Thing 73

73. For everything in my Netflix “My List” either watch it or delete it

Well, I made a really good push for finishing this. But it proved to be a whole lot bigger than expected. I watched 40 different things that were on my list, but there are still a whole lot left. I'm planning on rolling over a version of this to my list #5 so I can keep making a dent in the things I've been meaning and wanting to see.

Thing 83

83. Save $1 a day in a special account

This direct deposit ran throughout the list, and I didn't touch the account. With interest, the account stands at $1012.57. I plan on using that amount to finally buy myself a new laptop. Mine is litterally coming apart as I use it!

Thing 84

84. Every week, put money into a savings account equal to how old I am

I managed to do this, upping the amount by a dollar during the month of my birthday each year. This forms the basis of my fallback retirement account. So it's in an account labeled "DO NOT TOUCH THIS." I pulled some out to put in laddered CDs, and my plan is to pull more out each year to renew the CDs. So now that I'm used to this amount being pulled out, I'm definitely going to keep this up. It's not a whole lot, but I still enjoy watching it build. It makes me feel safer to have it in place. So I'm very glad I made this one of my things and was able to stick with it for the whole list!

Thing 101

101. Make a new 101 list for next time

I've got a list! I've had it in its final stages for a little more than a week now. However, I keep making changes. Just today, I added two things and moved two things to the "cut" list. I am actually SUPER happy with the way it is right now. It will be my fifth 101 Thing in 1001 Days list, and I have a special section in there for things that have to do with the number 5, in honor of that. I feel good about being able to complete the things on the list, though there are a lot that will take considerable effort. Many of the things are ones that I want to do or have been meaning to do but need an extra push to do. So they're perfect for my list.

I've got a strong list of 101 things--so I'm considering this done!

List #4's Goals Started But Not Finished

Goals I made progress on but didn't manage to finish.

24. Read all of the wrapped books
Progress: 5.5 / 18 books. That's almost a third. I look forward to reading more of them, because I really enjoy this project. When I make it through this set of 18, I definitely hope to wrap some more to do this again with! It's such fun to unwrap them one by one and find a book I haven't seen in years that I'm now forced to enjoy! heehee

29. Read/reread the Outlander series
Progress: 2 / 10 books. For whatever reason, I'm not breezing through the books the way I did when I was a teenager. But I am still adoring them. So I do intend to keep going.

47. Get to 5,000 snarfs on Markeroni
Progress: 4,236 / 5,000. Sooooooo, a long way off. I know I have several hundred I've visited/taken photos of that I haven't yet logged. However, it looks like the site has been down for almost half a year and might not return. I'm heartsick about it, but all good things... So I wasn't able to finish this thing. I still find myself stopping to take photos of markers, however. Maybe I always will :-)

60. Watch all of Smallville
Progress: 167 / 217 episodes. So 167 really isn't nothing, but I should have started this thing earlier because i ran out of time in my efforts of finishing this one. Honestly, I thought it would be a total write-off, but I'm really glad I went ahead and started watching it. I've enjoyed it for the most part.

73. For everything in my Netflix “My List” either watch it or delete it
Progress: 40 of 111. That's also about a third. Honestly, not as bad as I thought! I'm pretty proud of my progress on this, but I still have a lot left to enjoy!

86. Host project party days at least once a year with friends
Progress: 2/3. I just haven't hosted a party this year yet. I really hope I find the chance to do this during the second half of 2018, because I love hanging out with this group of friends!

90. Create a personal time capsule that includes a personal timeline (one memory for every year of life)
I tried to find a chance to sit down with my parents and get their help filling in some blanks for early years, but it just never happened. I bought a box and started to put items into it, and I have a journal to put the timeline in. But the project just never really got off the ground. Lately, tiny memories have been popping into my head--little things I thought I'd forgotten that I want to remember. So maybe I'll start writing them down when they come to mind and it can be part of this eventual project.



Total started but not finished: 7

List #4's Goals Not Started

These are goals I completely and totally failed on. Didn't even start them.

35. Dig up some of Dum Spiro Spero and do something with it
Man, I wish I'd been able to do something with this set of novels I started more than 20 years ago. Because I still love the characters and wish I could transform them into something worth reading. But I just couldn't think of what to do with it. Turn it into short stories? Archive it forever and write it off? Finish the novels? Think of better plots? Nope. I got nothing. Poor Clan MacLennan of Kintail!

37. Publish a Writers’ Roundtable anthology/collection
Technically, I did do one thing toward this goal. I looked into using Submittable to get submissions from roundtable members. However, there was no plan that fit my budget. And that's where my momentum ended. So it was hardly a beginning. This just didn't happen. I did end up spending over a year self-publishing my own collection of stories, so my efforts went into collecting, editing, organizing, adding, editing more, commissioning cover art, and putting it all together. I wish that project could replace this one. But that's not the way my list works.

45. Drive the whole Blue Ridge Parkway
I am SO sad that I didn't get this done. I wanted to do it some autumn, which normally would be a pretty good time work-wise for it (and weather-wise as well). But lately my life has been so busy it just never happened. I had no chances to sit down and plan and even fewer to actually take off a week of work to do it. I hope that I'll be able to do it some time in my life!

79. Go through all my CDs and floppy discs
Okay, so I'm really not as lazy as I seem! No, I didn't even start this (okay, technically I did go through one stack of CDs, but I didn't do anything with them, so I don't think that really counts. The reason I didn't get this one done is because I ran out of hard drive and backup drive space. I have nowhere to put any of the files that live on those DCs and floppies. And without somewhere to put them, there really wasn't any reason to go through them. I'm adding this to my list #5 though. Now I know what it takes (an additional, large backup drive) I feel like this will be a fun project.

92. Have someone take a photo of me with one of my collections (Eeyore?) in this style: http://www.flickr.com/photos/emilyblincoe/sets/72157633958747915/
I had a couple mental planning sessions for this, and there was one day I almost did it, but it rained badly. So now my deck is a awful-looking and the photo is probably going to be terrible. But I'm having a friend over on Saturday who might be able to help me with this. It'll count in my grace period.

Total not even started: 5

Thing 100

100. Donate $2 to charity for every thing I haven’t started and $1 to charity for every thing I started but haven’t finished

Haven't started: 5 x $2 = $10
Started but haven't finished: 7 x $1 = $7

So I needed to donate $17 to charity. I ended up donating $20 to Whitman-Walker for the Walk & 5K to End HIV tonight. The nice round number was also the basic donation amount required to register for the walk. So I killed two birds with one stone. Their system swears the transaction date is 6/29/2018 at 12:24 AM... but unless I'm time travelling, I only just made the donation a few minutes ago.

List 4- Wrap-up

This is the end, my friend! I had so much fun making great progress and doing so many things I wanted (and needed) to do! I plan to start my fifth list on July 7, so until then I'm going to see if I can't get another thing or two finished during that grace period.


Totals--
Finished: 89
Started: 7
Not Started: 5

By Category--
Things About Creating: 14/14
Things About Games: 4/4
Things About Books: 10/12
Things About Writing: 5/7
Things About Places: 8/10
Things About Fandoms: 25/27
Things About My House: 4/5
Things About Money: 6/6
Things About Others: 2/3
Things About Me: 7/9
Things About Things: 4/4

I'm so proud of myself! I improved over my last list which was 83 at the end of the list and 86 at the end of the grace period. I even improved over the numbers not finished. I'm setting the bar SUPER high if I want to keep improving for next time, but I don't really have much of a choice. And I really can only continue to do my best.

I'm so happy I had friends along for the ride this time. And I'm looking forward to starting my next round of things with at least one of them on board!