91. learn to make fresh salsa from scratch - made it!

another 101 list item done!



i chopped everything by hand, which was a long and tedious process.
definitely need a little chopper thing.
and how does one mince fresh cilantro?
sometimes it seemed like the pieces of cilantro were too big.
i have to let it chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours to let the flavors really soak in.
but from what i tasted so far...yum.
so much better than the jar stuff you get from the store.
if i get a chopper, this might be a regular thing because i love chips and salsa.

42 / 101 (41.6%)

another task completed!

93. tear down old fence and put up a new one (at Dad’s house) - changed to repaint front steps
yesterday i put on 2 coats.
today i put on a 3rd coat with a non-skid additive. yay, me!
the steps were substituted for the fence project because Dad finished taking down the fence without me
and he hasn't decided whether or not he will be putting another one in its place.
if he decides to put up a new fence, i will still help him.
but in the meantime...
i can consider another item for my 101 list done!

41 / 101 (40.6%)

41. get a TiVo - got it!!!

i shouldn't have. i really shouldn't have.
but i saw it at Big Lots and couldn't help myself.
it's on my 101 list and i've been obsessing about getting one these last few weeks.
today's labor paid for it and both my dad and i benefit.
:D

40 / 101 (39.6%)

9. go back and tag all my live journal entries - completed

initially i started out archiving my entries as a Word document,
with the intention of printing them out and making a book.
then i realized that i didn't want some of these entries being read after i was dead.
so i scratched the book idea.

i continued to archive the entries as a Word document,
then i admitted to myself, that i wouldn't go back & read these documents.
so, i decided to just go through the entries and tag them.

today i finally finished tagging my entries. whew!
the longer it took, the more i had to wade through.
but now i am done!

now on to the next project.

39 / 101 (38.6%)

95 - re-read the Chronicles of Narnia - completed

i finally finished/re-read the Chronicles of Narnia.
Prince Caspian and the Voyager of the Dawn Treader were my favorites.

Riding the Glacier Express

Riding the Glacier Express
Originally uploaded by camkin.

75. ride the Glacier Express - completed!!

i rode the Glacier Express on Monday with Joe, our mother & grandmother. we traveled the route from Chur - Andermatt, which was only a short part of the whole route, only about 2 & 1/2 hours, but it felt longer. And we went over the highest point, so it was cool that we only did a short trip. besides the weather was mostly crappy, rainy and overcast. and we got up at 5:30am to drive from Munich to Chur, so we were all exhausted on the train. maybe someday, i can do the whole route and have beautiful weather , too.

Please to help me with my rucksack?

Please to help me with my rucksack?
Originally uploaded by camkin.

68. get a dirndl - completed!!

my aunt bought me a dirndl for my birthday.
i can't explain why, but i've always wanted one.
now my mom says that i'm 100% Bavarian!
(but i still don't drink beer!)
however, i will eat plenty of bratwurst and semmel (type of Bavarian bread)

Joe & Joani in front of the Charles Bridge

Joe & Joani in front of the Charles Bridge
Originally uploaded by camkin.

76. visit the Czech Republic - completed 06.18.07

i went to Prague on June 18th and returned to Germany on the 20th. I got see quite a bit of the city when we went on a 6 hour tour on the 19th. On the way back to Germany, we went to Karlstein castle. I'd like to go back to Prague again, because there was so much that we didn't get to see.

another long term task completed

37. read 30 books from the Online Computer Library Center 2005 Banned Book List
though i will read more on the list, i have some other stuff i want to read first.


in no particular order:
1. Arabian Nights
2. Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
3. Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank
4. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
5. Dracula – Bram Stoker
6. Animal Farm – George Orwell
7. 1984 – George Orwell
8. Candide – Voltaire
9. To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee
10. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
11. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
12. Lady Chatterley's Lover - D. H. Lawrence
13. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
14. Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
15. Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx
16. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
17. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
18. Moll Flanders - Daniel Defoe
19. Color Purple - Alice Walker
20. Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger
21. Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison
22. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
23. Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson
24. Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
25. James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl
26. Red Pony – John Steinbeck
27. Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
28. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble - William Steig
29. Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
30. Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes

#79

#79 - private - done!
it was something personal.
and that's all i'm going to say about that.

#46 - send a care package to a soldier overseas - done!

i finally sent off my care package today.
there was no way to fit everything i got for him in that box,
so i went ahead and requested another name.

decided to postpone the tea party until after i move.
maybe even after my trip to Germany. we'll see.

as of today, i have completed 30 tasks.
yay!

task #94 - read 25 books from The Modern Library 100 Best Novels - done!

so now i have finished another task on my 101 list. yay!
task #94 - read 25 books from The Modern Library 100 Best Novels

in no particular order:
1. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
3. Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
4. 1984 – George Orwell
5. I, Claudius – Robert Graves
6. Slaughterhouse-five – Kurt Vonnegut
7. Native Son – Richard Wright
8. Animal Farm – George Orwell
9. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
10. On the Road – Jack Kerouac
11. The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
12. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
13. The Call of the Wild – Jack London
14. Wide Sargasso Sea – Jean Rhys
15. The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
16. To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee
17. The Stand – Stephen King
18. Beloved – Toni Morrison
19. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
20. The World According to Garp – John Irving
21. The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson
22. Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
23. It – Stephen King
24. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey
25. Scoop – Evelyn Waugh

more ethnic cuisines

tonight i had my first taste of Brazilian food at Churrascaria
went with Nikki and her husband to celebrate her birthday.





it was mostly buffet style,
but then the "meat guy" would come to your table with different skewers of meat.
nikki even tried the chicken hearts! (blech!)
i stuck with the beef.
but overall, the food was good and i had a good time.

i have 2 more ethnic cuisines to try before this item is done.
(technically only 1, but i'm not counting the Japanese food)
doesn't mean that i won't stop trying new foods.
having it on the list is just an excuse to eat out!

more tasks accomplished!

i finally finished:

2. watch all of the movies on AFI’s top 100 list
(actually i think i finished this list back in January)

and

72. watch all of the movies on Entertainment Weekly’s greatest of all time list

well, i've watched all the ones that i can get from Netflix.
(i stay away from local video rental places)
i'm missing 3 from the AFI list, "The African Queen", "The Jazz Singer" and "Wuthering Heights"
and from the EW list, i'm missing "Sunrise" and "Celine and Julie Go Boating"
so, for now I will consider these done.

