I DID accomplish some of my 50 x 50 goals and a faithful recitation of those accomplishments follows.
Pillow-touching
Of all of my 50 x 50 goals, touching 50 throw pillows was both the most whimsical and the first goal I accomplished, thanks to a visit to a gift shop with my very patient mother-in-law Patr and a trip the La-Z-Boy show room, where my brother and I were purchasing my father a retirement gift (sadly, it was not this lamp, the greatest gift anyone could ever receive).
I think the compilation video I made of our Neighbour Who Hates Us blasting her music and car alarm is my greatest cinematic oeuvre, but this is a close second, particularly the song, which I have had in my head ever since.
Air-fryer uses
I added this to my 50 x 50 because I felt intimidated by this appliance and wanted to familiarize myself with its many virtues. Here is a pie chart of what I used it for (I learned how to make a pie chart in Google sheets JUST FOR THIS, you're welcome):
Obviously, zucchini fries are the big winner here, as they should be. To quote Jean-Ralphio Sapperstein, that snizz is straight-up deloyshus.
French
Jodi Ettenberg has a very engaging monthly newsletter of cool reads called Curious About Everything and if you don't already subscribe, you should. In one of her newsletters, she shared an article by Wesley Runnels called How I Learned French in 12 Months.
I'll probably do a separate post about the whole French thing, because I have a lot of blah blah to say about it (that's French for "yap yap"). Unlike Wesley Runnels, I did not press my balls against the French wall, but I did do 50 conversational French lessons with a lovely Québecoise woman on italki, I read 50 newspaper/magazine articles and I watched over 50 episodes of French TV (with French subtitles on, bien sûr, those motherfuckers talk so vite.)
Dips in the pool
You'd think with a pool in your own fucking backyard, getting in 50 times over the course of a year wouldn't be much a challenge. But with work being INSANELY busy over the summer and the summer being kind of cold, there were a lot of days where, had I not made this a 50x50 goal, I'm sad to say that I would have chosen to stay dry. But I persevered! And swam 50 times in our backyard pool like the bourgeois shitbag I am.
The first dip was May 20 and the last was Oct 12, so to the one couple who said to us when we were building the pool: "You'll only use it for 2 months out of the year," I say:
Board game plays
Time for another pie chart!
We actually had 59 board games plays and yes, a lot of them were Wingspan BUT we did try several new ones and I did NOT have a multi-day hissy over losing any of them (unlike Gùgōng, a game I ... did not care for). Most liked new game this year: probably Earth. Least liked: Globetrotting, those fucking globes are so fussy.
New movies/TV shows
I enjoy watching new things but my true love is REWATCHING things, especially when I'm stressed out. The rules for this goal were:
- "New" means completely new, not just a new season of a show we already watch
- I didn't have to complete the season or series, one episode counted
I have a lot of opinions and recommendations after this year of brave viewing (I actually watched 83 new things!), but I'll save those for another post. I will say this though: if you aren't watching the game show The Floor, hosted by Rob Lowe, you should start.
Vegetarian Meals
Easier than I thought once I decided smoothies counted! I wish I could tell you that THIS year, I'm going to try and eat 50 VEGAN meals but I won't tell you that, because I don't want to do that.
5Km walks
The goal that started it all! I thought that doing one of these a week would get me to my 50 5kms with ease. And I felt like I WAS doing one a week. But I had 8 left to do in February, so that math isn't mathing. Anyway, I captured a few walks on IG, throwback to my first one:
I did a lot of walks in my own neighbourhood but the majority of them were with one or the other of my parents or my aunt Suki; they would drive 30 minutes to come pick up my non-driving ass and take me for a walk, like a special dog, and it was a DELIGHT.
It continues to be a delight, I did 6km with the folks on my actual 50th birthday and 10km with them last Friday and it's been Battlestar Sciatica ever since, getting old is hard.
In conclusion...
Basically, this 50 x 50 thing was a great way to gameify ageing and I am a genius for thinking of it. I feel like I started some good habits (walking, French lessons) and have some things to continue working on (new recipes, knitting...blogging). As for new goals for this year: my friend Sumc suggested that I upgrade the "pillow-touching" and just see how many ASSES I can touch before I get arrested. I dunno, that feels like more of a 60x60 thing, Sumc, but I'll keep you posted, unless the cops take my phone.
