12. Rosetta Stone: Spanish
13. Rosetta Stone: Arabic
31. Take an oral history.
33. Learn to be good at chess.
39. Learn to build my own desktop. Do so.
41. Learn the constellations. And how to tell the damn planets apart from the stars on a consistent basis.
42. Learn how to program a website.
43. Learn the Kiddish, the Kaddish, and the prayer for breaking bread.
45. Learn to snorkel.
53. Learn to tell the difference between wines.
84. Go to ten special exhibitions at museums.
86. Watch 25 of the Greatest Movies of All Time Ever that I've never before seen.
89. Keep detailed accounting data for one month.
93. Learn to identify at least ten things under the hood of a car and how you can tell when they break.
95. Write a full page with my right hand.
Details
Note - you can keep up with my progress on all Educational goals by clicking the "Educational" tag. Very few in this category will have specialized tags; those will be noted below.
2. Score ≥167 on the LSAT.
I'm not actually certain that I want to go to law school; in fact, I'm moving more and more in the direction away from it. However, one never can be too sure, and it's better to do standardized tests sooner rather than later after college. And here's a little secret about me: I actually just love taking standardized tests. I think 167 is a realistic goal, but one that I think is high enough that I will still feel compelled to study beforehand. I really just want to know my score, so I could see where I could go if I actually wanted to learn the law.
12. Rosetta Stone: Spanish
I took four years of Spanish in high school, and while I was never particularly good at it, I was certainly not particularly bad at it, either. Or:
Yo tome cuatro años de español en la escuela secondaría, y (though) yo no (past progressive of ser?) muy bueno con lo, ni yo (again with ser) muy mal, tampoco. So, I will complete the second and third levels of Rosetta Stone in order to regain and learn new vocabulary and grammatical fluency, and, after completing the course, testing myself by reading a Spanish-language novel that I purchased a few years ago.
Complete through: Level 2, Unit 1, Lesson 3
13. Rosetta Stone: Arabic
If you've already read the entire master list, then you're aware that joining the Foreign Service is on it. The reasons for that will be more fully explained in the Sundries - Part 1 post, but it is a major contributing factor to me wanting to learn Arabic. English, Spanish, and Arabic are three of the most spoken languages on the planet, and between them, they cover just about every country whose American embassy I would love to work in. And written Arabic is probably the most beautiful script I've ever seen, and I really want to be able to understand it and produce it myself, at least rudimentarily. This goal will be finished after I complete all three levels of Rosetta Stone's Arabic program and I have read an Arabic-language newspaper front to back.
31. Take an oral history.
My paternal great-grandparents were all immigrants who came to America sometime between 1900 and 1920 from Eastern Europe. I know that my grandmother's family came from a tiny village in Poland, because one of my uncles researched and visited it a few years ago and there's a photo album of the trip on her shelf. My grandfather's family... I don't even really know. I have heard variously that we were expelled Russian Jews, Ukrainian, Latvian, and Polish. Suffice it to say that both sets of great-grandparents did a very good job of assimilating themselves and their children to American culture, and my father and his brothers seem not to have thought much about where the family came from in their youth, apart from the vague notion of "over there." At least, that's my impression as a member of the third generation born here.
So, my goal is to sit down with my grandmother, whom, conveniently enough, I will be living just upstairs from through the winter, and, once and for all, find out who we Leonard-Moverman-Abramsons are and just where exactly it is that we came from.
33. Learn to be good at chess.
I know the rules of chess. I understand which way the pieces are supposed to move and that the queen is always supposed to start on her own color and all the technical stuff like that. I just have no eye for the strategy of it. I can't see five moves ahead for myself, let alone the other guy (who always seems to know what I'm going to do anyway). It's like I have a giant neon sign flashing above my head proclaiming my epically noob status. My goal is to practice until I get to the point where, even if I can't beat my dad at chess, I can at least give a decent show of trying.
39. Learn to build my own desktop. Do so.
I am pretty good at computers, at least from the software end. I can diagnose problems with my own computer; perform basic maintenance myself, and can convince it that it has extra CD-ROM drives for my own non-nefarious purposes. What I do not know is what goes on inside: how the drives and cards and cords fit together to make the magic happen. I only have a basic understanding of what most of the things in there are even called.
My laptop is also getting on in. It will be three around Thanksgiving, which is practically ancient in technology years. It had its mid-life crisis last September, and, luckily, since the warranty was still good, Sony sent a technician TO MY HOUSE to replace the motherboard and a lot of little things for free. It was awesome. But still, the poor little thing barely has enough hard drive memory anymore, and its non-video card pitches fits every few weeks (and here I am, not running anything strenuous on it so as not to piss it off more). It's time for something new. It's time for something powerful and amenable to staying in one place, and it's time for me to learn how to do it. Ergo, desktop. Lots of space to mess around in, lots of interchangeable, fully-customizable parts; lots, lots cheaper. I hope to get this project started sooner rather than later, obviously, and if anyone knows of any particularly rad resources about building one's own computer, I would be eternally grateful if you could point me in their direction.
