Merry Wanderer of the Night:
101 in 1001

On Friday I did something I've tried to do over and over again for years. About a month ago I cleaned my closet out. I took out everything that I put on and don't wear because it makes me feel self conscious. I took out dresses that were too small, knowing that I'm not going to fit into them someday. I took out shirts with sleeves that were too short. I took out shirts that were too tight. I got rid of a pretty large stack of items. And then I folded them all up and stuck them in the corner of the bedroom where they sat until Friday.

I always come up with reasons to not donate clothes. I'm too busy today I'll do it this weekend. I'll give them to my mom and have her do it for me. It's not that big of a deal, I'll just leave them in my closet. So then I have clothes I don't like or do like but don't fit sitting in my closet for years and years and I never wear them.

On Friday I was on a roll with errands so I finally sucked it up, bagged up my stack of clothes and went to Goodwill. I was all freaked out about it since I'd never donated before. I figured there would be a bunch of questions I would have to answer or I would go to the wrong place and look stupid. For some reason I had it in my head that I would arrive and they would tell me they didn't want my donation. Well it turns out it's pretty pain free. I just dropped the clothes off in a bin, some guy came out to ask if I needed a receipt, and I left. That's it. That's all I had to do. And I checked another item off my list.

7% complete, 958 days to go!

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When I originally made the goal to send ten postcards via Postcrossing I figured I would spread it out a little bit. Maybe send one postcard a month or something like that. Let me tell you, Postcrossing is addictive. Once you've sent one postcard you just cannot wait to send the next one, and the next one, and the next one. And since Postcrossing lets you send up to five postcards at a time you're pretty much always all maxed out.

The great thing about Postcrossing is that you send something out there into the world and then you get surprised by a postcard in the mail every once in awhile. So far I've sent ten postcards and received five, but four of my postcards are still traveling to their destinations. I've received postcards from England, Italy, Finland, Poland, and the United States. I've sent postcards even farther, to places like Taiwan and Russia.

Somehow Postcrossing is able to match you to people with like interests. On my profile I talk about liking books, music, and comics. I've had a few people with extremely similar interests to me, even a French girl studying English literature in England.

The way Postcrossing works is you send out a postcard, someone receives that postcard and registers it online, then your name gets sent into the pool for a postcard, someone randomly receives your information and sends you a postcard, which you then register and the cycle repeats.

4% complete, 972 days to go!

Have any of you used Postcrossing?

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I've actually checked two more things off my Day Zero list, but the most exciting completion happened today. Jason and I started our compost bin. Originally we planned on building our own, but when we went shopping for soil and lime we saw a 115 gallon compost bin made from recycled plastic. This is way bigger than we really need, but it's something we'll probably be able to grow into. We threw our own food scraps, newspaper, soil, and lime in there today and it's just a little bit from the bottom. Soon we'll collect food scraps from our friends and after a long time we'll create our first batch of compost soil!

Adding some food scraps to the bin.

Our giant compost bin.
Jason and I obviously rent our house, so some of you might be wondering where we're doing this. We actually had some spare laminate flooring that we laid down on our laundry room floor (which is cement) and set the compost bin on. A compost bin is empty at the bottom so you can set it on the ground outside, which we clearly cannot do. There is a drawer on the side of the bin where we can release the compost when it's finished. We'll probably use this soil to grow things and give it to our friends who want some. We're only planning on filling this bin half full right now, but maybe someday we'll fill the whole thing.

And for those of you wondering what else I checked off my list, I got my nose re-pierced. I had it done when I was in high school but let it grow close one summer when I had a job that required me to take it out every day. I also have quite a few projects in progress.

988 days to go, 3% complete!

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Spring break is almost over and I'm quite sad about the whole thing. I've had a taste of summer and now it's all I can think about. I'm feeling a little sick today, or maybe I'm just embracing my last lazy day. I'm planning on spending time in bed, watching TV, and reading. I haven't finished five books quite yet, but I think I can make it happen by the end of the day. Essex County

is the real stand-out book I finished and I can't wait to review it. I think it might be my favorite graphic novel.

I'm still hard at work on my Day Zero Project. I've come close to completing two more projects on my list and have several of the long term projects going too. The project has really forced me to change my attitude about life. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by all the things I need to and want to do (and not doing them) I now just see these as things I will finish eventually. Something that will be checked off a list. It's a little freeing, and empowering to realize you can complete your goals with planning and passion.

In other news, my book buying ban has twelve days left. I went to Barnes and Noble this week and even thought I felt like buying a lot of things I resisted. And you know what? I'm still alive. Two things are getting me through this ban. The first is the $40 I taped to my calendar. If I get to April 1st then that money is mine to buy books with. The second is the Goodreads application on my iPod. Now if I see a book I want in the store I just scan it and add it to my wishlist. Once the ban is over I can go through my wishlist and see what what books I'm still pining for and what I can probably forget about.

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I recently decided to join the Day Zero Project. I created a list of 101 things I'd like to accomplish in 1001 days, which works out to roughly one thing every ten days. It doesn't sound to hard to make the list, but I actually found it incredibly difficult to find 101 things I really wanted to accomplish in a little less than three years. This isn't because I'm unmotivated, I just tend to do things I want to do. I wanted to backpacking and I made it happen. I wanted to date my boyfriend and I let him know I liked him. And so on and on. But everyone needs encouragement and I really enjoy challenging myself. I'll blog about this process from time to time.

The first task I completed is writing a letter to myself in ten years. I'll be 31 at this point and my life will be incredibly different. In my letter I talked about children, careers, and how I would remember this point in my life. I actually used the website FutureMe to write the letter. You can set the date on there and it will email you the letter when you tell it to. You're not able to read the letter before that date, but you can change the email address it's sent to in case you get a new email.

I also asked my future self if I was still blogging at English Major's Junk Food. Time will tell...

The process of imagining a different version of myself was a little empowering. It made me realize that while I do have some control over the way my life turns out I shouldn't be upset if it goes differently from the way I planned it. I'm considering writing a few more of these letters to myself, perhaps one for the day I graduate college.

My list is at Day Zero for interested parties. Encourage me by asking me how it's going every once in awhile.

If you were to write a letter to yourself in ten years what would you say?

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.