Let’s try this again, shall we?

A few years ago my best friend and I decided to take the 101 Things in 1001 Days challenge. Fairly self-explanatory: you write a list of 101 things and then you have 1001 days to accomplish them. Needless to say, we did not manage to do all 101 and we were even worse about updating our blog with our progress (one of the 101 things, as it happens).

But I’m 23 today and maybe I’m under the spell of birthdays or still under the spell of New Year’s Resolutions, so I’ve decided I’m giving it another go.

My 101 Things list is pretty broad, with goals about fitness, food, travel, fashion, books, and so on. Some will be quite easy—host a dinner party, find a perfume I like—while others require a lot more effort, such as climbing a mountain or finishing writing a novel. A few are already in progress (namely, I took my first belly dance course last week, so much fun!), some need to be done immediately (write a letter on day 1 to be read on day 1001, to be written once I’m finished with this blog post), and some are for far in the future (I don’t plan on visiting 30 cities for the first time or writing my thesis in the next few weeks, anyway). But they’ll hopefully all be finished by October 16, 2016. Although I didn’t make it a goal to update a blog with my progress this time around, I probably will occasionally anyway, so wish me luck!

Here are a few of the goals I’m hoping to complete:

3. Learn knife skills: It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with competitive cooking shows. Inevitably there’s always a time limit that requires the chefs to cut something really fast. I’d like to be able to do that without that “something” being my hand.

12. Read at an open mic: I love writing but I’m not very big on sharing it with people. There are so many open mic nights for writers in Galway that I’m working on creating something worth reading and then working up the courage to get out and read it.

26. Run a competitive race: One of my general resolutions is to get back into a routine of running at least a few times a week. Eventually I want to run a real race, whether it be as short as a 5k or as long as a marathon, although a half-marathon sounds ideal.

39. Be able to do 50 push ups: I hate push ups. They are one of my least favourite exercises. I hate them even more than sit ups and that’s a lot. But I feel like they’re a very good indicator of fitness, so I want to be good at them.

47. Visit the Normandy landing beaches: I’ve always been interested in WWII and particularly D-Day, so seeing the beaches in the north of France where the Allied troops landed has always been high on my list of places to travel.

57. Learn the location of every country: A broader goal would to become more knowledgable about countries as a whole, particularly non-American and European countries, but I’ll start with at least knowing where they all are.

64. Learn to bartend: I haven’t thought much about this one, whether I’d want to take a bartending class or just pick up some tips, if I’d want it as a job or not, and so on. But knowing how to make a good cocktail sounds like a fun and useful thing to do!

73. Get comfortable eating alone at restaurants: I love to travel by myself, but I’m always worried that I look like a freak when I’m eating by myself, even if in reality nobody probably notices. I want to be able to walk in anywhere and sit down and be fine.

90. Type 100 words per minute: Last time I was tested, I typed 90wpm, which I know is already pretty darn fast. But I figure, if I can get 90 why not practise a bit and make it an even 100? It’s not exactly a party trick, but it might be cool.

99. Organise a volunteer event: I want to start volunteering in general more, because my amount of volunteer work has sharply dropped off since graduating college, but what I’d like to do the most is come up with an idea for a volunteering event and make it happen.