28 Things Progress Report: Week 2

Two weeks into a new year of goals!  Let's see how I've done.  I feel like I haven't yet been as focused on this list as I'd like to be.  I am experimenting with a different format . . .

PROGRESS!

1. Finish #52FilmsByWomen challenge (goes until end of 2016)

I fell behind for one week so that means I had to watch 3 things.  So I watched Songs My Brothers Taught Me, which I was very excited to learn had just come onto netflix!  Then last week I watched a unexpectedly gripping documentary called Secret Daughter, by a director with whom I am currently working on a documentary project.  Then finally I also watched several short films by Yulin Kuang, namely her wonderful Tiny Feminists films.

3. Watch these 12 films : The Darjeeling Limited, Wild, Trainspotting, Equity, Carol, Absolutely Fabulous The Movie, 8 1/2, Songs My Brothers Taught Me, Diary of a Teenage Girl, Day for Night, The Fits, Brief Encounter

I was very lucky to be able to accomplish 2 goals at once by watching Songs My Brothers Taught Me. I hope to watch The Fits very soon.

4. Read these 4 feminist reads: To the Lighthouse, The Feminine Mystique, The Beauty Myth, Americanah

I have The Feminine Mystique on audiobook and have listened to a few hours of it.  It is very interesting, and also very white woman-centric so far.

5. Read 3 of these books that I own or have started reading: Shrill, We Were Feminist Once, Savage Grace, Anna Karenina, Lean In

I am technically now approximately 6 pages into We Were Feminist Once, so that counts!

13. Move

I sort of started out ahead on this one as in very early August I found an apartment!  I will basically be moving in very very soon.  So this week I am starting packing, purchasing a few things I need (like lamps, shower curtain), and getting renters insurance sorted.

24. Start a short, daily journal

I found the perfect journal for this.  It is a five-year journal with only a few lines for each day.  It works really well because there isn't pressure to write loads, but rather the perfect amount of space to jot down the major things that happened that day.  I've gotten 1-2 days behind a few times but so far I have been able to record something for each day.

28 Things Before 29

29!  That number is a bit scary!  It's a reminder that 30 is coming so soon!  There are so many thing I want to get off and running before 30! Luckily, the good news is that I am not there yet!  I'm not even at 29 yet.  So this year is an important year to keep making progress.

Here are my goals for this new year:

1. Finish #52FilmsByWomen challenge (goes until end of 2016)
2. Collect the rest of the state quarters I am missing (I am missing Hawaii, Nebraska, Michigan, and Iowa)
3. Watch these 12 films : The Darjeeling Limited, Wild, Trainspotting, Equity, Carol, Absolutely Fabulous The Movie, 8 1/2, Songs My Brothers Taught Me, Diary of a Teenage Girl, Day for Night, The Fits, Brief Encounter
4. Read these 4 feminist reads: To the Lighthouse, The Feminine Mystique, The Beauty Myth, Americanah
5. Read 3 of these books that I own or have started reading: Shrill, We Were Feminist Once, Savage Grace, Anna Karenina, Lean In
6. Visit Lambert Castle in Paterson, NJ
7. Get my passport
8. Get involved in local alumni film festival or environmental film festival
9. Finish off another student loan
10. Start to learn to play the drums
11. Complete a serious outline for a screenplay
12. Write a song
13. Move
14. Put together an anthology of my Grandmother's poems
15. Lose a bit of weight
16. Put together a collection of poems (30 poems, assuming that I have a solid 10 poems already that means approx 2 new poems each month)
17. Learn to use a sewing machine
18. Go to see the Lion King on Broadway
19. Get a new doctor
20. Keep blogging & try to write for a new blog
21. Produce a short film (either my own film or for someone else)
22. Go on a date
23. Get something tailored
24. Start a short, daily journal
25. Write one of the articles/think pieces I've been contemplating (Snow White & the Huntsman, Bones, Pretty Little Liars, loud women)
26. Learn either InDesign or Photoshop from Adobe Creative Suite
27. Begin research & development for documentary project at work
28. Write fan letters to writers Fraser McAlpine and Brian Jay Jones

Bonus Goals:

• Practice changing a tire
• Start a scrapbook for life events
• Create postcards from friends' art or photos
• Write a draft of my practicum paper (not due until end of 2017)

Progress Report: Final for Year 27

In a few hours it will be time to stop working on this list, and look forward to a new set of goals and a new year (even if some of those goals look suspiciously familiar).  So I shall take one final stock of what I managed to accomplish in the last 12-month!

I was discussing this list with a friend last month and I remarked that even though I never get through all or even most of these goals each year, I always get through more than I would have if I hadn't set these down and taken a stab at it.  This year I completed half (technical 51.6%) of my goals--- which is an improvement on last year!

I'm looking forward to setting some new challenges for myself in year 28 and trying to follow my new(ish) mantras:

• Do What You Want---- not in the selfish, 'F the world' sense, but in an unapologetic, 'You have permission,' 'You can do it' 'go for it' way. 
• Dreams Come True (if you make them)

Once again, to help me accomplish goals and make progress, I still need to make some of these goals more tangible, perhaps breaking larger aspirations into parts and tackling each at a time.

I also just finished reading a biography of Jim Henson, who is a big inspiration to me, and I've been reflecting on a piece of wisdom Henson left his children in his will:"It's a good life, enjoy it."  (483)
I think this is important, to live life with joy and appreciation more--- I am, despite my idealism and romanticism, definitely one for anger, resentment, bitterness, holding grudges, complaining, and blaming my dissatisfaction on cruel negligence of 'the universe/fate'.  I think I should make more of an attempt to enjoy my life, and to expect my world to allow me to do that as well.

In another section of the book, Henson is quoted speaking about his morning meditation rituals.  While I do not have plans for taking up yoga or meditation anytime soon, I can't help but feel I can learn something from Henson's example once again:

As part of my prayers, I thank whoever is helping me---I'm sure somebody or something is--- I express gratitude for all my blessings and I try to forgive the people that I'm feeling negative toward.  I try hard not to judge anyone, and I try to bless everyone who is part of my life, particularly anyone with whom I am having any problems." (459)

After his death, friend and colleague, Richard Hunt, would say of Henson "He wasn't a saint, but he was a close as human beings get to it."  (490)

---

Progress Report: Week 51

Less than 2 weeks left!

1. Get passport & travel to Canada - No Progress
2. Take a dance class (not ballet) - COMPLETED
3.  Find a new doctor - No Progress
4.  Make a short film - COMPLETED
Still haven't made more.

5.  Make an anthology of my Grandma's poems & writings - No Progress
6.  Read 5 of these intellectual/feminist books: The Second Sex, Lean In, To the Lighthouse, The Beauty Myth, Reverence to Rape, Sister Outsider, How to Be a Woman, Americanah - No Progress
Someone recalled my copy of To the Lighthouse to the library! Who does that?

7.  Learn to do a Tarot reading  COMPLETE

8.  Read 4 of these unfinished reads --- Story of B, Ode Less Traveled, Anna Karenina, Jim Henson: The Biography, Snobs by Julian Fellows, Bird Cloud by Annie Proulx, Savage Beauty (biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay) - PROGRESS
I'm at about page 340 now of Jim Henson . . . but I still have over 150 pages to go!