Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Now 80% Mightier!

I took the list to 100, 99 of which you get to see.

Here they are, edited for television:

18. Swim with dolphins in open water, not in a sad amusement park

19. Lead a generative life

20. Fit back into my wedding rings

21. Visit La Casa Azul

22. Help my daughter get through school/adolescence in one piece

23. Travel with The Morah

24. Attend one of Christine Kane’s retreats

25. Teach Howl to teenagers

26. Perfect Walt Whitman curriculum and then teach the shit out of it.

27. Learn how to sew.

28. Get a hammock, and then take a nap in it.

29. Read more canonical fiction

30. Follow 100 pushup challenge and then do 100 pushups.

31. Learn how to make jam

32. Learn how to make pickles

33. Seedbomb the hill behind the house

34. Veggie garden!

36. Mentor a new/student teacher

37. Volunteer in Livy’s classroom and/or on fieldtrips

38. Publish an article in Radical Teacher, Teaching Tolerance, or the like.

39. Publish an article in Brain Child or the like.

40. Learn how to stand up for myself without resorting immediately to nuclear options

41. On my 40th birthday get a glasses chain

42. Accept my daughter for who she is while helping her become the best version of herself she can be.

43. Read more poetry

44. Write more poetry

45. Practice yoga

46. Learn how to meditate

47. Take SLB on a whiskey tour in Edinburgh. Bonus points for taking the Weavers with us.

48. Vacation in the San Juans with Livy and SLB

49. Take Livy and SLB whale watching

50. Go to Buenos Aires

51. Go to a traditional Onsen in Japan

52. Buy something ridiculous from a Tokyo vending machine

53. Get pulled up onstage during a concert like Courtney Cox in “Dancin’ in the Dark.”

54. Raise a courageous daughter who is engaged and invested in her own life and happiness.

55. Eat vegetarian 4 days/week and possibly work up to more.

56. Learn Seattle and its glories like the back of my hand.

57. Take a letterpress class and make something lovely

58. Make this silly little house feel like a silly little home.

59. Say “yes” more than I say “no.”

60. Create lovely and ridiculous family traditions (pancakes on Sundays; Turkey King, Leprechaun, Cupid; fried fish on Leap Year; etc.)

61. Hang out in the front yard more often (veggie garden?) so as to ensnare unsuspecting neighbors in friendship and community-building.

62. Make more ice cream. Eat more ice cream that I’ve made.

63. Conquer fears of making pie crust, rolling dough, and using the coffee grinder.

64. Always feel comfortable in a bikini, and never give a shit when I can’t really pull it off.

65. Invest in good food, good bras, and good shoes.

66. Agritourism in Italy and France

67. Go to the Grand Canyon

68. Adapt Custom of the Country into a screenplay

69. Read all the children’s books I was discouraged to as a kid.

70. Learn a little about photography. Take better pictures.

71. Stay in Germany over Christmas

72. Make real eggnog.

73. Barter

74. Take SLB to SXSW

75. Just once, regardless of price, buy Livy the perfect dress (Prom? Wedding?)

76. Take Livy to Disneyland for her kindergarten graduation.

77. Go on safari. Shoot nothing. Pretend to be Hemingway. Drink gimlets.

78. Go to St. Paul and get my Fitzgerald geek on.

79. Oktoberfest in Munchen, ja wohl!

80. Learn how to pronounce Sartre

81. Be the old chick in front at the rock show.

82. Be the (good God, hopefully) cool mom with her daughter in front at the rock show.

83. Bake cakes for more celebrations.

84. Come to a decision on the tattoo issue.

85. Drink more champagne.

86. Leave encouraging notes around town for strangers to find.

87. See someone break a pickle (baseball-style, not cucumber-style)

88. Take the family to an outdoor movie in the summertime.

89. Host an outdoor movie in the summertime

90. Host an inflatable-pool party for all the babies this summer

91. Learn the German lyrics to “99 Luftballons” and make it one of my go-to karaoke songs.

92. Watch AFI’s 100 best films

93. Write letters of appreciation to writers, artists, and musicians I love.

94. Balance being the fun teacher with being the effective teacher.

95. Do the Great Columbia Crossing race

96. Stop trying to mother people to whom I never gave birth

97. Compile a repertoire of 30 recipes for vegetarian lunches/dinners

98. Face mortality and make a will

99. Get rid of all the books I think I should read but never will (without guilt or remorse)

100. Love this little family, and tell them I love them every, every, every day

ETA:  101:  Ride in a sidecar.  Bonus points for drinking a sidecar while doing so.

11 comments:

Dad Solo said...

"Turkey King, Leprechaun, Cupid"

Is that like "Screw, Marry, Kill" ?

danicalynn said...

I still remember your perfect prom dress. That thing was totally worth however much of your soul you had to sell to afford it.

Christina said...

that and "came, saw, conquered."

the turkey king leaves a turkey to all deserving families on thanksgiving. the leprechaun leaves lucky charms on st. patrick's day. cupid leaves little gifties on valentine's day.

there will never be a month in which our family is not visited by a benevolent supernatural creature. NEVER.

Christina said...

dan - i still have the perfect prom dress (which cost more than my wedding gown) hanging in our coat closet. that sucker's getting donated this year along with my awesome apple green 60's audrey hepburn confection. sigh...

can you see how conflicted i am? it hurts. it hurts bad.

danicalynn said...

Nooooo! Save them! You're hurting me!

Christina said...

but why? save them for what? my rack is never fitting back into them, even if my belly could. i feel like an episode of Hoarders whenver i see them in the coset.

do you still have the gorgeous blue dress that you made? i still can't believe that you made a gown. that's so awesome.

MaryKate said...

If you are willing to move from Jam to 'apple butter' I'll be glad to have you over later in the year to learn how to make apple butter. We could make a day of it and I could also teach you how to make cheese!

*grin*

moraht said...

Ummmmm, where do you want to travel and when should we go?

Christina said...

Englishkat - are you who i think you are, or are you a psychokiller posing as who i think you are? do you perhaps have a kitty named lulu, hmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

Moraht - someplace awesome, sometime after your summer craziness ends.

Anonymous said...

Dude I love your list. SO much awesome, right there.

Unknown said...

Ah...I'd forgotten about this. Maybe we can tie in a whisky tour with a trip to Germany. No one talks sexy German like I do.