What are you doing New Year's Eve?

Been watching some of my Oscar movies. Just finished Marty. God I love the old movies!

Also watched The Godfather (which I've never seen in its entirety in a single sitting) and I've got The Godfather Part II in hand. Think I'll save it for the weekend though. It's a long one. The Godfather Part III didn't win, but still I've got it enroute so I can complete the trilogy.

In other tasks news I read three chapters of The DaVinci Code last night, sometimes my eyes glaze over and I need to slap my hand away from ripping out a dozen pages that aren't really necessary, but other than that, I'm doing fine with that one. I ate breakfast today, but it wasn't really a planned thing, I just happened to be hungry because I went to bed last night hungry. However, if it happens again tomorrow, I'll be on my way toward crossing something off!

Amendment to #3

I haven't given up on the getting up early thingy. Summer officially starts today and I'd like to see some mornings. The 6:30 rising didn't work for me though. Getting up early is no good if the day passes and I never completely exit the hazy fog of sleep. The fact of the matter is I am a night person, I've always been a night person, I will likely always be a night person. Fighting against my nature doesn't help me get anywhere but more exhausted. And more exhaustion, I don't need. Unless I have to be somewhere, I don't set an alarm. I wake up when I wake up. I go to bed when I'm sleepy. When I leave it to nature I go to bed somewhere between 1 and 3, the earlier I go the more I read once I get there, and I wake between 10 and 11, usually about 10 minutes either side of the half hour, 10:20-10:40. Okay, so really, there's nothing wrong with this, I'm getting sleep, I feel rested, I'm getting as many hours of worktime into the day as anyone else, etc. Here's the thing--I actually kinda like mornings too. I like getting stuff done by noon. I like to have evenings to myself to do whatever I want, rather than work. So, I've amended the task from "at 6:30" to "by 7:30." Perhaps I'll have better luck, get closer to where I aspire to be. Maybe I'll start tomorrow . . . maybe I'll wait until Monday. You'll be the first to know.

It Happened One Night

Watched this 1934 Oscar winning film this afternoon. Turns out I had seen it before, but didn't mind watching it again. Clark Gable is always a cool dude. Watching early movies, I'm always struck by the writing. Before technology and special effects, all they had was writing and acting, and it works. I think we've lost something since these simpler times. Anyway, one down, many more to go.

Task Aborted

Given my workload this week, I felt it necessary to abort the getting up early thing. I don't know if it's the weather or what but I just haven't been able to get my brain cells moving as far as writing or any kind of work goes. I tried switching things up. I tried taking a nap. And it just wasn't happening. Both days my body woke up, but my brain never did. I was getting lots of physical stuff done, but my mind went to mush. So today I decided to go back to letting my body wake me naturally and slept in until the usual 10:30. I feel sharper than I have in days. It's weird. It must be weather related. But I've too much not getting done to mess around with this, this week. I'll try again as soon as I've got some stuff off my plate.

Waking Day #2

So yesterday I did the get up early, go for a walk, eat breakfast thing and quite honestly it didn't work wonders for me. I accomplished very little workwise throughout the day because I was wiped out, fuzzy brain tired, all day. So today I'm going at it a bit differently. I got up early (even earlier than yesterday!) at 6:05. I didn't go for a walk and won't until later in the day. The plan is to go later this afternoon when I feel myself lagging and need a little pick me up. I haven't had breakfast yet because I do find I need an hour or two before I'm hungry. The plan is to check email and do the blogging then taking a break to eat. Hopefully this will work better for me. Because yesterday was truly frustrating, not being able to get my head around the simplest concepts because I was so fogged in. It may have been weather related as well, who knows. Anyway, two days down of early rising! Yay for me!

Waking Day #1

Yesterday I crawled into my bed at 10 pm! Ten! I turned off all the lights and watched The Trailer Park Boys. Then turned off the tv and went to bed. Sleep did not come easy, of course. I tossed and turned. I mulled things over in my head. But I didn't get back up. And I didn't turn on the light. And I kept my eyes closed . . . and eventually I slept. I woke at 3:30 (for me to already have been asleep by 3:30 is some sort of a miracle!) and then I woke again at 4:50. I considered getting up at 5:30. But somehow managed to keep my fat ass in bed and be dreaming when the alarm rang at 6:30. I opted for the 6:30 alarm setting with no snooze. So when my feet hit the floor I was off and running!

