One Hundred And One Things

Why do I want to do this?

I could do with sharpening up my vocal technique. I think - hope - it will build my confidence, too.


How will I know I've done it?

I'll have spent at least one hour with a self-described singing teacher, concentrating on improving my singing voice.


I'll record this in a post in this journal.

What's this about?

Back on my last list, I had the following goal: Articulate my opinions re. Apostles’, Nicene and Athanasian creeds, Thirty-Nine Articles [pdf] and UCCF Doctrinal Basis. I got about five clauses into the Apostles' Creed. This goal is to complete the work I began there.


Why do I want to do this?

The creeds, we're told, summarise what I'm supposed to believe as a Christian. The Thirty-Nine Articles add to this, marking out what makes the Church of England distinctive, though unless I get ordained or similar I probably won't be asked to put my name to them. However, had I ever made it onto the committee of the Christian Union (you laugh, but it might have happened, had Symphony Orchestra not rehearsed on Tuesday nights), I would have been asked to sign the [Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship] Doctrinal Basis. I want to explore just how comfortable I am with all these things I'm meant to believe.


How will I know I've done it?

I'll have articulated my interpretation of and feelings about each clause of the five summaries of belief.


This can be tracked by following the credo tag at el_staplador.

What's this about?

A murder mystery dinner: it's like a dinner party combined with a parlour game, with certain props and storylines pre-prepared.

Why do I want to do this?

This is a stupid thing I've got really het up about for no good reason. Should I invite the people I went to the last murder mystery dinner with? Should I invite the people who've expressed in interest in going to one? Who is on speaking terms with whom? This goal is designed to make me do the damn thing, whoever comes or doesn't come.


How will I know I've done it?

People will have come to dinner and solved a mystery. Either the one in the picture or another one. I could even write one myself.


I'll record this in posts in this journal.

Why do I want to do this?

Firstly, I want to nag myself into producing something of publishable quality. Secondly, I want to work up the confidence to submit it.


How will I know I've done it?

A work produced largely or exclusively by myself will have appeared in a publication over which I have no editorial control. This can be text, photographic or in another form, and the publication can be online or can take physical form.


I'll record this in posts in this journal.

What's this about? Why do I want to do it?

My home is crawling with invitations, orders of service, scraps of fabric and goodness knows what else, and what that means is that, when I come across any of the aforementioned souvenirs, my reaction is not, 'Oh, Clarissa's wedding, what a lovely day that was,' but, 'Oh, no, I really need to sort this lot out'. If I'm going to have these things around at all, I want to enjoy them, not feel disproportionately guilty about them.


How will I know when it's done?

I will have an album that contains photographs of and souvenirs from the ?six weddings I've been to in the last five years, not counting my own. (Anything before that is, I fear, going to be impractical.) I will be able to throw away any further souvenirs I come across.


I'll record this in [illustrated] posts in this journal.

Why do I want to do this?

My photography has been getting better and better, but I'm still underconfident about it. I'm also not very organised when it comes to getting prints made. The combination makes this goal more of a challenge than you'd think. I believe that even now I could take a photograph that I'd be happy to display in its own right as a work of art, and this goal is meant to give me a little kick into doing so.


How will I know I've done it?

Somewhere around my house I will have, framed, and in plain sight of any visitors, a photograph that I have taken myself. It will be on display not because of the subject per se, but because I believe that it's a decent picture.


I'll record this by taking a photo of the photo, and posting it here.

Why do I want to do this?

I love jazz, but I hardly ever get up and go to a jazz night off my own bat. This goal is meant to be a little kick in the right direction.


How will I know when I've done it?

I will have gone to a jazz night, gig, concert, whatever, not because that's what a friend's birthday party happened to involve, nor because someone I knew was in it, but because I wanted to.


I'll record this in a post here.

What's this about?

Offa's Dyke is an 8th century earthwork that runs most of the length of the Welsh-English border; these days there's a long-distance footpath that follows it. Alternatively, I could walk from one side of England to the other.


Why do I want to do this?

I'd like to do a long-distance walk that's not a pilgrimage. I want to be able to say that I've walked from one side of a country to another. (I didn't do this on the Camino de Santiago, as I stopped in Santiago de Compostela and didn't continue to Finisterre.)


How will I know when I've done it?

I'll have traversed, on foot, either the length of Offa's Dyke from the Severn to Prestatyn (or vice versa), or from one coast of England to the opposite.


I'll record this in this journal, though you probably won't hear much from me while it's actually in progress.

What's this about?

Looking around other people's lists, one sees a lot of things like 'Collect 50 postcards'. For goodness sake, on my own I've got 'Seek and follow up on recommendations'. They've got to come from somewhere. And then 101 Of A Wolf is trying to distribute a huge number of 'business' cards promoting her 101, and people have been helping out with that. That's the sort of thing I'm talking about.


Why do I want to do this?

A lot of my goals are very much my own, not really comparable to anything other people are doing, and I'd like my 101 in 1001 to be a bit more of an outward-looking thing.


How will I know I've done it?

I'll have done three things to help specific 101ers reach a specific one of their goals.


I'll record this in this journal.

Why do I want to do this?

Two words: food miles. I couldn't manage even one meal of food I'd grown myself, but I'm pretty sure I could do a day of local produce.


How will I know it's done?

For 24 consecutive hours, I will have eaten only food from Surrey or adjacent counties.


I'll record this in a post on this journal.