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cactusoftheeast




I'm doing 42 things
  

cactusoftheeast's Life List

  2. 1. Spend some time in Kabul, Afghanistan
    3 cheers     		1 person
  3. 2. Deejay a break-dance session as "DJ Azalax"
    1 cheer     		2 people
  4. 3. Survive Princeton without becoming a Coastie
    3 cheers     		1 person
  5. 4. spread cream cheese perfectly on a bagel
    1 cheer     		1 person
  6. 5. Open a winter food cart on State Street Mall specializing in stews
    2 cheers     		2 people
  7. 6. Shepherd livestock for a day
    1 entry . 3 cheers     		1 person
  8. 7. Whistle really loudly with my fingers
    5 cheers     		31 people
  9. 8. Go skiing at least three times every winter
    1 cheer     		1 person
  10. 9. Force myself not to speak English for one month
    2 cheers     		1 person
  11. 10. Imitate foreign accents convincingly
    2 entries . 2 cheers     		5 people
  12. 11. Write a short but influential novel
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  13. 12. Shatter my sense of reality
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  14. 13. Bake really good bread
    5 cheers     		14 people
  15. 14. Live like an ascetic
    1 cheer     		1 person
  16. 15. Speak as fluently in German as I can in English
    3 cheers     		1 person
  17. 16. finish (most of) my summer reading list
    3 entries . 2 cheers     		1 person
  18. 17. Learn to yodel
    5 cheers     		103 people
  19. 18. Report the human side of a war
    3 cheers     		1 person
  20. 19. sign up for a course in PHP
    1 cheer     		1 person
  21. 20. Write down all my dreams in one year, then get them taken for interpretation by a dream analyst
    2 entries . 1 cheer     		1 person
  22. 21. Bribe my way into the Northern Caucasus
    1 cheer     		1 person
  23. 22. Make many new friends
    1 cheer     		5 people
  24. 23. Concoct a recipe for mustard
    		2 people
  25. 24. Turn out to be a good professor
    		1 person
  26. 25. Speak more
    		17 people
  27. 26. Perfect my throat-singing technique
    		1 person
  28. 27. Skydive
    		10,182 people
  29. 28. Find something to do in New Jersey
    		2 people
  30. 29. Bike to Mount Horeb
    		2 people
  31. 30. Attend a Deishovida concert in Vienna
    		1 person
  32. 31. Host an amazing 21st birthday party
    1 cheer     		2 people
  33. 32. Experiment with Poser 6
    1 cheer     		1 person
  34. 33. Read Dostoevsky, Chekhov, and Turgenev in Russian
    1 cheer     		1 person
  35. 34. Circumnavigate all three large lakes in Madison, Wis.
    2 cheers     		1 person
  36. 35. Build a desk for myself
    1 cheer     		1 person
  37. 36. Sleep less, live more
    1 cheer     		15 people
  38. 37. Publish an article in a scholarly journal
    2 cheers     		33 people
  39. 38. Play the following instruments competently: Ney, Zither, Bandoneon
    1 cheer     		1 person
  40. 39. Dabble in the following languages: Hungarian, Persian, Kyrgyz, Lithuanian, Mongolian
    1 cheer     		1 person
  41. 40. Complete the Polar Plunge again
    1 entry     		1 person
  42. 41. Paint a scene I remember from Tokat, Turkey
    1 cheer     		1 person
  43. 42. Climb the Piz Buin (mountain)
    		1 person
Recent entries
Cultivate an appreciation for foreign film
The Good and the Not-So-Good 3 years ago

I have “cultivated” an appreciation for foreign language film—I have seen enough now to recognize which foreign films are good ones and which are not worth watching, and have established quite a repertoire. For example,

Highly Recommended
  • Turtles Can Fly (Bahman Ghobadi/Iraq (Kurdistan)/2004)
  • In July (Fatih Akin/Germany/1999)
  • Up and Down (Jan Hrebejk/Czech Republic/2004)
  • Dark Horse (Dagur Kári/Denmark/2005)
Not Necessarily Recommended
  • Kandahar (Mohsen Makhmalbaf/Iran, Afghanistan/2001)
  • Downfall (Oliver Hirschbiegel/Germany/2004)
  • The City of Lost Children (Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet/France/1995)

Any recommendations from you?

The only thing left to do now is to watch some of the “classics” like Fellini and Kurosawa—

Jun 21, 2006, 09:28AM PDT | 3 comments


finish (most of) my summer reading list (read all 3 entries…)
Fatelessness by Imre Kertész 3 years ago

This book is absolutely, unconditionally stunning.

It is quite possibly the best book I have ever read, simultaneously horrifying and special. It is difficult to read, not because of the language or the plot but because it causes such conflicting emotions which you are forced to reconcile.

Fatelessness follows a Hungarian boy as he is sent to Auschwitz and other concentration camps, where he is “fated” to survive stoically, step by step. Definitely deserving of the Nobel Prize. ()

On to Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, all in all quite a different read—

May 30, 2006, 04:43PM PDT | 0 comments


finish (most of) my summer reading list (read all 3 entries…)
The White Castle by Orhan Pamuk 3 years ago

I just finished my first book from the summer reading list, The White Castle by Orhan Pamuk. It’s a sort of intellectual foray into identity—whether two people who look essentially the same can actually become one another given a lot of time and effort. Overall, the final chapter made the book worth reading, but it was a little slow at times. The whole feel of the book was a little magical, and anyone with an interest in Ottoman culture should give it a look. ()

On to Fatelessness...!

May 26, 2006, 12:32PM PDT | 0 comments


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I want to:

The world wants to...

overcome my emetophobia learn to whistle de-junk my house Breathe wants to follow my bliss get a job i want to fall in love with someone who loves me as much as i love them! watch all the episodes of the L Word stop living paycheck to paycheck never settle for anything less than I deserve Write for a living i want to dance barefoot in a field of wildflowers buy a home Read the Harry Potter books become a freelance web programmer scan all of my pictures onto my computer go on a road trip with no predetermined destination make a family tree see the penguins keep a paper journal Kali wants to look better make people smile Visit Jerusalem unpack all my boxes write in my paper journal at least once a week Get over my father's death Buy a House start painting again
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