I did a small loop around the Waterfowl Park. A 35 minute walk first thing this morning. Ten minutes short to actually count toward my task, so tomorrow I'll try a different loop and see how I do. I returned and made breakfast, which does count toward that task.

Yay me! . . . now I'm ready for a mid-morning nap . . .

Contagious

This 101 in 1001 days thing is contagious! Check it out!

Films Update

I modified my Zip.ca list so now the only thing on it are Oscar winning films I have yet to see, the second season of Deadwood and the fourth season of Queer as Folk. I plan to cancel my membership once I've seen Deadwood, but since it's only recently come out on dvd and seems in high demand even though I've flagged it for ASAP it could still take awhile. In the meantime I'll finish up with QAF and get a bunch of movies crossed of my list. On average I probably watch about 10 Zip movies per month, so actually if I stayed with it, I could totally see them all by the end of the year. Not too shabby.

De-Cluttering & Stuff

99. Sell, donate, or throw away 101 items.

I have it in my head to do this today. I'll be throwing away, but whether I can get to the 101 items . . . we'll see. I plan to try. You'll be the first to know.

I'm also up for some rug shampooing (#81) very soon. Today or tomorrow is my thought. Perhaps it's too much . . . but I'm feeling energetic and it is the kind of blah day outside where I feel like running around and doing stuff inside.

Monday is still on my calendar as day one of the month-long challenge of early-rising. I'd also like to throw in the breakfast challenge for the same time (because I tend to enjoy and be able to eat breakfast more when I get up early, so it might be easier to do then) and the walking challenge as well. Yes, I know that's a tall, tall order and I should just focus on the one thing . . . but ideally, I mean the real goal, I want to become one of those people who gets up and goes for a walk before breakfast everyday. I want to be one of those women in the cutesy jogging suit, hustling down the sidewalk, pumping a bottle of water in one hand (an ipod would be nice, though not on the list at this time). And of course, achieving this, would be a fantastic step toward the goal of doing a marathon. So it's all connected.

Anyway, nothing's getting tossed with me sitting here in front of the puter.

Falling in Love on Demand

19. Fall in love.

That seems like a tall order. I mean you just can't decide to fall in love and then do it the next day, can you? So, I've been thinking about this one and I suppose if love doesn't come my way soon, I'll have to seriously start looking for it . . . and that means . . . what does that mean exactly? Hanging out at bookstores and coffee shops hoping men who like books and/or coffee will flock to me? Joining dating websites? Going speed dating? Looking for a singles club with members of an appropriate age? How does one fall in love on demand anyway?

Thoughts on #4 . . . Did I REALLY Say Marathon?

As in physical exercise? As in running? Yikes! But yeah, I said it, and I'm damn serious. As some of you already know if you've been following my regular blog Living in Limbo, I have arthritis. At one point I was in such a terrible flare I seriously doubted I would ever be able to walk like a normal person again, let alone dance or run or comfortably take the stairs and so on. It took a really long time and a major shift in my approach to listening to my body, but I am now living a drug-free, sometimes pain-free, walkable, danceable, runnable, taking the stairs two at a time kind of life. I often feel like I've been given a second chance, like I magically escaped. Every time I walk to the post office I think, "Wow! Here I am! Walking!" I don't take that simple act for granted anymore.

For a couple of years I've been thinking about doing a walk or a run or a marathon of sorts, just to celebrate myself, my ability to do it. The more I thought about it I thought why not do it for other sufferers as well. So, I started investigating the Arthritis Society's Joints in Motion Campaign. And the more I looked into it, the more I wanted to do it. But this year has been impossible. There was no way I could undertake such a huge endeavour. I mean besides getting in the physical and mental shape to do the thing, you also have to do a lot of fundraising (the point afterall). So, I declined Amsterdam :-( Said so long to Hawaii and Arizona :-( and told organizers I'd have to wait until next year. And now begins the task of simplifying my life to the point where I have room for a great big old marathon (I'm hearing rumors of Athens, yay!) Life is going to have to become Job, Personal Writing and Marathon, c'est tout! No volunteer. No freelance. No extras. Totally feasible.

I think this will be one of the most important things I do in my life.

100 Best Novels #21

The list from this website (the board's picks, tho the readers look mighty interesting too). I've crossed out the ones I've already read, to the best of my recollection. Seems I've got my work cut out for me! And looking forward to it! I've been immersed in strictly Canadian literature for much too long. How many have you read?

