Note: This was originally posted on the 16th of January 2010. I have created this page so that I can tick off items as the year progresses.

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A couple weeks ago, I grappled with the arbitrariness of January 1st as the start of the New Year and declared that MY year starts on MY birthday. I’m also too good to have resolutions, I have goals, I have plans, I am an advanced elegant creature who eats cheesecake and never gains an ounce and always has perfectly silky hair.

So anyway, my deepest apologies for sounding like a sanctimonious twit way back two weeks ago. We all go through phases. You know, you really shouldn’t be so judgmental.
Anyway, my birthday is tomorrow so in celebration of the 31st year of Shilo, I’ve taken time out of my precious life of unemployment to share my list of 31 plans for the next year.

Yeah, yeah, I know. The year you turn 31 is actually your 32nd year. Back off pickypants, this is my list and I’m doing it my way.

Ok! Here goes!

1. Take lessons and become a stronger swimmer

2. Grow herbs that taste as good as the ones at the market

3. Make a duvet cover based on Elsworth Kelly’s “Colors for a large wall”

4. Go to a wine tasting

5. Go snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef.

6. Fly a kite

7. Make 10 music mixes to give as gifts to family and friends

8. Send 20 postcards

9. Build myself the ultimate swimsuit

10. Bake a pie from scratch (including the crust)

11. See a kangaroo in the wild

12. Use blurb (or something similar) to make a book

13. Climb one of the peaks in the Glasshouse Mountain range

14. Take a basic photography lesson

15. Go on a trip with a friend

16. Pick and eat some sort of food from the wild

17. Celebrate my first wedding anniversary in style

18. Spend an afternoon walking around taking photos by myself

19. Produce a zine for the first time in a decade

20. Develop the capacity to jog a long block without getting even slightly winded

21. Take photos with a large bunch of balloons

22. Double my personal dinner menu

23. Write a short fictional story

24. Tour a brewery

25. Ride in a hot-air balloon

26. Sell something on Etsy

27. Spend a day riding waterslides

28. Visit an observatory

29. Master the folding of origami cranes

30. Have a picnic

31. Make a short film using our flip video camera

This list will ensure that I do more than get bogged down in the routine of errands, work and all those other mundane life details. Too many years have slipped away going to work or making sandwiches. I mean, I’ve eaten some DAMN GOOD sandwiches in my time, but you know how it goes. It’s easy to get caught up and not take time to do fun stuff.
Especially when you’re a boring creature of habit and lover-of-routine like me.

If it does not succeed in ensuring that I am capable of having fun, well then if nothing else it will stand as a testament to my utter lameness and make me feel guilty for eternity or at least a couple weeks.

Boom! That’s it! What’s on your list?