73. finish taking down the wallpaper in dad’s kitchen - completed!

101 list update:



i finally finished taking down the wallpaper in my dad's kitchen.
i first started on this when dad was in the hospital.
that was 3 years ago!! ridiculous, huh?!
well, now it's finally done. yay, me!

i'm close to finishing a few other tasks on the list.
good stuff.

more ethnic cuisine

101 list update:



i had Lebanese food for the first time tonight.
Albert and i went to Lebanese Taverna.
(sorry, Nikki, it was his idea to go there!)

since we were pressed for time and the place was closing in 30 mins, i just went with chicken kabobs.
i didn't have the time to agonize over the menu.

but i also sampled most of Albert's food, too.
it was all very good. yum!
i am definitely going to go back and try some more stuff.

next up Moroccan food!

96. upload old artwork to deviantART and categorize it - done!

cedar hill by ~camkin on deviantART

today, i finished uploading my older artwork to my deviantART account. i didn't include every single thing i've done, just my better work or the pieces that i like the most. i even included some photographs that i did with my digital camera.

now as i create, i will add more of my work to my account.

97. go to a real tea house with Nikki - accomplished!

today, Nikki and i went to a Victorian Tea House.
Tea on the Tiber in Ellicott City.
we did the Afternoon Tea and we really enjoyed ourselves.
we paid $25 (included tax & tip) for our pot of tea, a selection of fruits, cheese, scones, finger sandwiches and desserts.
we each got our own pot of tea.
i got Palm Court and Nikki got a Rose flavored black tea.



yum! the food was quite tasty.
we couldn't even finish it all. took the desserts home with us.


inside the room where our table was.

Nikki was convinced that we were going to be surrounded by old ladies in big hats!
there were mostly older women there, but none in big hats.
i told her that we're going to go back in the spring and wear big floppy hats and floral dresses!
i just like the whole experience of going to a tea house.

of course, neither one of us could leave without buying tea!
i got the Valentine's Tea (so sort of chocolatey tea)
and Nikkie got Earl Gray Supreme.
we gave each other a small tin of the teas that we bought
with guarantees of refills!
we always share our teas with each other, we're such tea junkies.

i swear i was raised in the wrong country!!
(do they have tea houses in Germany?)

20. learn how to ice skate - accomplished!

i had my last ice skating class today. here is my certificate.
(it's now hanging on the fridge!)
so i guess i can consider this task accomplished.
by no means am i a good skater.
(i'm still having trouble with the snowplow stop)
but considering that before this class i had never even been on the ice, i would say that i can ice skate a little.
i'd like to take the next level class (Alpha) but it depends on when it is offered.

since only 2 of us showed up for this last class,
out instructor, Joe, showed us a couple of more advanced moves.
like learning to spin.
that was fun, but a little scary.

oh and i never fell!
except for the one time Joe told us to.

96. upload old artwork to deviantart and categorize it

they see your every move by ~camkin on deviantART

last night/this morning i uploaded a bunch of my journal/altered book work.
i'm nearly done with this task.
all i have to do now is to take some pictures of my old photography work.

#29 - try 5 new ethnic cuisines

tonight's dinner at Meskerem, an Ethiopian restaurant in Adams Morgan (D.C.) it was my first time eating Ethiopian food and it was quite good. i went with Albert, Steve, Mike and Jael. we sat on little cushions at low tables.



we shared food from the same large dish and you don't get silverware. you eat the food with the doughy bread that you can see in the 2nd pic. it kinda looks like a folded napkin and it has an interesting consistency.


mike serves up a helping of tasty vittles!
so this was the first new cuisine that i've had since starting the list. actually, that's not entirely true. i had real Japanese food while in Japan, of course, so that should count right? i won't count it, because it gives me an excuse to try something new! next up, Lebanese food.

Brandenburger Tor

Brandenburger Tor
Originally uploaded by camkin.

well, i finished scanning and uploading the photos from my Germany 92 trip. i learned the name of a few things that i saw in Berlin the other day while watching Passport to Europe. nearly 15 years later! i kinda want to go back to Berlin, there's so much more to do and see. this time, i'll have a better idea of what i want to see.

now onto my Europe 2000 album.

The Grand Ballcourt

The Grand Ballcourt
Originally uploaded by camkin.

last night i finished scanning and uploading the pictures from trip to Mexico in 1992.

this is my favorite photo of this batch.
it really does look like a postcard, doesn't it?
i wish i could go back to all of these Mayan sites with my digital camera,
so that i can get better quality photos of all the places that i visited.

now onto scanning and uploading the pics from my Germany 92 trip.

20. learn how to ice skate - started

101 list update
20. learn how to ice skate - started
i went to my first class today and therefore wore ice skates & skated on ice for the first time.
yay, me!
i didn't even fall, except for the one time the instructor wanted us to fall on the ice.
i'm sure that my thighs are going to be a little sore tomorrow,but it's totally worth it.
i can't wait for next saturday and my next class.