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January 08, 2008
schedules and plans: the 2008 Überlist
I haven't been very attentive to this little journal lately; my 500th post somehow went by without my even noticing, even though it seems I almost never post here anymore. I'm going to try to change that, and take the time to write here more often. That is not a resolution. Just a plan.
I taught my first class of the semester this morning, and I'm pretty stoked. This is the first time I've been able to teach the same class for a second time, so now I have a chance to tweak the curriculum and do all of the things I wish I'd done last time but didn't think of in time and just generally become a better printmaking instructor than I was a few months ago. My class is from eight to eleven a.m. this semester, so I get to teach during my most productive hours rather than the sleepy midday hours that I had last semester. And several (four, I think?) of my students this time around are printmaking majors, which I'm expecting will have a very positive effect on the overall class mentality. I'm anticipating a lot of good printmaking going on in the litho shop this spring.
Peter and I banged out a schedule for the semester last night, and it's even better than I thought it would be. Since he's taking a study leave to work on a big research project, he's got a lot more flexibility with travel, and the longest we'll have to be apart, according to our master schedule, is slightly less than three weeks. So we've got these glorious four months, basking in that light shining on us from down at the end of the tunnel there, to ease back into life together, re-establish our routines. And then at the end of it all he's going to bring the kids down for a visit, we'll pack up the studio and whatever crap I can't get rid of, and go home.
I was hoping for this spring to be the time when Peter and I could take some longer trips in the South, especially to New Orleans. But it looks like there just isn't going to be time for that sort of trip. Instead, we'll do smaller, closer things. Asheville. Savannah. The place in Georgia where the Cabbage Patch Dolls are born. We're going to Baltimore for a weekend in February, I'm going to a conference in Richmond VA in March. After all this, we're going to try keeping our tourism within Canada for a little while (I've lived in Windsor for what, seven and a half years now and have never been to Point Pelee).
I've just completed my (slightly overachieving) Überlist for 2008. These are not resolutions, just things I hope to accomplish. They're not organized in any way, just in the order in which I wrote them down in my book; this will give you some idea of how my brain works, flitting from here to there seemingly randomly (like many of my generation, Sesame Street taught me to have a three-minute attention span) and then obsessively going back again and again to the same things. Big, difficult, life changing things (not too many of those, I'm not quite THAT ambitious) are mixed in with little, easy-to-accomplish things. Some goals, mainly home improvement goals, are things that Peter and I will likely accomplish together, but as we share the problem of allowing the house stuff to slide, I think these things can still count towards my list. So here goes, 2008's Überlist:
1. (try to) draw every day
2. knit only from stash (YIPES! there will be a separate post on this later, with some rules laid out)
3. finish or frog all outstanding knit projects
4. finish printed quilt
5. apply to 2 shows per month
6. apply to 6 residencies
7. comment more on blogs
8. get website up to date
9. -once up-to-date, update website twice monthly
10. new items in etsy shop twice monthly
11. get rid of (SELL) all t-shirts before leaving Athens
12. re-evaluate stash, give some away
13. write letters. real ones. on paper.
14. clean out inbox twice monthly
15. knit up all leftover sock yarn into blanket squares
16. ride my bike more
17. revive "edition-a-week" - stick with it!
18. draw during meetings instead of knitting
19. eat less junk
20. examine hungers
21. floss twice weekly
22. go through clothes: Goodwill or refashion 30% (thesis dresses don't count)
23. put up shelves in basement
24. purge basement of useless stuff (HUBCAPS?)
25. ditto for attic
26. take pictures of all the stuff on the plate rail to post on flickr
27. document student work throughout the semester instead of all at the end
28. get Fall 2007 student work up on flickr
29. go through the drawer of photocopied journal articles - pitch those I'll never read
30. read at least 50% of what's left
31. finish tearing down back deck
32. plant a flowering crab over the kitty graves
33. clean up junk from backyard. no more Sanford + Son!
34. can tomatoes
35. weed backyard
36. pour a new sidewalk out front
37. wash windows
38. eat locally and in season
39. buy more produce at the farmers market, less at Zehrs
40. more local tourism - visit Point Pelee!
41. and Uncle Tom's Cabin
42. go on a tour of Walkers
43. once back in Windsor, print at W.P.F. two days a week
44. re-work copper plates
45. re-work or throw away old zinc plates
46. when Peter is around, go to bed earlier (nudge)
47. when Peter is not around, less internet, more work/craft in evenings
48. put my toys away when I'm finished with them
49. re-organize filing cabinet
50. bake more bread
51. rip and re-knit Bridie sweater (in a size that will actually fit)
52. design submissions to at least 4 publications
53. write up Rosaleen scarf pattern
54. cut down bead stash - give away at least 50%
55. learn to play my accordian
56. make a new satchel
57. make satchels for the etsy shop
58. start some new house plants
59. water them
60. spin up 1/2 of fibre stash
61. paint our bedroom
62. throw out the last of the Barbage from the attic
63. make draft stoppers for upstairs windows
64. draft stopper for front door
65. re-organize record collection
66. listen to all of our records in alphabetical order
67. eat at least one meal at home per week with chopsticks, for practice
68. socialize more with the other grad students
69. clean up my studio and keep the table clear
70. cut up all the paper littering the studio (for binding into books)
71. bind books with it or throw it away
72. visit a province I've never been to
73. meet up in real life with 4 blog friends
74. post at least one photo (to flickr) every day
75. fix up my falling-apart Russian garb
76. put up at least one batch of preserves each month (seasonal)
77. eat less wheat
78. cook with Peter more often
79. learn to make the perfect whiskey sour
80. teach a workshop at the Printmakers Forum
81. volunteer at Artcite
82. read a contemporary novel or nonfiction per month
83. fold laundry the same day it gets washed
84. go to art galleries more often
85. don't bitch about people
86. go to the dentist
87. reduce amount of plastics in our home
88. organize my big binder of recipes
89. try a new recipe from every cookbook we own
90. shoot less digital, more film
91. convert an old camera to pinhole
92. and actually take pictures with it on a regular basis
93. make a good, professional-looking tailored jacket
94. get my next tattoo
95. get my learner's permit
96. get rid of all the dead ballpoint pens in the house
97. take pictures of the sculptures down by the river
98. take pictures of all the places I lived in Athens before I leave
99. take pictures of all the places I lived in London
100. spend a day taking pictures around Huron Park
101. tat enough lace to actually make or trim something
102. do more stuff with all of us, me/Pete/Dylan/Claire
103. throw all my change in a jar and then do something fun with it
104. yoga 4 times a week
105. take my vitamins every day
106. learn to make good bread without wheat (is this possible?)
107. let go of petty angers and annoyances
108. make 2009 Überlist before 2009 begins
Posted by jodi at 02:34 PM | Comments (18) | categories: überlist