules marnieres and frites—I originally meant “from scratch,” i.e. get the mussels, scrub them, purge them, parboil the taters, fun with deep-frying, etc. I cooked a lot of frozen mussels instead. And The Paris offers both the moules and the frites, so I am going to pass on this.
Stop biting my nails.–I have good days and bad days. Still working on this.
Learn how to sew knit fabric—Done! And easy!
Drink an Old Fashioned at the bar at Bambara
Learn how to apply eye makeup that doesn’t look scary or amateurish–I’ve even gone from powder eyeliner to a real pencil in the last month or two.
Go to the Oyster Bar one Monday a month after work for a half-priced appetizer–-I modified this one in my halfway report, so I’m just calling it done.
Replace my Rubbermaid kitchen garbage can with a broken spring top with something nicer. –I really had a hard time justifying this purchase (but not the purchase of many shoes), so I am indeed turning 30 with duct tape on my garbage can. This one gets top priority in 2010.
Knit an elaborate cabled sweater–I have the yarn and the pattern picked out! Tune in Tuesday for more.
Build my collection of Bach CDs—The only CD I bought this year was Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. Again, no problem buying shoes, but CDs seemed so extravagant.
Learn how to dance—This plan started out so well, but it ended up not working. Live and learn.
Stop getting plastic bags from the grocery store
Have tea at The Grand America—It turned out that they are a client at my new job, so I have had plenty of Grand America experiences without any tea.
Make cloth napkins and use them for everyday meals
Go out to breakfast one weekend a month
Go to Moab for New Year’s Eve—I’m having a party on New Year’s Day instead. No travel in the snow, no leaving Toby alone, no getting drunk the night before: Perfect. I still want to try to get to Moab in 2010, though.

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