101 in 1001: the stuff that won't be happening

There are now a whopping 25 days left of my 101 in 1001 challenge (plus the six hours that are remaining of today, but that doesn't really count), and I still have a fairly staggering forty eight tasks that aren't completed. There will be a few more crossed off between now and 1 April, but a decent chunk of them definitely won't be finished.

The fact of the matter is that when I wrote this list, I wasn't anticipating going back to university. I wasn't expecting to spend the vast majority of the 1001 days without a job. I didn't foresee a world in which I'd be trying to break into a new field AGAIN. As a result, a decent number of the tasks require money, which is something that I'm lacking at the moment. There are other tasks which lie abandoned simply because I'm not the same person I was when I put them on the list. I look at them periodically and think "I should really do something about that...". And then I forget about it for another two months.

Still, I think the fact that I managed to cross off 52 tasks (thus far) is pretty damned good, given that a lot of them (i.e. "Read 100 new books") contained multiple parts!

So. Let's get to the stuff that won't be happening, shall we?

2. Visit somewhere new in Australia.
One of those pesky money requiring ones. I had this vague idea that it would be somewhere like Kangaroo Island or Broome. Instead, the most exciting new place I've been to in the past three years was Melbourne's western suburbs. And I'm not sure that even remotely counts.

4. Live offline for a weekend.
Bitch, please. Our internet went down a few weekends ago. I lasted two of the most boring hours of my life before I was ready to use my entire data allowance in one go.

12. Jog every day for a week.
I hate jogging/running. It hurts my knees and my boobs and it's one of the few remaining things that kicks in my exercise-induced asthma. Quite why I thought I should jog every day for a week is beyond me, considering the Couch to 5K is only three times a week... Anyway, I could cheat and jog leisurely around the block every day. But that's just cheating.

13. Move out of home again.
Requires paying rent, which requires having money, which requires having a job. Next.

20. Put away $20 for every completed task.
This was a nice idea. And maybe if I'd done it gradually, it would have worked. But to now come up with $1,040 is a bit of a big ask.

23. Paint a room.
This one was put on there because when I wrote the list, my little brother and his (now ex-)girlfriend were looking at buying a house. The houses they were looking at all needed a little bit of fixing up, which would have let me cross this one off the list. Then they gave up on looking for a house, and this task has languished pathetically ever since.

24. Go to the opera.
Two reasons why this hasn't happened: 1. Opera is expensive, 2. For some reason, I had it in my head that the opera in question would be The Marriage of Figaro. Rudely, Opera Australia (and Opera Victoria, for that matter) have refused to bow to my whim to see The Marriage of Figaro. And I haven't had the urge to fork out a fairly large sum of money to see any of the operas they've ACTUALLY staged.

26. Go to the symphony.
See reason 1 above. Also an adapted version of reason 2, wherein I wasn't interested enough in anything they were doing to go. Except for the Doctor Who Spectacular, and I didn't realise that was on until it was sold out. Womp womp.

27. Sing karaoke.
I think I forgot about the part where I can barely talk in front of a group of more than three people without combusting in embarrassment. God only knows why I thought I could sing karaoke...

32. Buy an original piece of art.
I still really REALLY want to do this. But art costs money. Are you starting to see a trend here??

34. Learn a new piece on the piano.
I think Past!Kirsti had big ideas of getting back into music and mental images of something resembling Elizabeth Bennet at Pemberley. Present!Kirsti acknowledges that she doesn't remember how to read bass clef, was never very good at piano anyway, and doesn't have the motivation to practice. Plus, our piano hasn't been tuned in at least 10 years.

38. Take a photography class.
I could take one online for free, but I'm pretty sure that I'd learn more being in a room with other people and actually getting feedback on my photos. Which would cost money.

48. Voluntarily add to my superannuation.
Look, I could have added like $20 to my super and called it done. But that wasn't the original idea, so it's not going to happen.

49. Voluntarily pay off some of my student debt.
LOL, WHOOPS. Instead of paying some of it off, I added $30,000 to it. My bad...

50. Plan a weekend getaway with friends.
I'm not actually convinced that I'm a weekend getaway person... Plus, given that most of the friends I would actually go on a weekend getaway with live Places That Are Not Melbourne (Or, Indeed, Australia), this would be more than a little tricky.

