A different list

So, I’m not quite a year into my 30 by 30 list and already I’m making changes. Not a huge one though.

A long time ago a friend of mine linked to a list of 100 books on Facebook. They were all classics that (in my opinion) everyone should at least know about if not have read. It was fun seeing which ones I’d already read and I was a little ashamed at the amount that I have yet to read.

When I started my 30 by 30 list I knew I wanted to give myself a reading goal. I love to read but lately I’ve been too occupied with mindless television to pick up a book. I tend to like to do 5 things at once (Joel always gives me grief about the number of tabs I always have open. Apparently it slows the computer down. Whatever.) and I can have a show playing in the background while I chat on twitter, check my email and read blogs. If I read I have to give the book my full attention. Focusing on just one thing is actually something I should work on more often. I’m quite the scatterbrain lately.

So, when I googled top 100 books and top 100 movies the best ones I found were Time’s. I read through the entire movie list because I added all that I could into my Blockbuster queue. However, I just basically copy and pasted the book list. As things went along and I tried to start going through the list I realized that it wasn’t the list I had been thinking of. I tried searching for the other list but other than reading through a year or two of my friend’s Facebook wall (um, stalker much?) I couldn’t figure out a way to find it.

The thing is, I didn’t just want a list of novels. I’m sure the novels on Time’s list are fantastic but I only recognized a handful. My goal wasn’t to read a bunch of books that I’d never heard of, my goal was to catch up on all the books I thought I should have already read.

So, I finally found the list I was looking for thanks to my resident Google guru. I swear Joel is like the search engine whisperer. I can search for hours and find nothing and in 3 minutes he has what I was looking for and more. It definitely is never annoying.

I don’t consider this cheating since this was the list I intended to read in the first place. I’m still going to cross a 100 books of a list, it’s just a different list than I originally posted. I think this particular list is a lot more comprehensive. It includes non fiction as well which I very rarely read.

I already have read a few of the books. Others I’m almost positive I’ve read but I’m leaving them uncrossed because I want to be sure. I read quite a few abridged books growing up so I want to make sure I read the full versions.

I’m actually excited about this list, much more so than I was about the other one. I feel like I’ll be a much more well rounded person when I finish.

Things I learned in India

My trip to India was amazing. Some parts were fantastic. Some parts were really, really hard. We both had at least one melt down. India and it’s culture is so vastly different from any culture I’ve ever been in. In some ways that was incredible and exciting and fun. In other ways it was just confusing and frustrating.

The best part was how much it caused me to grow. I learned so much about myself, Joel, God and others. I realized how strong I really am. Obviously there’s no way to sum up my trip up in one post. I don’t think I thoroughly could in 15 posts. I’ll do my best to keep it to as few as possible.

For today, I’ll share with you a list of a few things I learned while I was in India:

1. I really can do or eat anything. No really. Anything.

2. Wood is actually comfortable to sleep on after sleeping on marble for 3 days.

3. When you can smell yourself, you know it’s really bad.

4. Taken enough days in a row Pepto Bismol turns your tongue the most disgusting blackish brown color. But it prevents other, um, problems so it’s worth dealing with. But seriously, ew.

5. Indian clothes are the most comfortable things ever. I’m going to do my best to bring them into style here. You can thank me later.

6. A little blow up neck pillow is a lifesaver.

7. There are different levels of dirty clothes. What seemed too dirty a couple days into the trip seemed acceptable by the end.

8. There are different levels of “civilized”.

9. Being happy and content really is a choice. I can choose to have a good time and enjoy the moment even when things are really hard.

10. The national bird of India is a peacock. When you see a city street with all the women dressed in saris you understand why. Gorgeous.

11. Eating in the dirtiest places is scary but God really does protect me and neither Joel nor I got sick from the food. Trust me, we really should have.

12. Driving in India is like a massive game of chicken. Lanes mean next to nothing, three cars can fit where you’d think only one could, and the biggest car almost always wins.

13. When an Indian tells you “it’s not spicy” it will probably still make your nose run and your eyes water.

14. When an Indian says a time that can mean an hour before, two hours after or anywhere in between.

15. I get unreasonably happy every time I kill a mosquito.

16. How to eat, drink, dress and use a squatty potty like an Indian. Yes, they eat (with their hand) and drink differently (their lips never touch the cup and they swallow with their mouth open). Basically everything is different.

17. An ice cold shower feels wonderful when it’s hot and nothing feels as good as being clean.

Stay tuned for pictures tomorrow. I will sort and start posting them if it kills me.

Moods

The past several days I’ve been in what is best described as a funk. Moody, irritable, snapping at Joel or Phoebe over the littlest thing, bawling my eyes out for no reason whatsoever… Very unlike me. My life? Is really good. I have no reason to be feeling so down.

Tonight Joel, knowing how sad I’ve been all day, did his best to cheer me up. He brought home stuff for taco salad, watermellon and surprised me with one of my favorite movies, The Great Mouse Detective. After I ate dinner and 3/4ths of the the watermellon (not kidding) we snuggled and he teased me and tickled me until I was laughing so hard I couldn’t breath.

I don’t know that it fixed everything. I do know I’m fighting to be in a better mood though. I have so much to be grateful for. I’m trying to focus on all the amazing blessings I have in my life. It may not always be 100% effective at pulling me out of this funk but I’m not just going to lie back and let these feelings drown me.

However, when I can’t quite do it on my own, I’m so lucky to have an amazing husband who knows how to make me smile. And sometimes even laugh until my stomach hurts.

