Starfruit and Heineken

Don't worry. These two new items hit my palate on two completely separate occasions!

Carambola (which rings your ears much like a kid-friendly curse word) is a yummy fruit that hails from Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, and some parts of East Asia. (Thanks for the info wiki!) I've always wanted to give it a try. So I was super excited to see it at the grocery store a couple weeks ago! I brought it home and waited until it was ripe enough to eat. When I finally took a bite I decided that I didn't like the waxy skin... although it was certainly edible. The fruit itself has a nice, juicy, indescribable taste to it! Being a picky eater, I dutifully picked around the skin to finish the scrumptious inner fruit! One new food down--and one I quite enjoyed!

I'd give Heineken the green star (not a red one) when it comes to beer. If gold was a color on the rainbow it definitely wouldn't be shacking up next to blazin' red. To give this beer a red star would be unfair though. Lime green on the other hand seems appropriately close to (and far from) where the gold star might fall if it were a real color. Heineken is lime green in my mind. About a 5.9 or so on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best. Granted, I have decently shoddy tastes when it comes to which "brew" I like best. I like it American. And cheap. Or so I like to think... but that may change with 99 beers left to experience!

Not such a colorful past, eh?

27) Visit all 50 states

This is a map of the states I have "visited" in America. Let me be clear, I want to go to these states... not through them. Hence, it doesn't count unless I sleep there and spend at least a day bumping around the sites. (I hope to spend more than a day in each place, of course.) I didn't include states where I slept in an airport, passenger seat, or on a train-even if I was there for 24 hours! I know, it looks like I don't get out much (the map isn't exactly a rainbow) but I can't wait to fill it in!

000010110000001000001010

Binary Code



Did I just learn to convert little zeros and ones into mathematical sense? Why, yes, yes I did! This endeavor was only supposed to be a look-see. Surprisingly, despite my (completely self-actualized) horrendous mathematical computation skills, it only took about 20 minutes for me to grasp this mysterious code! I'll admit that I'm completely stoked about it! Goal number 44, you've been had!

My Bucket List (With many parenthetical tangents)

Originally my "bucket list" was more of a quarter-life crisis of sorts. Hyped up on coffee and lack of sleep, my best friend and I suddenly realised that 2.2 decades into our lives we weren't satisfied. Being ambitious in a town full of complacent, we wondered how we had accomplished so much of what we should and so little of what we really wanted. In a rare moment of optimism I lighted up with a plan that she quickly took under wing. We spontaneously decided to plan a spontaneous year of accomplishments. Which.... didn't quite pull through due to us being terrible planners and too broke for any spontaneity. She is now 24 and I'll be arriving soon. We've been working at our goals, and I'm coming to admit that I've been adding more than I've been accomplishing. That being said, it is no longer a year long quest. This is decidedly a bucket list. (And I'm okay with that!)


Now for the original twenty-two things I didn't do in one year....


1. Get a new tattoo (Actually, I did. On 07/20/09)
2. Skydive, Bungee Jump or take a Hot Air Balloon Ride
3. Get a license to drive a motorcycle
4. Go paintballing
5. Go through a cave or two
6. Learn to play an instrument (I'm working on the guitar!)
7. Cook a dish entirely from scratch (I did this too! 05/04/10)
8. Learn a country line dance
9. Go camping (in some other town than our own...)
10. Watch the sun rise and set (within the same day)
11. Journal Everyday (I broke this...but plan on mending it somehow)
12. Create a time capsule
13. Be a "yes girl" for a secret day (in reference to a movie)
14. Something physical we couldn't do before
15. Learn to Fly Fish
16. Don't eat out alone (This became impossible for us both! Needs some adjusting...)
17. Invent something (Publish the invention...no need for a prototype.)
18. Plant a tree
19. Write a Politician
20. Build an awesome sandcastle
21. Go to a concert (It had been a long time...it still has been!)
22. Learn Italian


Since then, this list has really only expanded. Lately, I've found that I'm overflowing with things I want to do, places I want to go, and goals I want to accomplish. I suppose that the purpose of a goal might be to be read, though I'm not sure. For me, it is to organize and chart my own progress. To see what I've done and where I've been and to keep track of the progression of my self. It isn't about anyone else. It is my life and I'm seeking more, more, more!


And the list goes on!


23. Learn to belly dance
24. Beat Bowser and save the princess (08/23/10 at 6:11 in the morning!)
25. Read 25 books by 25 (So... in about a year and a half)
26. Climb a mountain
27. Go to all 50 states in America
28. Visit every continent except for Antarctica (I despise the cold)
29. Run a 5K next year (2011)
30. Go to Australia (quite specifically, I want to go to this continent!)
31. See a movie at the theatre by myself (09/28/10 I got lucky! I was literally all alone in the theatre!)
32. Improve my writing skills
33. Donate money to Kiva.org
34. Successfully meditate (for longer than 2 minutes!)
35. Try 35 new foods
36. See the northern lights
37. Listen to every song on every vinyl record I own
38. Go back to London
39. Go to a rodeo
40. Learn to hot wire a car
41. Go silent for a week (No Internet, phone calls or texting allowed!)
42. Have a beer at Cheers in Boston
43. Visit Flatwoods, Kentucky
44. Learn Binary or Morse Code (Binary 11/02/2010)
45. Go to a Colts game
46. Conquer my fear of snakes (Long term...long term goal!)
47. Win an actual game of pool (No slop/No cheating/Against someone who is good)
48. Skeet shoot
49. Visit a castle in Ireland
50. Make ice cream from scratch
51. Blow glass
52. Brush up on my Spanish and use it in a fluent conversation
53. Go to a hockey game
54. Visit a vineyard
55. Try 100 different beers
56. Find him
57. Hug a redwood
58. Go goede hunting!
59. Heads Carolina/Tails California
60. Get a pilot's license
61. Milk a cow
62. Learn to juggle
63. Change my oil myself
64. Crack an egg with one hand
65. Learn to drive stick shift
66. Learn to lasso
67. Produce something edible in my own garden
68. Poach an Egg
69. Learn to Moon Walk (it is hard!! I'm so uncoordinated!)


There it is. My ever-extending-extensively-parenthetical-but-thorough list.