1. ULYSSES by James Joyce
2. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
4. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
5. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
6. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
7. CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
8. DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler
9. SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence
10. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
11. UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
12. THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler
13. 1984 by George Orwell
14. I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
15. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
16. AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser
17. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
18. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
19. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
20. NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
21. HENDERSON THE RAIN KING by Saul Bellow
22. APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA by John O'Hara
23. U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos
24. WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson
25. A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster
26. THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James
27. THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James
28. TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald
29. THE STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY by James T. Farrell
30. THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford
31. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
32. THE GOLDEN BOWL by Henry James
33. SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser
34. A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh
35. AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
36. ALL THE KING'S MEN by Robert Penn Warren
37. THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder
38. HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster
39. GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin
40. THE HEART OF THE MATTER by Graham Greene
41. LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
42. DELIVERANCE by James Dickey
43. A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (series) by Anthony Powell
44. POINT COUNTER POINT by Aldous Huxley
45. THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
46. THE SECRET AGENT by Joseph Conrad
47. NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad
48. THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence
49. WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence
50. TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
51. THE NAKED AND THE DEAD by Norman Mailer
52. PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT by Philip Roth
53. PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov
54. LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
55. ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
56. THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett
57. PARADE'S END by Ford Madox Ford
58. THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton
59. ZULEIKA DOBSON by Max Beerbohm
60. THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
61. DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather
62. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones
63. THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLES by John Cheever
64. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
65. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
66. OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
67. HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
68. MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis
69. THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton
70. THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Lawrence Durell
71. A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA by Richard Hughes
72. A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS by V.S. Naipaul
73. THE DAY OF THE LOCUST by Nathanael West
74. A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
75. SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh
76. THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE by Muriel Spark
77. FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce
78. KIM by Rudyard Kipling
79. A ROOM WITH A VIEW by E.M. Forster
80. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh
81. THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow
82. ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner
83. A BEND IN THE RIVER by V.S. Naipaul
84. THE DEATH OF THE HEART by Elizabeth Bowen
85. LORD JIM by Joseph Conrad
86. RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow
87. THE OLD WIVES' TALE by Arnold Bennett
88. THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
89. LOVING by Henry Green
90. MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie
91. TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell
92. IRONWEED by William Kennedy
93. THE MAGUS by John Fowles
94. WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys
95. UNDER THE NET by Iris Murdoch
96. SOPHIE'S CHOICE by William Styron
97. THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
98. THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. Cain
99. THE GINGER MAN by J.P. Donleavy
100. THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Booth Tarkington

The Oscars #20

20. Watch all the Oscar winning Best Pictures.

Here is the list. How many have you seen? Films I've seen are crossed out if I have a vivid recollection of watching. If I've only some vague idea that I might have seen the movie I haven't crossed them off because I intend to watch them again. And some, especially the older ones and the ones from the 80's, I just really want to watch again, so I haven't crossed them off yet, even if I'm totally certain I've seen them.

1927/28 (1st)OUTSTANDING PICTURE* Paramount Famous Lasky -- Wings

1928/29 (2nd)OUTSTANDING PICTURE* Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer -- The Broadway Melody

1929/30 (3rd)OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION* All Quiet on the Western Front -- Universal

1930/31 (4th)OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION* Cimarron -- RKO Radio

1931/32 (5th)OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION* Grand Hotel -- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

1932/33 (6th)OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION* Cavalcade -- Fox

1934 (7th)OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION* It Happened One Night -- Columbia

1935 (8th)OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION* Mutiny on the Bounty -- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

1936 (9th)OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION* The Great Ziegfeld -- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

1937 (10th)OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION* The Life of Emile Zola -- Warner Bros.

1938 (11th)OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION* You Can't Take It with You -- Columbia

1939 (12th)OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION* Gone with the Wind -- Selznick International Pictures

1940 (13th)OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION* Rebecca -- Selznick International Pictures

1941 (14th)OUTSTANDING MOTION PICTURE* How Green Was My Valley -- 20th Century-Fox

1942 (15th)OUTSTANDING MOTION PICTURE* Mrs. Miniver -- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

1943 (16th)OUTSTANDING MOTION PICTURE* Casablanca -- Warner Bros.

