Plan of Attack

Okay, so now, I am going to try to do a basic outline of how I can complete 72 merit badge tasks as thoroughly and efficiently as possible.

First things, first. I am using this blog as the "Dare to Dream" badge, the first one listed in the book. This blog is my dream to add a quest back into my life. YAY! One done!

Second, I am stuck on this turtle thing. I am obsessed with turtles. I have two red eared sliders and a russian tortoise. I LOVE them! They are so fun to watch. If I have a totem, it is definitely a turtle. I have a sea turtle tatoo. I was in a coffee shop one day when a guy stopped and asked me about the tattoo. I told him how much I loved turtles, and he told me he worked as an attorney for an organization dedicating to saving sea turtles. We talked, and he mentioned that there were programs dedicated to monitoring sea turtle eggs and hatchings. Since then, I have carried around this dream to go to Costa Rica for 2-3 weeks, and depending on the time of the year, either monitor known nests or help little hatchlings get into the water. I love watching the tiny little guys try to scurry with their big fins, awkwardly flopping (is there a verb for how sea turtle hatchlings move through sand, a total foreign environment) to get into the water. I feel the same way about dating. While there are many things I have wanted to do and not done, this one surprises me the most as an uncompleted task because there is so much innate momentum behind it for me. I am not sure what has held me back, but now it gets to be on my list! SO, I am going to bundle the following tasks together.

*travel (planning and completing a trip with baby sea turtles)
*activism (working with an organization dedicating to saving these magnificent animals)
*film making (i would like to put together a short film about my experience. why not)
*camping (i have camped my whole life, but where i am going will give me the opportunity to camp as i have never known it)
(1) Save baby sea turtles (from my own list)

Third, I would like to consider some of the t, asks that cannot be packed into a weekend. Being well-read and continuing education come to mind. I have a BA in English, but I do not feel well-read. There is SO much to read. I mean can anyone ever really master Shakespeare? And even if I appreciate Faulkner and Hemingway,  I have not thought much about Manlichers or "For Whom the Bell Tolls" between paying bills and writing emails. I really miss it. So I am seriously considering going back for my MA in English, selecting a specific area for which I can read and claim to be "well-read". And if I decide to commit myself to this endevour, we can check the following, eventually:

*go back to school (continuing your education)
*get well-read
(12) Get a graduate degree (from my own list)

Fourth, with the recent discovery that I work well with structure in mind, I want to set up a daily ritual, in the morning, before work. This would be my major ME time (but honestly, since I am single and self-interested, there is lots more ME time in my life than most other  people I know, and I have to admit that I like it that way). Anyhow, to continue, I would meditate and exercise in this daily morning ritual time. I would like to take on the following:

*yoga
*meditation
*fitness/exercise

I should mention that while I have had fitness routines in the past, I have been very lazy for over two years and I am way out of shape. Just thought I should mention this for reference, so when I groan over 10 sit-ups, you know why. The triathlon idea sounds great but it makes my stomach hurt just at the thought. It will be nice when it is in reach. =)

To my counting, that is 12 tasks integrated into some type of planning.

Fifth is a vision that I have in my head that sounds slightly absurd, but amazing at the same time. I have a minor in Spanish, and some time ago, I could speak it passibly well. One of the tasks is foreign language, and part of me wanted to just say "Spanish", but I have really really wanted to learn French. And I love the idea of going to the Orsey Museum (the spelling is wrong) in Paris, appreciating the fine nuissance of French Impressionism in French. So I would like to learn French. The how's of this will be defined later:

*speaking a foreign language
*art appreciation

Sixth, there are several tasks that can be done by focusing one weekend, or a week. In my estimation, the following can be included in this list, although I retain the right to revise this list any time in the future, should one prove more problematic, engrossing, or fun than one week's time allows:

*firewalking
*public speaking
*drafting a business plan
*painting
*photography
*beading
*sewing
*quilting
*negotiating
*cooking
*wine appreciation
*entertaining
*surfing
*skydiving
*scuba diving
*horseback riding ((17) go horseback riding in Southern Utah/Grand Canyon)
*genealogy
From my list:
(5) meet a guru
(18) river rafting

Seventh, here are some that will take longer in executing, but I will save the planning for the future:
*dancing
*aviation
*singing
*writing ((10) write/publish a novel )
*building a web site
*gardening
*redo a room
*playing an instrument
*triathlon
*billiards
*nutrition
*health care
*quitting a bad habit
*budgeting
*saving and investing
*estate planning
*car care
*computer care
*home maintenance
*organizing (desperately needed!!)
*teaching
*dating
*stregthening your relationship (assuming dating goes well)
*volunteering
From my list:
(3) visit napal, thailand, japan
(6) have a family
(7) build a fortune
(8) fall MADLY in love
(15) own a private island
(16) get married
(19) learn to weld
(20) adopt a baby
(21) do something for world peace/hunger
(22)
(23) go around the world 3 times

I just realized that the weight of my list and the list from the book varies. My list was created as a to do list for my whole life, and it was not written in any particular order, in case (6) coming before (8), (16), or (20) threw anyone off.