51. Attend a midnight premiere.
I don't think I thought about the fact that a midnight premiere would finish at like 2.30am, and that I'm basically allergic to leaving the house any later than 7.30.

52. See Geelong play a game at Kardinia Park.
Tickets for Geelong home games are basically as scarce as hen's teeth unless you're a member. Sad panda.

60. Take a self portrait at least once a month.
I failed this one in the very first month of my challenge. I haven't really gotten any better.

67. Buy a leather jacket.
One that would have been a lot easier if the trend for leather jackets in recent years hadn't involved zips that run diagonally from one hip to the opposite shoulder, a look that REALLY doesn't work when you have boobs.

71. Buy a new chest of drawers. 
Not only does this cost money, but I realised that it would basically be wasted money because my chest of drawers is basically empty.

73. Design a blog banner.
Why would I, when Kim designed me such a pretty pretty blog??

82. Wear a skirt or dress every day for a week.
Um. I have no idea why I put this on here. I think I was still in the wake of marvelling at the fact that Kat did Frocktober. I, on the other hand, basically hate skirts and dresses. I own like three skirts and four dresses, all but two of which are too fancy for everyday wear.

84. Adopt a dog.
I would dearly love to do this. But I don't have the money to feed or groom a dog, let alone taking it to the vet. And it would be enormously unfair on my parents, given that most rental properties in Australia don't allow pets...

93. Go to bed before 11pm every night for a fortnight.
Well this was just stupid. Every WEEKNIGHT for a fortnight would have made sense. But every night?? Considering I don't get up until after 10am most weekends, I would have been staring at the ceiling until 2am on a couple of nights in here. I do still think I need to go to bed earlier, though...

101. Donate $10 to charity for each unfinished goal.
Uh, yeah, I don't have $480. Even not including the ones here and even if I cross off a couple more tasks in the next couple of weeks, I won't have the money to do this. Sorry, charity. I'll make it up to you...

Welp. At least a 25% failure rate. That's pretty terrible.

Have you ever given up on goals?

K xx

Totally a responsible adult

So remember when I decided that it was a completely brilliant idea to leave Canberra and move back to Melbourne, and that I was going to live with my parents until I found a job? And then remember when I decided that instead of finding a job, I should go back to university and do a Masters degree, thus meaning I had no money and would be living with my parents for much longer than planned?

Yes?

The problem with these genius plans is that, a year and several months after the fact, I've basically turned back into a teenager. My parents left for six weeks in Spain on Friday, and since then it's kind of been like Home Alone, except that I'm 29.

Problems I have had since my parents left:
Why is there no food in the house? Because you didn't buy food, you moron.
Why are there no forks? Because you forgot to put the dishwasher on.
Where the hell are all my t-shirts? In the clothes hamper, because you forgot to do laundry.
Why is the rubbish bin so full? Because there's no one else to empty it but you.
What's that weird smell? That would be melting plastic. That metal pan that's on the stove? It gets hot when the stove is turned on. And hot things make plastic melty *slow clap*

Whoops?

Wow, midnight already? Where the hell did the day go? Well, you didn't get up until 11.30am, so........
Where's the medium sized saucepan gone? It's in the pile of washing up you didn't do yet. Oh, gross. Don't just rinse it out and use it again. That's not cool.
WE'RE OUT OF CHOCOLATE. Then go to the supermarket and buy more. That requires finding shoes and brushing my hair. I'll just make a little container of chocolate icing and eat that instead. Yes, that's a perfect and not at all diabetes causing solution...
WTF IS THAT NOISE?????? O.o That would be a floorboard creaking. Perfectly normal sounds in an old house. UNLESS YOU'RE DUMB ENOUGH TO READ NOVELS ABOUT JACK THE RIPPER BEFORE YOU GO TO BED.

Further proof that I've turned back into a teenager who can't fend for herself?
- My nails are currently painted black.
- I leave all my homework to the last minute, because I have 90s TV shows to watch, dammit!
- When friends tell me they're getting married, my response is "I WILL SEND YOU LINKS TO *ALL* THE UGLY WEDDING DRESSES, BECAUSE LOL FOREVER".
- I spent a good chunk of yesterday afternoon dancing around the kitchen when I should have been studying.
- Remember that scene in Easy A where she spends all weekend listening to 'Pocketful of Sunshine'? Yeah, I did that this weekend, except with this:


(Related: When the hell did Taylor Hanson get hot??)

