Fifty Things in Five years, update

The challenge was accepted June 21, 2009 (seen here) --now that it's three years later, let's see how I'm doing!

1. Graduate. (oh boy. this is a big one)

--working on it.

2. Dance at a ball in Vienna!
--sigh...my friend who lived in Vienna no longer lives in Vienna, but you never know, maybe I'll get lucky.

3. Host an REU student (a summer undergraduate student)
--Always seems to be out of my reach, sadly. 

4. Prepare curriculum for malaria for ages K-12.

--I amend this to the work I've done with malaria outreach already (the podcast!).  I do hope to get involved with more public education and science, though!

5. Visit DC and see the cherry blossoms bloom!

--I did get to visit DC, but not during cherry season.  One day! 

6. Weekend trips to:

Newport, RI

Providence, RI

Cape Cod 

Martha's Vineyard

Vermont

New Hampshire

Maine

Pittsburgh

The Jersey Shore

Acadia National Park

7. Go on brewery tours here in Boston with my brother
--Definitely on his next visit!

8. Pick my own berries and make homemade jam

--Last summer, and likely more this summer!

9. Sew my own duvet cover
--Not yet, but on the docket!

10. Make my own yogurt

--Once a month, via this crockpot method.  Easy and delicious

11. Start the tradition of "Monday Classic Movie Night"

--Apparently this isn't the right crowd here at McCormick for such a thing...but muffin nights have definitely been a hit!
 
12. See the band "Beirut" live
--They'll be in Boston in September! 

13. Store all of my things in fun vintage suitcases instead of office boxes

--Absolutely.  All of the storage in my living room underneath the twin daybed is suitcases...love.

14. Keep an orchid alive.

--Utter fail.  Not enough light in this place.

15. Compost in my apartment

--Hm, at this point, composting just isn't feasible.  I don't have the space.  But, MIT expands their composting program every year, so hopefully I'm on the path to composting more often.

16. Finish 10 semesters with the MIT Symphony Orchestra

--I've finished 8!

17. Go back to Gotland to visit Birgit and Åke (as well as visit Pallav's family in Stockholm and Ulrika in Uppsala)
--Not quite yet. 

18. Successfully refinish/reupholster something.

--No space!  This will have to wait til after I graduate.

19. Publish a paper.
--not yet...

20. Find the perfect powerpoint font (I thought I liked Futura, but then I toyed with Gill Sans, and now I'm all in a tizzy because neither of those is quite right)

--Calibri wins.

21. Plan all my meals, all the time

--Arg, not really.  I wish, though.  I keep trying different methods, one day I will find one that will work.

22. Get a DLSR and learn how to take fantastic photographs

--No DLSR, but a lovely Canon S95.  And at this point, I don't want a DLSR, too big and hard to handle.

23. Do the 100 pushups plan (may have to be modified due to a knee injury, but we'll see)
--Sometimes, I'm lazier than I think I am.

24. Have a shoe collection which is practical, lovely, and of very good quality.

--Getting there!  I'm slowly purging my collection, and I would like to say that I haven't bought a single pair of shoes from Payless in over three years. 



25. Picnic in Boston Common
--I can't believe I still haven't done this. 

26. Visit all of the stops on the T (subway line) here in Boston, and see what's going on around them.
--or this!

27. Make my own vanilla extract.

--At this point, I've made about 5 liters of vanilla extract from vodka. 

28. Play horn in a friend's wedding (to be biased about my own instrument, Ave Maria on horn is simply gorgeous)

--Yup.  And there was Star Wars.  Most excellent.

29. Hold a tea party, complete with cucumber sandwiches and macaroons!
--I have attended a tea party with these things (and made lambingtons) but I've never held one on my own.  This summer, maybe?

30. Make spritz cookies

--done!  Spritz guns are treacherous, though. 

31. Go to a beach during the day wearing a two-piece swimsuit (this contains about 85 fears. Sharks, bikinis, sunshine, UV rays....thank goodness Aveeno makes SPF55)
--Nope.  Still a wuss.

32. Visit certain someones in Canada
--I wish!  Have you seen airfare prices lately?  Grumble grumble.

33. DIY space rack out of these tin canisters

--done!

34. Scan in all of the pictures from my childhood and archive them digitally

--oh, fits and starts.  My brother's helping with this one.

35. Embroider something
--this summer!

36. See the Northern Lights
--Nope, can't seem to track them down.

37. Learn the basics of another language

--French, for my trip to Paris summer of 2013!

38. Have guests from out of town all the time! (if you come I will feed you copious amounts of cannoli!)

--I have done well on this one

39. Learn how to play one song in full on guitar

--Yeah...I don't have access to a guitar anymore.  And I have no particular compunction to complete this one, at least right now.

40. Send out creative/fun/retro Christmas cards
--This winter I have big plans. 

41. Feel like I have kept in touch with friends from high school and college

--This is a struggle.  Unfortunately, some people don't want to stay in contact.

42.  Exercise!

--65 minutes of elliptical a day is a start.  But I could always improve on this.

43. Learn how to cook with tofu.
--I can't say that I have. 

44. Commission a painting from a friend here at MIT.
--I don't really have anyone to commission from...

45. Fix my broken jewelry, and then inventory all of it for safety/insurance/posterity

--I've gotten started on this, but it does take time (and the right cloud cover to provide light sans shadows in the Penthouse)

46. Fix my iphoto archives (currently a mess and a half)

--getting there

47. Make a felt advent calender (kind of like this one)

--in the works!

48. Put one more stamp on my passport (besides the aforementioned Austria, Sweden, and Canada)

--Paris, next summer!

49. Have a midsommar celebration, complete with sill (fish), beet salad, new potatoes, strawberries and cream, cloudberry jam and baguettes, and lots of lingonberry and elderflower saft (juice concentrate-like thing)

--This Saturday makes the third annual Midsommarfest!

50.  Start a garden!

--I'd call the Penthouse garden a start! 


All told---I've completed 12 absolutely, worked on 13 more, 6 are hereby declared unimportant or un-doable in my current living situation, and I still need to do 19 more.  Two years left!