41. Learn the constellations. And how to tell the damn planets apart from the stars on a consistent basis.
I already know the Big and Little Dippers; Orion; and sometimes, if I'm really lucky, I can pick out Sirius. I used to be able to find Venus, if it was around. I want to know more. I will consider this goal complete after I've learned 15 constellations and basic facts about them, and memorized when which planets are within our view and how I can identify them with the naked eye (when possible).
42. Learn how to program a website.
I know basic html, and in the last week, I've picked up a bit of CSS tweaking this blog's template to my personal taste. It's been a lot of fun, and it's a lot harder than I thought. I will consider this goal complete after I have completely scripted this blog myself, from scratch.
43. Learn the Kiddish, the Kaddish, and the prayer for breaking bread.
I'm a really bad Jew. In that I'm not actually Jewish at all, but half my family is by heritage, and we all eat pork and forget when it's time to celebrate Hanukkah. Bacon is tasty. Anyway, this isn't about being more religious so much as just learning something that can connect me to that part of me. When my grandfather died two years ago, I felt completely inadequate because I couldn't say the Kaddish for him, even though I watch Angels in America every three months and I really should have picked it up by now. So now I'm going to. End of story.
45. Learn to snorkel.
Properly, this goal in its complete form is "Learn to snorkel without getting water down the tube and in my goggles," but that doesn't look very elegant. I've really only been snorkeling once, on a cruise my family took when I was in high school that stopped in Key West. It was beautiful in the reef, and I would really love to go back and do it again, sans the salt water in my mouth and eyes. I'll probably practice in a pool, and if I really just can't make it down to a beach in the summertime, then that will be sufficient fulfillment of this goal. Ideally, though, a real world test will mark the end of it.
53. Learn to tell the difference between wines.
This, too, deserves a little clarification. I know that a Pinot Grigio is different from a Sauvignon Blanc and both are completely different from a Riesling. I like reds, now, too, but the only one I think I could semi-reliably identify in a blind taste test is Shiraz. So, this goal has two sub-goals: the first, to branch out and try new types and regions of wine, and the second, to keep a record of the wines I drink and identify their distinguishing characteristics. I will consider this goal complete after I successfully identify nine out of ten wines in a blind taste test.
84. Go to ten special exhibitions at museums.
Unless they're free, I very rarely go to special exhibitions. And while I love the permanent collections of the museums I "frequent," I really am missing out when I neglect to see the new and different pieces and perspectives offered by special exhibits. Therefore, I plan to see ten different paid exhibits in the next 1001 days to which I would not otherwise have gone. An example: when I was in London a few years ago, the Tate Modern was doing a Kandinsky retrospective. They could have charged £20 for it, and I still would have gone and spent all day in it. Such an exhibit would not count towards this goal. This project is about discovery, after all.
Exhibitions visited: 1
86. Watch 25 of the Greatest Movies of All Time Ever that I've never before seen.
I have never seen Casablanca. I think I fell asleep during the Wizard of Oz. I definitely fell asleep during all three Godfathers. I'm in the process of compiling a list that draws from the IMDB's Top 250, Rotten Tomatoes' Top 100, and AFI's 100 Years, 100 Movies lists, in order to make a list of about fifty movies, of which I will have to watch at least 25 by May 25, 2012, so that I can actually contribute to conversations people have about these epically famous films. Posts relating to this goal will be tagged "Movies."
Movies Consumed: 1
89. Keep detailed accounting data for one month.
I did this when I first lived in London, in order to keep track of how badly the exchange rate was screwing me over, and, though it got to be very tedious towards the end, it was extremely helpful in that I knew exactly where my money was going, in what forms I was spending it, and, most importantly, knowing that I would have to account for something after I got home really helped me cut back on truly ridiculous impulse spending. Let me be clear: by "detailed accounting data," I don't just mean writing down the amount of each receipt and keeping a running total. I mean EVERY. SINGLE. ITEM. gets logged. It's effective, and I think it's time for a refresher course in curbing impromptu purchases.
93. Learn to identify at least ten things under the hood of a car and how you can tell when they break.
Enough said.
Car parts learned: .2
95. Write a full page with my right hand.
I was beginning to think that all my goals were leaning more towards being Epic and Serious Projects, so the the last ten or so are lighthearted, so that I remember to schedule time for out-and-out silliness. So: because I am left-handed and, when I have tried to write with my right hand, it has been a garbled mess, I would like to improve my opposite-handwriting. After this goal is complete, I will post a scan of the finished page, whatever it is.
Again, any suggestions on ways I can better meet these goals, or improve upon them, will be greatly welcome.
0 comments:
Post a Comment