More list-building

(Click here to listen to an audio recording of this post.)

Today's post is a list update. Based on the way things are going, I believe I will be starting the thousand-day challenge in early April! For those of you who are list-makers and goal-setters yourselves, have you checked out Day Zero Project, an online community and list-making tool? My catalog of curiosity now has its own page -- if you are on their site as well, let's connect.


My next ten list items:


  • Take a guided tour of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. I prefer wandering a museum on my own or with friends over guided tours, so despite the fact that I am a devotee of the ISGM and used to volunteer there, I've never taken a guided tour. Their tours are given by volunteer "museum teachers," who have taken a higher level of training than the volunteer docent program I was in. (I considered applying to be a museum teacher just because the training is so well regarded, but I knew I didn't have the time to commit to more volunteering). It's high time I take a tour!
  • Read Drifting on a Read: Jazz As a Model for Writing by Michael Jarrett. I picked this up in a used bookstore, and it just looks so intriguing, even though it also looks a little heavy on theory for my taste.
  • Andrew K.R. suggested “Learn to code, if you haven’t already.” I have a bit of a background in both Java and C, but I’ve been meaning to take a class or do a workbook in SQL for a while now. While I don’t think it will ever directly be useful in my job, I work with relational databases a fair bit and it would be great to get a better understanding of how they work, even if I’m not allowed to go in and tinker on the back end.
  • Take a MOOC on learning and development. I've recently jumped on the Massive Open Online Course bandwagon (video lectures, online discussions, etc) and I enjoy them so far.
  • Allegra S. suggested "Read Fading Scars: My Queer Disability History, by Corbett OToole." I consider reading about other people's life experiences a mandatory part of my learning about people, museums, communities, writing, etc., so I'm definitely interested.
  • Attend a meeting or two of Toastmasters International. I know there's a regular meetup in my neighborhood. I consider myself a decent public speaker, but I could always improve, and learn from others. 
  • Do "morning pages" -- writing three handwritten pages or the equivalent every morning -- for a month. I've never done this, and it's kind of a classic exercise among writers since it was suggested in a writing book by Julia Cameron.
  • Adrienne L. suggested watching the documentary “Indie Game," which is about independent video game designers. I'm always interested in the lives and work styles of people who do creative work in a different medium from me. Plus, game design very broadly defined is hot in museums right now.
Image of a video game controller with the words "Indie Game"
  • Take a class or a workshop in some kind of craft that was once traditional in New England -- a craft I haven't done before. I love crafts of all kinds, and I've had the opportunity to teach about craft history before, so it would be cool to add something to my bag of tricks.
  • Visit the Museum of Bad Art at the Somerville Theater in Davis Square. I go by it all the time, I've been to movies at that theater, I've even performed on that theater's stage, but I've never been to the adjoining (in)famous museum.

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