4 posts tagged “do lists”

My lovely neighbor and friend Kitty tagged me, and I've been straggling with answering.

1)  What was I doing 10 years ago?

Working as a customer service wage slave in a high-tech sweatshop for an online retailer named after a very large river.  Still mourning the loss of my mom the previous year.  Having my first mid-life crisis.  Painting, though, and dreaming of going back to school (art school).

2)  What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?

• Clean the bathroom.
• Either shoulder-limp through Wade’s class or get my lazy self on to one of the moving machines in the gym, followed by shoulder exercises.
• Take a more leisurely walk outside after the heat of the day has peaked (it is actually hot today for a change) and pick up some books on hold at the library
• Water my wee garden patch. Harvest the second strawberry if it is ripe.  (The first one was kind of sour.)
• Call a friend out east who I’m looking forward to visiting soon.  (Because there is nothing even remotely chore-like about this, and he might not even be home when I call, I'm not counting this among the five.)
• Work on the transit system brochure I slacked off on during the week. (This is fun work, though.)

3)  Snacks I enjoy:

Right now I’m addicted to strawberries and cherries and anything else that is ripe.  Cheese, olives, nuts, dark chocolate, Clif peanut butter Builder’s and mixed nuts Mojo bars, Stonewall’s Jerquee (teriyaki is my favorite).  If I'm extra hungry, Amy's pockets, especially the broccoli and cheese variety.

4)  Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

I can’t really fathom this.  After paying off my debts and my brother-and-sister-in-law’s as well, I suppose I would retire to a life of painting somewhere with old trees and old buildings and gardens and a vibrant walkable downtown and an arts community.  Endowing an animal sanctuary would be good.  I would cook more and read more and sleep more and probably even travel more.

5)  Places I have lived:

With the exception of my current tiny home in Seattle, they are all listed here.

6)  Jobs I have had:

• Babysitter
• Indexer of a someone’s personal collection of film reviews
• Toll collector
• Salad bar girl
• Dance teacher
• Bus driver
• Bookkeeper
• Airport limo driver (lasted 1 day)/airport limo desk clerk
• Dance performer
• Stagehand/sound board operator for a small theater
• Researcher/writer/planner-type for a three different small transit consulting firms
• Department store cashier
• Freelance graphic designer/illustrator
• Planner/administrator-type for a small urban/rural transit system
• Bus stop planner for a large urban transit system
• Mural painter
• Customer service provider for an online retailer
• Newsletter and website (or rather Web site, per style guide that I balked at following) editor and publications designer for a nonprofit

7)  Bloggers I am tagging who I will enjoy getting to know better:

Here is where I get all shy about asking.  If you are so inspired, please carry on!

Show us a part of your bedroom/apartment/house that could use a little work.
Submitted by arrkann la sida.

I am feeling a bit daunted by my to-do list for the holiday weekend, so today's Vox Hunt seemed like a good way to procrastinate.

I don't own a dresser/bureau.  Instead, my clothes are mostly hung up semi-neatly or piled sloppily into a bookcase in my closet.  I will spare you the appalling disarray of the closet.

Not having a dresser means I don't have the convenience of a dresser top on which to place decorative and functional items.  For this purpose, I use the top shelf of a bookcase located just outside of the closet, facing the bathroom door. 

scary view from bathroom door

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Here is a detail of the "dresser top" with actual dust unretouched (though I did move the Hello Kitty hurricane lamp out of the way of the photos framed in black of my grandmother and mother):

dresser top

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Somewhere inside little box of cards and papers behind the Hello Kitty hurricane lamp, I hope I have stashed the Post-It note on which I scrawled the password to my PayPal account which I haven't used in months but suddenly have a need for.  I really hope it's in there somewhere.

While we are on the subject of unretouched dust, here is a shelf in my kitchen:

By the way, that blue apothecary bottle was unearthed at the farm in Maine where I last lived with both parents.

What's up for the weekend? 

• Finish draft report for work on impact of SAFETEA-LU on rural transit operations (yawn).
• Volunteer usher at the Egyptian for SIFF tomorrow for four hours during the day.  (If I'm lucky, see part of a film during shift.)
• Figure out which SIFF movies to see (why did I wait so long to do so?) and buy tickets and sign up for more usher shifts accordingly.
• See officemate Seth's folk band in Ballard tomorrow evening.  Record-shop at Sonic Boom in Ballard beforehand.
• Farmers' market early on Sunday.
• Limp through Sunday dance class without using right arm. Apply ice.  (Prognosis from Thursday's doctor visit: shoulder impingement supraspinatus and subscapularis = curtailing activity, icing, and six weeks of physical therapy starting 7:00 a.m. June 3.  Grumble.)
• Plant basil in the remaining space in the P-patch.  Harvest some of the burgeoning lemon balm and borage.  Learn more about borage.  I planted it as a "companion plant" for the tomatoes and strawberries and it is outgrowing everything else in the patch.
• If weather is nice, spend Sunday afternoon/evening at Folklife.  Hopefully find my brother and sister-in-law in the crowd.  Be on the lookout for Festival Guy as well.
• Random household chores (which I never get around to doing because I cannot bring myself to be more specific than this on any "do" list).  At a minimum, re-shelve the hundred-odd CDs recently purchased or pulled off shelves that are teetering in dangerous piles around television (because my DVD player doubles as a CD player) and clear off the small table which currently functions as horizontal storage rather than dining surface.
• Chip away at current book. Finish it if weather is like it has been and movies aren't commanding attention.
• If the weather is nice, dust off Sparky (my bike), inflate tires, and go for the first (sad but true) ride this year.
• Meet Karen for a beer after her filmmaking class.
• Finish draft report for work on impact of SAFETEA-LU on rural transit operations after procrastinating all three days of the weekend.

