day five hundred and eighty-nine

d'oh! i was halfway into my "don't buy any clothes/accessories for a month" goal and i totally BLEW IT. i went to bartell's to pick up a prescription and on my way out i accidentally bought a pair of cheap-o sunglasses. it didn't even occur to me until two days later that that's TOTALLY AGAINST THE RULES. argh. i'm gonna go on a target binge tonight to get it all out of my system and start anew tomorrow...

in positive news, #90 = done. when i wrote the list i intended to take a cpr/first aid course for humans... but since i anticipate spending a lot more time with dogs and cats in the next few months, i opted for the pet version, offered by cpr seattle. i learned the basics: how to restrain an injured animal, check vitals, treat serious bleeding and shock, administer cpr, and safely transport the pet to an emergency vet. i wish there had been more hands-on training -- we only got about twenty-thirty minutes working on the stuffed animals -- but i feel much more confident in my pet caretaker abilities! plus i get to practice my new methods on stu. he lets me check his pulse no problem so i'm sure he'd be totally cool with the heimlich...

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day five hundred and seventy-nine

i totally forgot that i accomplished the print screen t-shirt goal a few months ago (#57) -- whoops! back in the days of unemployment and with too much time on my hands i followed through on a vague threat to make a somewhat insulting t-shirt for jake. in fact, i'm not totally comfortable posting the picture of it here because it's mildly nsfw. but rest assured it was awesome (i created the image using a google celebrity pic search, a series of carefully orchestrated copy+paste commands, and the crop tool in microsoft paint -- told you it was awesome). and he even wears it, but i'm pretty sure only as an undershirt. still, success!

now for some amendments, starting with #86. i don't have a problem planning meals to take with me to work and making sure i eat most dinners at home. what i do have a problem with is shopping -- more specifically, online shopping. when i'm gainfully employed i can justify almost any purchase. but, my closet is too small, and my wallet is about to get real thin, and it's just stupid to pay shipping fees just to try something on, so... new goal is to go a full month without buying any clothing or accessories (scarves, hats, belts, etc). as i write this i'm seven days in!

i also need to eliminate what was one of my favorite goals when i first designed the list -- going a month without facebook (#82). beyond checking up on old friends and making snarky comments on recently posted photos, i've used facebook as an admin for several pages as part of my political work. it's becoming a more and more important tool for campaigns and nonprofits to grow and succeed, not to mention small businesses. and since i'm embarking on a new professional adventure in a couple of months, now is not the time to abandon facebook. i anticipate that it will play a major role in my future success, so i'd be doing myself a disservice to give it up. i'm working on an equivalent goal to replace this one and thinking i should try to abstain from engaging in some other undesirable behavior. probably drinking. i just need to commit to a timeframe that's challenging but not absurd. but then again summer's coming up... maybe i could give it up for the month of october when the weather turns sour again. but my birthday's in october. so november then...