#listmakers

Today, Letterboxd sent this out to its members:

As Shocktober comes to a close, and Noirvember gets under way, we’re a little bit glum over the death of Gunnar Hansen who played Leatherface in the original 1974 classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. We’re consoling ourselves with this great interview he did with the Nerdist two years ago.

This month is also Movember — a movement to raise awareness of men’s health issues, and a good excuse to watch hirsute characters on screen.

Other suggestions for the month from you great people via a Twitter chat this week include: Noévember (for the release of Love in 3D), Whoa-vember (“all Keanu, all the time”), Deneuvember (films with the grande dame of French cinema), Brovember (films set in obnoxious frat houses), Wernervember (Herzog, of course), Prochnowember (films featuring Jürgen Prochnow), Noahvember (Aronofsky’s waterlogged epic on repeat) and … NovemBurt (Lancaster, Reynolds, Bacharach…).

That lot should keep you busy until the force awakens.

Carol and I, after a fab evening munching crisps and chocolate and catching up on almost a year's worth of life.

Between gobbling and laughing we stumbled on the topic of Carol's latest project... a list (not surprisingly, we're both obsessive list-makers, although mine often wind up redundant and abandoned in my handbag, which eventually swallows all contents so they are lost forever). I digress, not just a list, but one that I immediately became excited by and felt the need to copy - 30 things to do before I'm 30. I love this idea. So often I waste time glued to my phone or my latest TV fad (currently Game of Thrones, 3 seasons in 2 weeks, not healthy) convinced that 'one day' I will do this and 'next year' I will do that, but so often I forget, become distracted or decide I am way too busy doing far more important things like... watching Game of Thrones. So I have made a list, and I'm really looking forward to getting started with it. 

Before I share my list, I just want to take a second to acknowledge that the content of each person's list is very personal. An outsider taking a look at mine may well think 'wow she hasn't been very adventurous' or 'what the hell has she put that on there for', but each item has some meaning to me personally, some shallow, some deep. They are all things that I want to do, and I'm sure (I hope) will occur amidst a myriad of other life events along the way. I don't really spend all of my time glued to screens... (just most of it... including right now).

I'll simply list the items for now, but as I attempt (hopefully successfully) each activity, I'll write a bit about my experience and the motivation behind it. 

I will be 28 on the 1st September this year (2014), so I have 2 years, 18 weeks and 5 days to complete my 30 'things'. It is a higgledy piggledy mix of activities, some of which will hopefully be accomplished with little difficulty and expense, and others that may take a little longer, and cost a little more!

Here goes... in no particular order...

1. Write a short story

2. Complete the Goodreads BBC Book List Challenge

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/10203.The_BBC_Book_List_Challenge

3. Have a ‘meat-free’ month

4. Get married

5. Make puff pastry from scratch

6. Have lunch with my dad

7. Go to a ballet

8. See Orphan Boy play a gig in Grimsby

9. Get a new qualification

10. Do some voluntary work for a charity

11. Write to a prisoner

12. Start learning a new language

13. Learn to play one song in full on the guitar

14. Complete the full 8 week mindful meditation plan in my book 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mindfulness-practical-guide-finding-frantic/dp/074995308X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398284418&sr=8-1&keywords=mindfulness

15. Visit a national trust site that I haven't yet seen

16. Visit a European city I have not yet been to

17. Write a letter to a friend

18. Go to Stratford Theatre to see a play by RSC

19. Watch the sun rise

20. Ride on a tandem bike

21. Visit Scotland

22. Visit Stonehenge

23. Go to an art exhibition

24. Run into the sea

25. Get a skipping rope – and skip

26. Complete the 30 day abs challenge

http://nsfitbitch.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/30-day-ab-challenge/

27. Write a blog entry every day for at least one month

28. Learn to knit (and knit something)

29. Go on a river cruise down the Thames

30. Write my '40 things to do before I'm 40' list