 I don't expect I'll be retouching any dust this weekend.

For me, this part of the year always feels more “new year” than the first of January ... new school year, new projects, renewed energy after the lethargy of summer.  I was born in late September so it's my own personal new year.  Some resolutions for this one:

1. Eat soup every day
2. Cook soup from scratch every week
3. Cook, generally
4. Visit the library once a week
5. Delve into my backlog of books purchased and not read
6. See more art.  Start making it again (just for fun)
7. Listen to the news at least several days a week
8. Read (or at least skim) a decent newspaper at least one day a week
9. Finish unpacking
10. Finish painting the bathroom (2/3 of the way there!) (pale bright bluegreen)
11. Paint the front entryway (pale minty green)
12. Assemble the small dining table and two stools purchased 6-odd weeks ago (what was my hurry?)
13. Take dance class 3 days a week
14. Ride my bike for fun at least 2 days a week
15. Stretch most nights
16. Floss most nights
17. Go to bed early enough most nights to sleep a full eight hours
18. Get up early enough most mornings to start work on time

I probably should add "send less time on the Internet," to facilitate #5, 9, 10, ... oh, all the rest of the list.  Oops, and I'm about to be late for work ... again.  Yes, spend less time on the Internet.

It is Saturday morning at 10:21 am.  I am not in ballet class, and not rushing to get to modern class.  I am not even in SIFF volunteer training which I thought was today but is actually next week, but at least the "oh crap! I'm late" jolt of adrenaline got me out of bed, in the shower, and out the door, heart a-pumpin' as I rushed to the Neptune, only to learn my mistake, have a leisurely sunny stroll home, treat myself to a fancy coffee prepared by the nice man who wears lavender glasses at my favorite coffee window counter along the Ave, breathe, and decide how to best use the unexpected "free" time.

I am staring down this list of things that must be done before heading to the airport tomorrow morning, and obviously procrastinating by taking the time to document this state of mind for all the online world to read or not read:

1. Laundry, if I want to be able to pack clean underwear.
2. Wash dishes, so cat sitter will have some counter space to work with to prepare vile prescription canned cat food blend, and not have to wash dishes on which to serve it on the first day.
3. Write out the important details the cat sitter might need.  Lay out Muki's medications on the counter, once it is visible again.
4. Meet with realtor to go over and sign the offer papers for the 410 sq. foot fixer-upper condominium I decided to try and buy.
5. Don't panic. Much.
6. Pick out CDs for the trip and insert into sleeves of carrying case (alas I am still holding out making the switch to an mp3 player).
7. Print out a bunch of documents needed for work and the trip.
8. Pick out the airplane book.  I think for the eastbound flight it will be:
   
   

   Salt: A World History
   
   
9. Don't forget to pack a very belated xmas present for a friend I'll be seeing back east, plus the dried cherries and almond roca for the office.
10. Throughout the day, obsessively check real estate listings and condo blogs to make sure nothing new hits the market in the hours before boarding plane and leaving offer papers in hands of realtor.
11. Also loaf around as much as possible reading other people's more interesting blogs, interspersed with making pointless edits to this post.
12. Don't think about the fact that if the offer is accepted, closing on the sale will probably happen two days before having to fly to LA and make that scary scary conference presentation, concurrently with meeting a deadline on a project that will take more hours that my normal workday involves.  (Why did I decide to do this now?)
13. Repeat #5.
14. Carve out path through piles of clutter so cat sitter will be able to navigate through apartment with reduced risk of injury.
15. Deal with any unpaid bills unearthed in the excavation.
16. Change litter in catbox.
17. Take out trash.
18. Vaccum at least the top layer of cat hair off exposed areas of rug so cat sitter will be able to detect any hairballs or other such surprises before stepping on them.
19. Take frequent breaks during actual packing to snuggle with cats.  Do best to distract them from the suitcases and packing frenzy and hopefully discourage any gestures of disapproval they might be tempted to deposit on the rug.
20. Sleep at least a few hours, or prepare to get sick yet again.

 Oh look, it's now 11:22!  Procrastination successful.  Over and out.

 p.s., 21. Don't freak out about having to board an airplane, at least until after a cursory attempt at #20.

22. Ride bike. If I had done this last night as planned instead of looking at a 410 sq. ft. dwelling unit, this list wouldn't include #s 4, 5, 12, or 13.