To-Do Before I'm 25 (as of 1/13/08)

Jaime's New Year's Resolutions for Jess

This weekend, Jaime and I each wrote up New Years Resolutions for each other on index cards. Here were some of his for me... a bit tactical, I thought, but very sweet.

I'd also be interested to hear what his more aspirational resolutions would be for me -- what does he think I could do to be happier, better, more me, more satisfied, more serene this year?

Things I want to spend time on in Cambodia

-- motorcycling
-- sewing/ clothing design
-- guitar
-- language
-- yoga/meditation
-- writing (book, poetry, short stories, letters, daily journal)
-- cooking
-- dancing
-- HTML
-- other travel
-- photography
-- reading/research
-- grad school Apps

And for more:
-- spirituality
-- finding my FOCUS
-- hanging out with kids

Food resolutions from Michael Pollan

1) Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
2) Avoid foods containing ingredients you can't pronounce.
3) Dont eat anything that won't eventually rot. [Tootsie rolls! The shame...]
4) Avoid food products that carry health claims.
5) Shop the peripheries of the supermarket; stay out of the middle.
6) Better yet, buy food somewhere else: the farmer's market or CSA.
7) Pay more, eat less.
8) Eat food a wide diversity of species.
9) Eat food from animals that eat grass.
10) Cook and, if you can, grow some of your own food.
11) Eat meals and eat them only at tables.
12) Eat deliberately, with other people whenever possible, and always with pleasure.

My sparkly mini Christmas tree and drying underwear...

... are currently decorating my kitchen counter-top.

Today I washed a load of "delicates" in my kitchen sink and now they're chillin on the counter looking like some sort of strange kitchen-themed lingerie shop.

And then, for some reason I just starting thinking about this website that I built when I was 12 or 13, and how awesome it was. I had one page that was just flashing gifs; one -- obviously -- of photo; one of those funny surveys that we used to forward around (What's your favorite color? What are your nicknames? Who was your first crush?) and so on for at least a hundred questions.

I think I'll try to look one up and fill it out. I wonder if those kind of flimsy awkward definitions are sort of the best you can get. Or maybe that fleetingness, (or in kinder, gentler terms: "adaptability") is just me and I shouldn't be so freaked out.

I tend to like bulletin boards and clothespins and mobiles because I can shift them around as I shift around.

Thinking about that website also makes me think about how much I buzzed with naive lust when I was young. Since this so-called public journal is just starting out, I'll spare the details, but I can remember dreams with (always) thin, dark-haired boys and prancing around in a silky Japanese dressing gown that my grandma probably bought me, taking my hair up and down and pouting my lips in front of the mirror.

Week One in the new apartment.

So this has been an eventful couple of weeks full of many firsts:

-- Moving into my own apartment
-- Selling something on Craigslist
-- Cliff House at 6 in the morning to watch the waves
-- Finding the fuse box and turning the lights back on
-- Unclogging a toilet
-- Tegan & Sara concert at Zellerbach Hall
-- "Fondue" by candlelight
-- Early morning run by Dolores Park

And just plain fun stuff:

-- Perfect green tea & finding my keys at the Irish pub
-- Dinner at Bissap Baobob & crazy dance party at Bruno's
-- Coffee & shopping with Sara in the Haight
-- Gabriela, Clove & Cinnamon
-- Apartment decorating spree: Pier One, Target, the Container Store...
-- Olafur Eliasson exhibit

Things that I'm happy thinking about:

-- **Buying the ticket to Cambodia**
-- Building my apartment platform
-- Finding/taking motorcycle lessons
-- Picking up more library books from on-hold
-- Buying fun Christmas presents
-- Organizing my closet
-- Getting a coffee pot

Guess I'm behind already

Any new firsts in the last few days?

All pretty lame and small. I need to be a little more conscious about this project if I'm actually going to get anything out of it.

-- apple brined a turkey
-- asked someone to coffee that I was afraid to ask
-- read The Dogs of Babel