Thing 33a - mondo update

33a. Read/listen to 200 books

Current Progress: 61/200 (30.5%)

I'd been holding off on this because I hadn't reviewed a book I read ages and ages ago but I think I'll just skip it and go ahead and post the list of books I've read and reviewed thus far. I'm a few reviews behind so the "current progress" number is higher than the numbered list below, but I'll link to them in the next update.

31. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
32. We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
33. There Once Lived a Girl Who Seduced Her Sister's Husband, and He Hanged Himself: Love Stories by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
34. Goblin Quest by Jim C. Hines
35. Blackout by Connie Willis
36. The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem
37. Mrs. T's Bedside Book
38. How to Make Your Man Behave in 21 Days or Less Using the Secrets of Professional Dog Trainers by Karen Salmansohn
39. Thwonk by Joan Bauer
40. Seahorse in the Sky by Edmund Cooper
41. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
42. Harley Loco by Rayya Elias
43. God's Gift by Lucie Cave
44. Home Protection by 55DSL.com
45. The Two Kings by A.J. Jacobs
46. All Clear by Connie Willis
47. Lyra's Oxford by Philip Pullman
48. It's Nothing Personal by Kate O'Reilley
49. Dragons of the Dwarven Depths by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
50. Leave of Absence by Tanya J. Peterson
51. Outside the Spotlight by Sophie Weeks
52. Movies in Fifteen Minutes by Cleolinda Jones
53. Vampirates: Demons of the Ocean by Justin Somper
54. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
55. Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
56. If You Were Here by Jen Lancaster

Thing 71a - complete!

71a. Visit the National Postal Museum

Date Completed: 29 June 2013



I visited here with my friend Six one sweaty morning before a BookCrossing meetup, and we had a grand time. It's a fairly small place, but there's plenty to see and a fair number of hands-on sorts of things, like fake stamp cancelling stations where you can keep the postcard you stamped, and a "make your own stamp collection" kiosk where you got to pick out six stamps from these huge bins and take them home with you. Definitely fun. The emphasis placed on Owney the postal dog is a little weird, given that he's stuffed and on display (as opposed to just photographs or even an animated character), but otherwise it's a fun place to visit.

Thing 12a - complete!

12a. Clean out file cabinet

Date Completed: 30 June 2013

I'd planned to do this over Memorial Day weekend, but ended up spending that holiday sick in bed. So I randomly decided to start working on it over the last few days of June. I filled up a large box of paper to be shredded, and the drawers no longer have difficulty opening and closing (due to being so weighted down by their contents). I need to do this more often so it'll be a smaller job each time. After all, I really don't need to keep cable bills from 2008. Really.

Thing 14a - begun

14a. Hang curtains in study

My mom decided she wanted to sew curtains for my study, so over the 4th of July weekend we went fabric shopping and I ended up choosing a cute pastel "turtles and musical notes" pattern. I think they'll be cute.

Thing 40a - complete!

40a. Watch Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex

Date Completed: 17 July 2013

This is quite possibly my husband's favorite anime series of all time, and it is quite good. Basically it's about a Sooper Seekrit government agency called Section 9. They do a lot of undercover work and solve crimes and stuff, but this all takes place in a future where cybernetic implants are commonplace, to the point where several of the main characters have gone "full cyborg" - that is, everything but their brains are artificial, and most people's brains have implants of some sort or another to improve memory or allow for telepathic communication. This puts computer hacking in a whole new light, since now you can hack people's bodies - for example, hacking someone's eyes so they only see a logo where your face should be.

The characters and premise are interesting, the tachikoma are adorable, and the English voice acting is excellent. In short, it's a good show.

Thing 68a - Anything Goes

68a. Attend 5 plays

Current Progress: 2/5

I went to the Kennedy Center in DC with my parents and husband to see Anything Goes. I knew a lot of the music, it being Cole Porter and all, but I'd forgotten a lot of the plot. It's quite funny, and the dancing was incredible. Good times.

Thing 89a - complete!

89a. Make three Kiva loans

Date Completed: 17 July 2013

I had some Kiva credit lying around so I relent it to Kelsinbubu in Kyrgyzstan and to Sokheng in Cambodia. Both were agricultural in nature: one for cattle, the other for pig feed.