53. Visit NYC

I went to New York for the long weekend. I've wanted to go for a few years, and I will have to go again, since 3 days is not nearly enough to fully experience New York.

Here are some pictures from the vacay.

Times Square at night

Wall Street - The buildings are absolutely amazing

Inside Grand Central Station
View from Belvedere Castle in Central Park

This is only some of what we saw in New York. For the rest, you must be privy to my extremely exclusive facebook page.

61. Make a friend in a random city/county

I had a penpal in highschool. Her name was Mélanie Y********* (I cannot believe that I remember her name) and she was from Paris, France. I always thought it was cool to talk to someone that lived in a different country than me, so I signed up for a penpal last week. It did not go very well for me.

A few days ago, I got a reply from this guy in Ethiopia. At first I thought, neat, Ethiopia is cool, they call samosas 'sambosa' and wear really loud clothes. I replied to him using my old email address just in case he turned out to be a creepo, and it's a good thing I did!

The first thing that I noticed was that he mispelled my name. I have a problem with this, especially since I had written what my name was in the message that he replied to. You want to be my friend? You gotta know my name. I probably would have let it slide if the next thing that he wrote was not: (actual exerpt from email)

"now i have a friend i'm happy to know you could you tell me your visit how do u find NY (I had mentioned my trip in my email) do you have a plan to vosit Africa as weel see you soon and i would be happy if we chat"

No, I will not be seeing you soon. I did not sign up for a pen pal in order to find a boyfriend on the other side of the world. Delete.

So if anyone out there knows someone who wants a pen pal, hopefully one that has no desire to meet me, give me their name. Until then, my quest continues.

74. Disconnect from technology for a whole weekend

I thought that I could complete this task while I was in NYC since I didn't want ridiculous roaming charges, and that I could probably stay away from a computer, and maybe my Ipod. Simple enough in theory.

I was sucessful with my cell phone. I just left it in the car and forgot about it. I didn't really need it since I just made sure never to wander off on my own. But, as for the rest, I wasn't able to stay away from. I didn't check my email but I did check twitter when I went to the Apple Store on 5th avenue and from my brother's IPod. And I was listening to music for the whole drive. So, I think that my attempt at this goal failed, but I still have 150 weekends to do it properly. I will probably try it the next time I go camping, since I am pretty much forced into technological seclusion.

I completed/began a few other goals, but I will update later.

92. Finish 5 crossword puzzles completely, without cheating

Well, I finished 1 out of 5. I like doing crosswords, but I usually end up not being about to find the last few words. This was on level easy, it is the only one that I am going to allow myself on easy. The rest have to be medium skill or hard.

33. Start filing my bills properly

To be quite honest, I am not really an organized person. Every month when I pay my credit card, I usually just put my bill on some random counter. And most of the time, I usually think I will remember where I put it. This happens to not be true, and I find old bills randomly around the house every few days or weeks. Even when I find my old bills, I don't put them anywhere logical. So I have been meaning to start filing my bills properly for a long time, only I never really had any motivation to do it. I actually did this 2 weeks ago. I searched the house for any of my old credit card bills and I put them in "my box" which is the box that my mom bought for me 4 years ago, when I started university to put all my stuff. Over the last 4 years, this box has mostly contained textbooks that I bought and never read, old photocopies, and - the one thing that I am glad that I kept organized - about 20 essays that I had to write in university. I put some filling folders in the box, and turned it into an instant filing cabinet! Unfortunatley, there were some casualties, but nothing serious. I wasn't able to find all my old statements.. but from now on, I am putting them in my box as soon as they are paid!


Now, if the tax man ever comes to haunt me, I know where all my bills are.