1944 (17th)BEST MOTION PICTURE* Going My Way -- Paramount

1945 (18th)BEST MOTION PICTURE* The Lost Weekend -- Paramount

1946 (19th)BEST MOTION PICTURE* The Best Years of Our Lives -- Samuel Goldwyn Productions

1947 (20th)BEST MOTION PICTURE* Gentleman's Agreement -- 20th Century-Fox

1948 (21st)BEST MOTION PICTURE* Hamlet -- J. Arthur Rank-Two Cities Films

1949 (22nd)BEST MOTION PICTURE* All the King's Men -- Robert Rossen Productions

1950 (23rd)BEST MOTION PICTURE* All about Eve -- 20th Century-Fox

1951 (24th)BEST MOTION PICTURE* An American in Paris -- Arthur Freed, Producer

1952 (25th)BEST MOTION PICTURE* The Greatest Show on Earth -- Cecil B. DeMille, Producer

1953 (26th)BEST MOTION PICTURE* From Here to Eternity -- Buddy Adler, Producer

1954 (27th)BEST MOTION PICTURE* On the Waterfront -- Sam Spiegel, Producer

1955 (28th)BEST MOTION PICTURE* Marty -- Harold Hecht, Producer

1956 (29th) BEST MOTION PICTURE* Around the World in 80 Days -- Michael Todd, Producer

1957 (30th)BEST MOTION PICTURE* The Bridge on the River Kwai -- Sam Spiegel, Producer

1958 (31st)BEST MOTION PICTURE* Gigi -- Arthur Freed, Producer

1959 (32nd)BEST MOTION PICTURE* Ben-Hur -- Sam Zimbalist, Producer

1960 (33rd)BEST MOTION PICTURE* The Apartment -- Billy Wilder, Producer

1961 (34th)BEST MOTION PICTURE* West Side Story -- Robert Wise, Producer

1962 (35th)BEST PICTURE* Lawrence of Arabia -- Sam Spiegel, Producer

1963 (36th)BEST PICTURE* Tom Jones -- Tony Richardson, Producer

1964 (37th)BEST PICTURE* My Fair Lady -- Jack L. Warner, Producer

1965 (38th)BEST PICTURE* The Sound of Music -- Robert Wise, Producer

1966 (39th)BEST PICTURE* A Man for All Seasons -- Fred Zinnemann, Producer

1967 (40th)BEST PICTURE* In the Heat of the Night -- Walter Mirisch, Producer

1968 (41st)BEST PICTURE* Oliver! -- John Woolf, Producer

1969 (42nd)BEST PICTURE* Midnight Cowboy -- Jerome Hellman, Producer

1970 (43rd)BEST PICTURE* Patton -- Frank McCarthy, Producer

1971 (44th)BEST PICTURE* The French Connection -- Philip D'Antoni, Producer

1972 (45th)BEST PICTURE* The Godfather -- Albert S. Ruddy, Producer

1973 (46th)BEST PICTURE* The Sting -- Tony Bill, Michael Phillips and Julia Phillips, Producers

1974 (47th)BEST PICTURE* The Godfather Part II -- Francis Ford Coppola, Producer; Gray Frederickson and Fred Roos, Co-Producers

1975 (48th)BEST PICTURE* One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest -- Saul Zaentz and Michael Douglas, Producers

1976 (49th)BEST PICTURE* Rocky -- Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, Producers

1977 (50th)BEST PICTURE* Annie Hall -- Charles H. Joffe, Producer

1978 (51st)BEST PICTURE* The Deer Hunter -- Barry Spikings, Michael Deeley, Michael Cimino and John Peverall, Producers

1979 (52nd)BEST PICTURE* Kramer vs. Kramer -- Stanley R. Jaffe, Producer

1980 (53rd)BEST PICTURE* Ordinary People -- Ronald L. Schwary, Producer

1981 (54th)BEST PICTURE* Chariots of Fire -- David Puttnam, Producer

1982 (55th)BEST PICTURE* Gandhi -- Richard Attenborough, Producer

1983 (56th)BEST PICTURE* Terms of Endearment -- James L. Brooks, Producer

1984 (57th)BEST PICTURE* Amadeus -- Saul Zaentz, Producer

1985 (58th)BEST PICTURE* Out of Africa -- Sydney Pollack, Producer

1986 (59th)BEST PICTURE* Platoon -- Arnold Kopelson, Producer

1987 (60th)BEST PICTURE* The Last Emperor -- Jeremy Thomas, Producer

1988 (61st)BEST PICTURE* Rain Man -- Mark Johnson, Producer

1989 (62nd)BEST PICTURE* Driving Miss Daisy -- Richard D. Zanuck and Lili Fini Zanuck, Producers

