I'm doing 25 things
To help me reach this goal, I am participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)... The goal is write 50,000 word of a novel during the month of November. Join in at http://www.nanowrimo.org!
vivie's Life List
-
1. Learn to snowboard
1 entry2,603 people -
2. Become a great photographer
99 people -
3. Learn to cook
10,129 people -
4. Cycle across a European country
1 person -
5. Travel to Nepal
69 people -
6. To be a DJ (if only for a night)
1 person -
7. participate in an open source project
3 people -
8. Design my own place
1 person -
9. take a hip hop dance class
52 people -
10. Buy a House
14,062 people -
11. go to business school
33 people -
12. Learn to ride a horse
709 people -
13. Find more people like me
1 cheer7 people -
14. Pay off my student loans
3,034 people -
15. Try surfing
219 people -
16. Write a book
1 entry31,099 people -
17. Learn breakdancing
25 people -
18. Be on the cover of Wired
2 people -
19. Improve my Japanese
1 entry223 people -
20. Write/draw a manga
2 people -
21. Own a Vespa
179 people -
22. Take the GMAT
84 people -
23. Learn a martial art
1,590 people -
24. Be a better friend
6,292 people -
25. brand myself
7 people
How I did it
It made me
annoyed 
How I did it: I brought back a book on macarons from Paris last winter and actually tried to make them this weekend. I translated the directions as best as I could and did my best to gather the exact ingredients. Macarons are rather difficult to make because they require Almond Powder/Flour which is hard to find, so I ended up using the coffee bean grinder to make my own. The whole affair took a very very long time, but in the end I was able to get and… Read how I did it…
It made me
happy! 
How I did it: Due to some interesting circumstances, I bought a Photography class at the local Art Center through a charity silent auction. To my surprise, darkroom photography was the main thing we learned to do. The techniques were a bit old but I actually learned to develop black and white film and then develop various prints. I had to buy a film camera to get started so I chose the Nikon FM10 and got a great deal off ebay. I got the basics down fai… Read how I did it…
Recent entries
Proactively trying to get the local special any place I travel to has really helped me try more things. Working as a consultant has as well… it is much easier to try new things when you travel and eat out all the time. Now the challenge will be continuing to do so…
Photoshop Lightroom made my dreams come true. All I ever wanted to do was to manage my photos from a single location, tag them, edit them (photoshop style) and have easy access to the actual file when I want it. Lightroom does all that without blinking. I was skeptical when my friend recommended it, but after trying it out I have to say that it is really all you need (I need) to get everything organized.
I always thought that I needed to know Photoshop to do things professionally. Not so. Lightroom is so much better at letting you organize photos than Adobe Bridge, while Lightroom’s editing features include basic RAW controls and some cool pre-set effects. You don’t have to worry about features that you don’t need for editing photos and you don’t have to get confused by the numerous controls and options.
Next step: set a strategy for managing photos with friends/vacation photos and actual project photos
