2016, Here I Come

Happy 2016, everyone!

After what I posted so recently about to-do lists, maybe I should take my own advice and not place so much importance on completing lists of resolutions. Either way, here’s my progress as of the New Year.

From last year:

1. How to read my first German book.

My copy of Die unendliche Geschichte arrived in March. Perhaps unsurprisingly, its vocabulary overlapped little with language lessons that assumed I was studying for a trip to Deutschland. Nobody in the book asked where the train station was, wanted to know the nearest doctor, or tried to pick up strangers at a bar.

With familiarity with the story in translation and the help of a German-English dictionary bigger than my head, I’ve been trying to go page by page. But those pages are big, and progress is slow.

Instead, I can cross this item off the list because I stole a peek at my little cousins’ book, Heule Eule. I don’t pretend I understood every word, but I understood more than enough to follow along. Danke, A & Z, for (unwittingly?) sharing your Buch with me.

2. How to make caramel from scratch.

New Paderno pan, check.

Sugar and cream, check.

Caramel…?

…

2016!

3. How to make marshmallows from scratch.

You know what’s awesome? The Kitchen Library.

You need a stand mixer for marshmallows. I don’t own a stand mixer or have room for it in our tiny kitchen. But the Kitchen Library down the street does! And I got a membership for my birthday this year (thanks, Mom and Dad!). Marshmallows, my eye is on you (… as soon as we finally use up all the candy from the holidays).

4. How to make cheese from scratch.

Thanks, Cooking for Geeks! (Yes, that little ball is cheese!)

5. How to make beer or wine from scratch.

I bought a LivingSocial voucher for winemaking this spring, and I can highly recommend A Jug of Wine. The proprietor is friendly and explains everything clearly, and he does know his wine. Everyone either enjoyed the Chardonnay we made or else pretended to well enough that I can’t tell the difference!

Also, the corking and plastic-sleeve-putter-onner machines sure are fun!

6. How to tie a half Windsor knot without referring to the Internet or another reference.

Done!

(Pretend I tied this from memory. Because I did.)

7. How to switch from Dropbox to Google Drive as my primary storage service.

Done. It’s surprisingly easy to accomplish organizational tasks like this when there’s a bunch of harder work I’m supposed to be doing but don’t want to…

8. How to get my USB flash drives to sync automatically with folders on my computer.

SyncToy just wasn’t cutting it. I wanted something that would identify the particular flash drive as soon as I plugged it in and sync the appropriate files automatically. But apparently this requires use of scripts and PowerShell. Software developer Boyfriend is assisting me with this one as we speak…

9. How to get my library holds list down to 0.

I’m not sure if keeping my TBR list to Goodreads really counts, but it’s the letter of the law, WHATEVER. And I really did finish all the books that have been kicking around on my holds list for goodness knows how long.

HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW???

10. How to finish watching the DVDs sets I bought and shrink my Netflix queue.

The Legend of Korra: watched.

Netflix queue: … uh, look that way! *runs off*

From 2014:

2. How to roll tack.

I decided to leave this one alone to preserve my bad arm.

4. How to make at least one type of Ethiopian stew.

Way easier than I’d hoped, though I’m not yet skilled enough to make the injera myself. But check it out:

Thanks, guinea pigs — I mean, uh, dinner sharers who confirmed I’d got it OK: Ryan, Debra, Alana, Ken, Liz, Amanda, and Mark H.. Next time I will trust the injera to keep without freezing!

5. How to use AutoHotkey.

I haven’t, but I’ve decided I don’t want to. I no longer see a benefit in doing this. So off the list it goes.

7. How to use a text expander effectively.

At first, I thought this was going to be the same as above. But then I started grading my students’ oral presentations: at peak volume, about 35 a day.

Man, it would be handy to add common comments to the feedback sheets by hitting a single key. Maybe I’ll get this done for next semester.

9. How to  “fence as a martial art.”

Boyfriend, reading this entry over my shoulder: “I don’t know. Did you really learn to fence as a martial art? You did it. I don’t know if you learned it. (pause) I got hurt, so I guess you did. Hit them in the hand, that’s how to do it.”

(For the record, I did not hit him in the hand. That was someone else.)

10. How to continue going to bed by midnight almost every night.

With help from my friends and especially Boyfriend, I think I’ve got to a good place. Sometimes, I go to bed a few minutes later, and occasionally, especially around holidays, I indulge in an extra hour, but I’m able to maintain a pretty consistent sleep schedule.

From 2013:

3. How to be Cinderella. [go to bed by midnight except when required otherwise by professional activities or New Year’s Eve]

See above. :-P

9. How to be my own Internet nanny.

At the start of the year, I discovered Twitter and its nefarious temptation of being semi-work-related (publishing news) while also not helping me write.

Luckily, I then discovered such wonderful things as “uninstalling apps from my phone” and StayFocusd, an extension that lets me block certain pages from my desktop browser for particular hours of the day. That means I have to take a real break and sit down with my phone if I want to check out time-waster sites. Which usually forces me to work in my most productive schedule.

Challenge completed… for now.

From 2012:

3. How to get a paper accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed academic journal.

Still not on my priority list (see last year). But I’ll keep it here just in case.

4. How to donate blood (or get medically disqualified from doing so, should that turn out to be the case).

Really gotta work on this. It’s getting ridiculous. Who cares whether needles hurt?

Apparently, I do.

5. How to downhill ski, water-ski, or both.

Not yet, but I have high hopes for this winter!

6. How to play the jaw harp.

Ha ha ha, nope. Sometimes I wonder about our priorities, past self.

From 2010:

4. How to play The Orange Box and Portal without dying, turning off the computer in fright at Ravenholm, and/or getting stuck in the corner every two seconds.

Uh, clearly I had to finish Persona 4 Golden and Persona 3 first. A-duh.

5. How to work with a literary agent and editor.

I am now represented by the amazing Bridget Smith of Dunham Literary. Woo hoo!

6. How to speak and read German and/or Yiddish.

I’m still working on German. I can understand a lot more of what my cousins say, and I know a few more useful phrases. Onwards!

Since I’m always a gal to kick a person when she’s down, as long as that person is me, here’s ten more to add to my list for next year:

1. How to make homemade jam. I love the stuff my uncle and aunt make from my mom’s raspberries. Why shouldn’t I have a go during strawberry or raspberry season?
2. Whether nightly meditation can help me sleep. Despite succeeding in my Cinderellaspirations™, I often fall asleep way after I’m in bed with my eyes closed. Maybe this will do the trick.
3. How to take care of my brass chanukkiah. It is at least half candle wax drips at this point. And I should polish it too.
4. How to make injera. Supposedly, this is difficult for newcomers to learn. But, as I discovered this summer, bringing injera from Toronto to the family cottage is too impractical. Challenge accepted.
5. How to perform first aid (including CPR). When I was a kid, I did my certification with my Guide company. As an adult who is often responsible for a classroom full of other adults, this seems like a wise thing to continue learning.
6. What the Tanach says — all of it, not just the parts our teachers went over in Hebrew school.
7. What the New Testament says.
8. What the Holy Quran says.
9. How to finish the first draft of a sequel that other people who aren’t my family and friends may actually evaluate.
10. How to read a whole chapter of Die unendliche Geschichte. (baby steps!)