1990 (63rd)BEST PICTURE* Dances With Wolves -- Jim Wilson and Kevin Costner, Producers

1991 (64th)BEST PICTURE* The Silence of the Lambs -- Edward Saxon, Kenneth Utt and Ron Bozman, Producers

1992 (65th)BEST PICTURE* Unforgiven -- Clint Eastwood, Producer

1993 (66th)BEST PICTURE* Schindler's List -- Steven Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen and Branko Lustig, Producers

1994 (67th)BEST PICTURE* Forrest Gump -- Wendy Finerman, Steve Tisch and Steve Starkey, Producers

1995 (68th)BEST PICTURE* Braveheart -- Mel Gibson, Alan Ladd, Jr. and Bruce Davey, Producers

1996 (69th)BEST PICTURE* The English Patient -- Saul Zaentz, Producer

1997 (70th)BEST PICTURE* Titanic -- James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers

1998 (71st)BEST PICTURE* Shakespeare in Love -- David Parfitt, Donna Gigliotti, Harvey Weinstein, Edward Zwick and Marc Norman, Producers

1999 (72nd)BEST PICTURE* American Beauty -- Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks, Producers

2000 (73rd)BEST PICTURE* Gladiator -- Douglas Wick, David Franzoni and Branko Lustig, Producers

2001 (74th)BEST PICTURE* A Beautiful Mind -- Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, Producers

2002 (75th)BEST PICTURE* Chicago -- Martin Richards, Producer

2003 (76th)BEST PICTURE* The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King -- Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, Producers

2004 (77th)BEST PICTURE* Million Dollar Baby -- Clint Eastwood, Albert S. Ruddy and Tom Rosenberg, Producers

2005 (78th)BEST PICTURE* Crash -- Paul Haggis and Cathy Schulman, Producers

2006 (79th) BEST PICTURE* The Departed -- Graham King, Producer

#3 Plans for getting Up Early

Get up at 6:30 am for one month. Wow! Yowzer! Oy! Can this stay-up-all-night, slow to rise, not a morning person, do this?! I plan to find out very soon. I'm not sure how this is going to work out. I might need a bunch of trial runs before I get a whole month down. So I've been looking at the summer schedule so far (getting up early in summer might be more lovely than the darkness of winter) and I think I should try to squeeze in a month of early-rising starting right after Trish's visit next weekend and ending just before Mom and all come to visit me in July. Because of course my chances of failing, of falling off the plan, of sleeping until 8 or 9 anyway, increase dramatically when I've got guests, especially if we're staying up late. So the countdown begins to my first attempt on this one. Lifting off on June 12th and running until the 12th of July (is that Jason's birthday?) Should I set the alarm for 6:30 exactly and count on getting right up? Or should I set it for 6:15'ish so I can do the snooze thing and ease into getting up? Keep in mind that I do have to get out of the bed in order to hit snooze or turn off the alarm as the clock is on my dresser at the foot of my bed. Strategies anyone?

Thoughts on #1

So I went and saw The DaVinci Code movie last week while I was in Miramichi. Didn't much care for it. So now reading the book seems almost pointless. I thought maybe if the movie was at least done well that I could somehow force my way through the book based on the momentum of the film. Why do I want to read the book so badly? It's good to read bad writing. You can learn as much by identifying what is poorly done in writing as you can by reading fantastic writing. I am right now reading Tom Wolfe's I Am Charlotte Simmons, which is somewhat poorly written. There are times when I want to pull my hair out, or at the very least 20 pages of unnecessary crap (I get it already! I'm not a moron! Make your point and move on) filled with changing tenses and point of view, questionable wording, and passive telling sentence structure. Yes, I have moments when my eyes glaze over and I don't think I'll make it, but so far I've persevered. I think I've had more success with this book than I've been able to have with The DaVinci Code because sometimes the sentences are fine. There are whole inoffensive pages, sometimes more than one in a row. My plan is to finish this book and then start right in on Code, while my mind is used to this type of reading. I mean transitioning from Canadian literature to Dan Brown probably was not the best way to approach this task. This easing into it might work.

#51 Done!

Try five new foods I've never eaten before.

Completed while away at my parents this past weekend.

1. Portabello Mushroom Burger
2. Rambutan
3. Feijoa
4. Starfruit
5. Anjou Pears

I also tried an assortment of hot peppers, some kind of a papaya, a chocolate mousse dream pie blizzard treat from DQ and I ordered something I never had before from the menu at Jungle Jim's (the peppercorn steak melt).

Changing things up is a lot of fun!