2003-01-05 - 2:47 p.m. 2003 To Do List Thanks, I am sure, to those candy coated little orange cold pills, I managed to do a bang-up job tidying up the apartment yesterday. Since it's a new year and all, I decided that entitled me to a nice treat. I initially considered a nice French Bistro dinner, but decided to spend my hard earned cash on something more permanent (and in keeping with the tidying up momentum) instead: scrapbook supplies. You see, my drawers and shelves are a haven for loose slips of paper. Wherever I travel (both within this City and on my out-of-City adventures), I am compelled to fill my pockets or handbag with business cards from shops I visit, menus from restaurants I eat at, and sample labels from wines I taste. Any major travel inevitably results in a small shopping bag full of paper ephemera that, when combined with my photographs, provides extensive documentation of my adventures. I used to be really good about compiling these bits and pieces into organized chaos (a.k.a. "scrapbooks"). But, in the past three years or so, I fell off the wagon and started letting those concert ticket stubc and museum programs start piling up. The recipes and winery brochures even started spilling out from the food and wine binder! BUT, thanks to yesterday's excursion to the art supply store, organization is returning to this mess. I procured one spiral bound sketchbook to house the recipes, and two bound scrapbooks to house the travel ephemera (one for U.S. Travel and one for European travel, or one for 2001 and one for 2002, depending upon how much room the Italy stuff takes up.) I spent last night culling my newspaper cutout recipes, rounding up the handwritten recipes my ex and I had committed to paper, and rubber cementing away... it's funny how someting as simple as reviewing clippings you've saved, and recipes you've made can be a major trip down memory lane. Specifically, it made me itch for a trip back to New Orleans for some more cajun cookin'. I could also do with whipping up a ham, cheese, and potatoe gratin to chase away the winter's chill... Mmmmmmmmm. This afternoon, I'm going to tackle culling and organizing some of the travel stuff. After all this scrapbooking, combined with answering my Review 02 and Random surveys, I think I will have put the last two years of my life to rest and be able to take advantage of the many opportunities 2003 has in store. Springtime Activity Plans Berlin & Beyond (film festival) ZAP! (wine tasting) Concerts galore, including the Walkmen, the Libertines, and Interpol Silkscreening (extension class) SF Indie Fest (film festival) Noise Pop (music festival) Springtime in NYC (work event) Other Plans Finish creative non fiction class Get on the ball w/the freelance food and travel writing Figure out when I can actually take some time off this year London w/Maira-Rose? Paris Barcelona and Madrid Let it also be noted that I have some things I plan to do differently this year. The most important one is: when my boss gets married and quits after returning from her honeymoon -- unlike when this happened last year -- I will feign ignorance and inability to take over her workload for the two months it takes to find her replacement. There are far better ways for me to spend my time... any comments? (1 so far) previous - next recently on almostgoldsf... in defense of an email box I came to do battle with SPAM - 2008-05-17 hello 2006 - 2005-12-31 Happy Thanksgiving - 2005-11-14 bon voyage - 2005-11-05 October already? - 2005-10-09