Six Months

I don’t know how many of you were reading my blog six months ago. If you were you might remember my 30 by 30 post. The list by itself is also a page in the upper right hand corner if you ever just want to look over it. So far I think I’m doing pretty well. I’m working on several of my goals. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I have 6 years and I don’t have to do everything at once. Here’s an update on my progress so far. I won’t go through every number, just the ones I’ve been thinking about or have made progress on.

1. Travel to India. This is so close to becoming a reality I can taste it. Really it deserves it’s own post and I will work on one in the near future. Basically it’s been my dream to go on a mission trip to India since I was 12 (half my life) and we have one set up to go in October.

We are working on fundraising right now. We’ve had some very generous donations from some amazing people. We’re still a ways off from the total needed though. If you have any ideas for fundraisers please send them my way. You can get more info at HelpSend.Us

2. Become a mother: Still not ready for this one. I have time ::grin::

4. Read all books on Time 100 best novels list: I have a few books marked off but honestly they’re ones I read prior to making the list. I need to step up on this one.

5. Run a marathon: I’ve taken the first step. Or steps. Check out Running Between Tweets for updates on mine and all my fellow tweeps progress.

9. Visit every US state: I have 12 more to go. I still have my flight benefits so getting to the states isn’t a problem. The main thing is having a place to stay once I get there. I don’t have tons of cash but I have so many wonderful blog/Twitter friends spread all over the country.

Would any of you from the states that I’m missing be willing to host me? Even just over night so I could meet you and buy a spoon (yes I collect spoons. What?) I don’t need anything fancy. A floor and a blanket would be more than enough. Who’s first? ::wink::

10. See all movies on Time 100 best movies list: I’ve gotten about a quarter of the way through the list thanks to our Blockbuster online membership. I’ve loved some and been bored to tears on others.

14. Earn an award with Phoebe: I’m entering us in our first rally obedience trial the middle of this month. I’ll let you know how it goes!

16. Join a book club: I get to mark one off! Woot! I’ve written about my book club a few times so you already know I have met some really neat girls there including the one who invited me to be on the soccer team.

I don’t know that I expected to have so much fun. I love reading but the book club is so much more than just discussing books. In fact, as we’ve gone on I could almost care less about the books that I’ve read. None of them are probably ones I’d pick out myself. The great part is, it doesn’t matter because the group of friends we’ve built is priceless. It’s just what I didn’t know I needed.

26. Keep a blog or journal daily for one year: That is where the title of this blog comes in. As of today I have successfully completed six months of that year on SkyWaitress.com. I’m actually really impressed that I’ve come this far.

Before this I was always a sporadic blogger. I would post several times a week for awhile and then go for months with nothing. I felt like if I didn’t have anything big to blog about I couldn’t post.

Now I’ve realized that isn’t the case. Granted, all of my posts haven’t been stellar but I feel like I’ve learned so much and improved as a writer and blogger by making this commitment. There are days when I have no idea what to blog about but I sit down and start writing anyway. And sometimes? Those are some of my best posts. Apparently my brain has a lot rolling around in it.

I don’t pretend to be a professional blogger or to have everything figured out. I am having fun though. I’ve also gotten more involved with Twitter and have made some wonderful friends out of it. I seriously wonder what I did without all you guys. I look forward to the next six months of blogging and beyond.

I am so excited about how far I’ve come. I have a long ways to go and a lot to accomplish in the next 5 1/2 years but I’m confident I can pull it off. I’m doing really well. Working through this list has already improved who I am as a person. I am much more focused and excited about life. I have goals and I am working towards them. I highly recommend everyone make a list similar to this. It can fit where ever you are in life and drive you to where you want to be. You’ll be surprised how inspiring it is.

Letting myself dream and get excited is the best thing I’ve ever done. It’s already taken me places and I can’t wait to see where I’ll be in six months, a year and on my 30th birthday. I have a feeling, it’s going to be somewhere amazing.

Random Confessions

1. I borrowed a two shirts from my little sister the other day. I gave one of them back. I’m really hoping she forgets/doesn’t ask about the other one. It looks really great on me. Aaand I ripped a hole in the sleeve.

2. When I do laundry I rarely wear shoes. That wouldn’t be so bad if the laundry room wasn’t a community one down the hall from our apartment.

3. The last of my “real” bras broke two weeks ago. I’ve been wearing sports bras ever since. Flat chested FTW!

4. Lately I have been sleeping in till noon or later. I generally wake up when Joel tells me he’s coming home for lunch. I hate sleeping in this late because half my day is gone by the time I get up. However, I do not hate it enough to set an alarm clock. Fail.

5. I always buy and read my book club books no more than a couple days before the discussion. I say it’s because I’m a fast reader and I’ll forget what I want to say if I get it sooner. Really? It’s because I just put it off until the last minute. Thank goodness the fast reader part is true.

6. Speaking of book club, our discussion is at the beach tomorrow. For the first time in my life I really don’t want to be seen in a bikini. My body is not bikini ready. There’s a slight chance of thunderstorms and I’m praying that they come through so I don’t have to stress about it. ::sigh::

7. In related news, I’m actually starting C25K over on Monday. I have a lovely group of ladies who are doing it with me and that should be the motivation I need to actually finish it this time. Clearly I have an issue with self motivation.

8. You can probably buy my love in the form of Starbucks caramel Frappuccinos. Just Sayin’.

9. I always have to look up how to spell Frappuccino.

10. Actually there are a lot of words I look up. Most of the time I spelled the words right. However, if I look up the word after I sent a text or tweet? I inevitably spelled it wrong. Why doesn’t the iPhone have built in spell check already? Hmph.

So those are my confessions.* They say confession is good for the soul and I’m inclined to agree with them. Whoever the heck they are. Anything you’d like to confess? I’m a great listener

*Totally have that one Usher song stuck in my head now.