Well, there it is. If I missed anything, it shall certainly be picked up on future revisits. I am not sure this is fun to read, yet, but its super exciting to think and write about. Cheers.

Searching for something to search for...

With my original post, I realized that I do better with structure. I want this blog to be something more than an online journal recording my mind's ramblings as I amble through my daily life. Sure, there is a lot to say and be said for each daily moment that may take me closer to some form of enlilghtened existence. That stuff is interesting......but.....there are so many OTHER options, too.

So I do love to travel, and my last few trips have been amazing but they have missed the element of transformational impact. When I was 17, three factors collided to make me a searcher. I went on my first trip to Europe, I realized that I wanted a different type of life than what my parents had patterned, and I found my natal religion lacking in consistency and spiritual support. At this point, I have established some sort of life pattern of my own, I have hacked through the jungle of religious beliefs to find what works for me, and I have been back to Europe a few times. The borders of the unknown have rescinded. And I felt like a shell. A shell of a seeker searching for a quest.

And I found one! It's sublime! It's a book, called "You Can Do It, The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-up Girls". This book was at my favorite store, and I started thumbing through it five months ago.After several visits, I finally bought it. There are sixty tasks that can be completed, with very cute stickers at the end for recognition. And I had this thought that I would write a blog tracking the tasks I have selected, something that would be something between "Julie & Julia" and "Eat, Pray, Love". But in order to give the tasks the time they deserve, this will take more than a year. I am thinking three. Maybe four. Maybe I will never be done. It is hard to say. But what's the rush?

This book is by Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas. She died on United Flight 93 on 9/11/2001. Any time I think of that, my eyes fill up with tears. Oh, that day. I had to complete a list of my addresses for the last 10 years for a background check the other day, and I struggled to recall where I lived 10 years ago. But that day. I can tell you what I did the day before and the day after, and what I was wearing on all three days. I have heard of those days that impact generations, like the Challenger explosion and the JFK assasination, but 9/11 is really the only experience I have of that generational memory blotting.

After she died, her sisters finished the book. Somehow, all of this comes together to really make me want to do a good job on this task of want-to-do's I am selecting for myself. This book is amazing. It has give me inspiration. To finish. And to live.

Okay, so I am going to list the different tasks below. I am going to put an asterisks next to my preliminary choices. I think some of these can be grouped together, which will be my task following choosing which ones to do. Some, those that are either easily started or already easily in reach, I will jump right into. Here is the list:

• dare to dream*
• dancing
• travel*
• acting
• firewalking*
• public speaking*
• activism*
• starting a rock band
• drafting a business plan*
• aviation*
• singing*
• painting*
• writing*
• filmmaking*
• photography*
• building a web site*
• gardening*
• redo a room*
• beading*
• sewing*
• quilting*
• knitting
• negotiating*
• speaking a foreign language*
• go back to school*
• playing an instrument*
• art appreciation*
• get well-read*
• cooking*
• wine appreciation*
• entertaining*
• fitness*
• yoga*
• surfing*
• climbing
• skydiving*
• triathlon*
• scuba diving*
• snow sports*
• billiards*
• horseback riding*
• nutrition*
• healthcare*
• breaking bad habits*
• look sharp--personal style*
• budgeting*
• saving and investing*
• estate planning*
• car care*
• computer care*
• home maintenance*
• organizing*
• meditation*
• teaching*
• camping*
• genealogy*
• family rituals*
• dating*
• strengthening your relationship*
• volunteering*
• dream on (make  your own badge)*

I have my own list, that I made 10/05. I would like to include it, because I would like to incorporate my personal dreams with the structure of the book. That way, this is tailored to fit me!

1. Save baby sea turtles
2. Visit Hawaii & see whales (completed)
3. Visit Napal, Thailand, Japan
4. Teach English in another country (completed)
5. Meet a guru
6. Have a family
7. Build a fortune
8. Fall MADLY in love
9. See a movie at Sundance (completed)
10. Write/publish a novel
11. Get a motorcycle (completed)
12. Get a graduate degree
13. Become a master scuba diver
14. Buy a house (completed)
15. Own my own private island
16. Get married
17. Go horseback riding in Southern Utah/Grand Canyon
18. Go river rafting
19. Learn to weld
20. Adopt a baby
21. Do something for world peace/hunger
22. (This one is for me to know)
23. Go around the world three times

Crap, that gives me 83 things to do and learn, some of them extremely intense. What am I thinking? Wait, I have some completed, and I did not select all 60 from the book. I am down  to 72.  Well, that's my goal and my search. I will leave another post right after this with rudimentary plans of attack, but this enough for one post.

To start with...

For a long time, I have loved to travel and see new things. For all of 2007, I lived in another country. Then I came back to my hometown, near the neighborhood where I grew up, and settled in. Although there is still a strong desire in me to travel, a new desire to explore has surfaced over the last few years. The desire to explore my inner world and the maze that is made of my dreams, desires, thoughts, fears, and all of the things that I have filled up my life to make it what it is. This has been a fascinating journey....sometimes fun, sometimes scary, sometimes painful, but always illuminating. And I want to share what I have discovered, as a way to show where I have been, but also in case anyone else out there is taking an inner journey in the same way.