April 30, 2008
The Cross Off List, twenty six through fifty
Since I started this list last week, I've been more attentive to the opportunities around me. I've always been the sort of girl who carries a small notebook for various reasons but this list has had me pulling it out the minute they occur to me, so as not to lose my grasp on the wispy skirts of cool ideas.
26. Know enough about architecture to recognize the major schools and movements, particularly the churches.
27. Fill up a moleskine front to back with nothing but writing and story ideas.
28. Go back to the town in which I was born (BA, Argentina).
29. Own a Vespa.
30. Teach a writing workshop.
31. Drive a four-wheeled car through a shallow riverbed crossing.
32. Climb Kilimanjaro.
33. Have dinner with Bill Bryson.
34. Be involved with my alma mater.
35. Adopt a dog who suits the name Caspian (this one's about a decade old but still important).
36. Learn Greek.
37. Buy (and look great in!) a moderately expensive pair of amazing jeans.
38. Have Adirondack chairs, and a great porch to put them on.
39. Publish a short story in Granta.
40. Know my way around the lesser-known flowers.
41. Learn how to make perfect marinara sauce from scratch.
42. Hold a baby wild animal in my hands (or arms).
43. Throw the perfect anniversary party for Stuart and myself, in our tenth year, and then again at 25.
44. Serve on the Board for an organization close to my heart or ideals.
45. Live in England.
46. Give a toast at a close friend's wedding (Erin, Beth, I'm looking at you).
47. Take my parents to dinner at Peter Luger.
48. See the Alhambra with Stuart.
49. Take portraits of all my friends.
50. Own the complete unabridged OED, in twenty volumes.
April 17, 2008
The Cross Off List, one through twenty five
1. Sing an old Gershwin or Porter standard in a lounge act, just once.
2. Learn how to eat, and enjoy, seafood.
3. Write a novel and have it published.
4. Drive across the US. Slowly.
5. Walk across all the major bridges in New York City.
6. Spend New Year's Eve on a beach.
7. Own a boat.
8. Learn Welsh.
9. Have babies. Maybe two. Not at the same time.
10. Take a vacation in wine country. Any wine country.
11. Officiate a wedding.
12. Learn to bake bread, do it often.
13. Go back to Kenya.
14. Scuba dive.
15. Fill a whole wall in our home with photos of friends and family.
16. Learn to garden.
17. Gut-renovate a house, or at least a room in a house.
18. Ride a tandem bike.
19. Try colored contacts, even just for fun.
20. Learn some jazz songs on the piano.
21. Donate to WNYC during a pledge drive.
22. See Bob Dylan in concert before, you know, he dies.
23. Go back to Greece with my parents again.
24. Build my own darkroom.
25. Get a master's degree.
Inspired by the matchless Maggie Mason. Not inspired by that Jack Nicholson/Morgan Freeman vehicle. Suggestions welcome on how to cross these off, or do share some of your own.