End of October.

8. Read 50 books (20/50) - in progress

I finished "Mama Day" this past week, by Gloria Naylor. It was assigned, technically, for my honors thesis, but other than having the same culture and geographical setting, I'm not entirely sure how it relates to Ibo Landing. In any case, it kept my interest throughout and immersed me into the Gullah culture quite a bit. I'd probably recommend it to others.

25. Learn to cook 52 new recipes and organize them in one place (12/52) - in progress

I made chicken teryaki on Saturday, a pseudo-recipe that I stole from my roommate, Taylor. I say pseudo-recipe because the ingredients and steps were mostly in her head. But I copied it down onto an index card so I can remember it and make it again... I love meals over rice, so this was a winner in my book.

27. Follow Virgina Tech & Steelers teams for a full football season - in progress

Saw some of the Tech v. Duke game last weekend, but I don't think I saw the ending and I also think I may have accidentally fallen asleep in the middle of it... oops. Steelers played the Lions, which I didn't get on TV but watched on gamecast. A lot of fumbles and interceptions. And then the Steelers played Vikings today--undefeated Vikings, might I add--and won! Their defense was really great in the fourth quarter. Also, I love that I make statements like that now, when less than a year ago I had trouble just finding which player had the ball on the field. Tech didn't play Saturday, but they have a Thursday game coming up.

32. Attend at least one sports event a season (0/12) - in progress

I went to the JMU Homecoming game last weekend, where we played Villanova. We also stunk pretty badly--fumbles, interceptions, getting shut down nearly every play we tried, etc. It was a bit of a let down, but I guess we're not having that great of a season.

56. Exercise 2-3 times a week (15/143) - in progress

Nope, got nothing this week. I went to yoga, but between schoolwork, my thesis and The Bluestone, I barely had time to shower this past week. Definitely ready for the stress and piles of work to slow down for a while.

--Till next time.

October update.

14. Do a creative writing prompt once a week, 52 times (11/52) - in progress

I wrote about the first time I broke something the other day in my nonfiction class... which in my memory, was the dishwasher when I was maybe 9 and I heavily overloaded it with soap to the point that water and soap suds were everywhere in the kitchen. Probably not the first time I broke something, but a memorable time.

17. See five Broadway shows I haven't seen before (1/5) - in progress

I went home this past weekend and stood in line at the TKTS booth in Time Square with my sister & her friend & my dad. We ended up seeing Mary Poppins, which I originally made a face at. But it turned out to be pretty good--especially Mary Poppins' character. I liked it better than I remembered liking the movie, anyhow.

25. Learn to cook 52 recipes and organize them in one place (11/52) - in progress

I made a potato and egg fritatta tonight for Taylor & Amber & I. I was a little nervous because I hate quiche, but the potatoes in this recipe made everything perfect and it turned out to be absolutely delicious. And relatively inexpensive, which was also a plus.

27. Follow Virgina Tech & Steelers teams for a full football season - in progress

Let's see. Since the last post, Steelers lost to the Bengals, which I am having trouble remembering... I do think I watched it though. Then I was in deadline for their win v. the Chargers, which I half-watched on gamecast. And then I was home this past weekend for their win against the Lions, which I watched with my dad and wore my jersey for and that was a lot of fun. Tech... won v. Duke, which I missed because of deadline, and then won v. Boston College this past weekend, which I missed because I was in the city. They play tomorrow, which I may see the end of after Homecoming... we'll see.

56. Exercise 2-3 times a week (15/143) - in progress

I think I exercised twice the week of the 26th, and I did twice the week of October 3 too. I walked at least 80 blocks in NYC on Saturday, which I think counts as exercise. This week, not so much. I did yoga on Wednesday, but I doubt I'll exercise tomorrow with all the Homecoming festivities going on. In any case, it's been 32 weeks since I started the 1001, so I'm not quite making my goal of exercising at least 75% of the time.

96. Add a new thing October 1, 2009:

So I decided to make #96 on my list to take Taylor and Amber to the Little Grill for breakfast before we graduate. I feel like this shouldn't be difficult since we could go Sunday morning, Thursday evening, or Friday morning... but we've been talking about it since the beginning of school and we haven't gone. So that's my added goal.

--Till next time.