The list is posted and one item is already complete! (kinda)

Under the shiny new "101 in 1001" tab, you can find my list for the eponymous project.  In putting together my list, I hit a few moments of writer's block and perused a lot of lists on LJ's Mission101 community and through the Wordpress 101 in 1001 tag.  This searching confirmed what I was already feeling as I put together my list: you can learn a few things about a person simply by viewing what they put in their list.

For example, it's easy to see that my list is heavy on the personal and light on the professional.  This is because that past few years of my life were so dedicated to the professional (I was a full-time grad student) that my personal life became shredded in the process.  Grad school requires you to give up a large portion of your life to your studies.  In addition, I was living alone two hours away (north or south) from my closest friends and family, so I spent a lot of time alone (well, alone with Oreo, my shih-tzu).  I filled my time by doing schoolwork and spending an inordinate amount of time online and watching TV.  Since graduating in May, I've been having a difficult time weaning myself off the TV and intarwebs and back into normal civilian life, so a lot of the goals I've set for myself help me detail ways to spend more time on myself, my husband, my family and friends - all while doing things I enjoy or have wanted to do for a while.

So, the one task already completed, sorta,  is registering this list on Day Zero.  I did submit it but it hasn't been approved and posted yet.  I didn't bring soda to work today and will not (WILL NOT!!) buy one from the vending machine, so that one's in progress.  That's on the list because I really think soda (even diet soda, which is all I drink) is terrible for you.  I believe the studies that show that artificial sweeteners actually increase your urge to binge because they trick your body into thinking it's getting a sweet goody.  I can't actually have a lot of sugar (more on that another time) so I do use Splenda for my coffee and iced tea, but I think my use is pretty moderate.  I've also read that the carbonation in soda has something to do with robbing your bones of calcium.  Even if that's not true, there's no benefit to soda other than the caffeine (I have a slight caffeine addiction, another grad school holdover) and I can always get my caffeine from tea if I need it.

The debt consolidation is in progress because I submitted it on the website earlier today.  I've consolidated my debt with this company before and they were really great.  I'm looking forward to feeling in control of my finances again (my list will give you a hint that those went to hell in a handbasket during grad school as well).

You really have to love what you go to grad school for because it really does a number on your life.  There's nothing I love better than having a project, though, which is why this 101 in 1001 project is such a great idea for me.  I love projects; I love making lists and crossing off items.  I made the list so that it's challenging, but not clearly impossible.  Some things are far easier than others, but none of them are so easy that it's a waste of space on the list.  I'm really, really looking forward to this challenge.