Send help?

K xx

PS. My cousin is coming to stay with me in a few days, which will hopefully reduce the "Oh God, someone's going to murder me in my sleep!" feelings. As for the rest, I suspect I'll just prove a bad influence on her, and then we'll have TWO adults who can't take care of themselves to deal with instead of one...)

Easter

Wow. So...unintentional hiatus much? Okay, it wasn't especially unintentional. I went to Melbourne for six whole days of Kirsti-mas (Easter coincided with ANZAC Day, which is my birthday), and with the usual running around like a headless chicken catching up with everyone ever that happens whenever I go to Melbourne, I didn't have time for bloggy-ness.

Anyway, the time was AWESOME. Now that I'm back in Canberra, I'm planning a massive post to update you on all of it. But in the meantime? I'm not dead. Just distracted!!

K xx

Triple chocolate brownies

I realised today when I went to make these to celebrate my last day of install tomorrow that I'd never actually posted the quantities required. I posted the photos waaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2009 as my third post, and for whatever reason, I decided that it was sufficient to just list the ingredients and not the amounts. Weird...

Anyway, here's what you'll need to make my infamous triple chocolate brownies:

200g dark chocolate
200g butter (I use salt reduced)
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups caster sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
2/3 cup plain flour
2/3 cup chopped milk chocolate/choc chips
2/3 cup chopped white chocolate/choc chips

Melt the dark chocolate and the butter together in a double boiler. Leave to cool. Beat the eggs and the caster sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the chocolate/butter mixture and fold through. Sift in the cocoa and the flour, and add the chopped chocolate pieces. Mix together until combined.

Pour into a greased and lined 20cm tin, and bake at 170 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

The way I cut them, it makes 36, but I'm pretty sure the original recipe says it makes 20 or 24. So basically, cut them whatever size you want!

Enjoy! :)

K xx

Tricks for young players

Today was my little brother's 25th birthday. And when I rang him this morning to say happy birthday, he informed me of a rather surprising fact - he baked cookies! I'm fairly certain this was his first foray into baking, so I was more than a little impressed. Apparently what warranted this was that his work has a "If you don't bring some form of baked goods, we'll ignore your birthday" approach to things. And it seems that my "store-bought baked goods are a crime" theory has made some impact over the past 25 years!

We then proceeded to have a conversation that went approximately like this:

K: So are work giving you a cake?
C: Nah. We have to bring our own stuff.
K: Did you BUY something???
C: Nope. I made your cookies!
K: Seriously?? Which ones?
C: The usual ones.
K: The double chocolate chip ones from the kids' cookbook?
C: Yep, that's the ones!! They ended up a bit dry though...
K: That's strange. How much oil did you use?
C: I followed the recipe.
K: Hmm. Very odd. Wait - where did you put the oven tray??
C: Right at the top. Why?
K: *facepalm*

But then I started thinking about it some more. Baking with the tray on the top shelf of an oven is pretty much always a no-no. It's especially relevant with our oven in Melbourne which has griller functionality, so the heating element is located at the top of the oven. Meaning that the aforementioned cookies were placed right under the heating element...

But nowhere in recipes does it ever say that placing trays on the top shelf of the oven is a bad idea. It just says "Bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes" or whatever. How are you supposed to know? Perhaps it's just supposed to be common sense. But when you're talking about someone who's baking for the first time - probably having only used the oven once or twice before - and they don't have someone there to TELL them not to use the top shelf of the oven, why is it assumed that they'll work it out? Especially when you're talking about a recipe from a kids' cookbook?? Okay, so in the case of a kids' cookbook, the expectation is probably that a parent will do the oven-related stuff. But that's totally not the point!!

So, here we have the warning I would have given my brother had I known he was braving the wonderful world of baking: unless the recipe specifies it (which I've yet to see), NEVER use the top shelf of the oven...

And yes, Cam - that applies even if there are other trays already on the shelves lower down.............. ;)

K xx