Actually, several.

Mission 1: Overcome a number of food aversions.

I have been reading Jeffrey Steingarten’s The Man Who Ate Everything.  His prologue includes an explanation of his efforts to prepare for his role as Vogue’s food critic. His preparation included overcoming aversions to a variety of foods so that he could properly critique them.

My motivation for a similar project is a dinner at Charlie Trotter’s.  I’m hoping this foam fad passes in the next couple years so I don’t have to deal with that … but there are a number of foods which seem to appear frequently in fine dining – my mission is to learn to like them before our dinner.

 

First on the list: mushrooms.  I have made it through white mushrooms.  Creminis are next.  This week’s preparation: pizza.

 

 

Mission 2: Make my fall wardrobe

 

I recently learned to knit.  I also recently sewed my wedding dress (with help).  I now have an overblown sense of confidence in my abilities with these two crafts.  So I’m going to attempt to make a sweater, skirt, coat, pants, dress and a few tops to add to my fall wardrobe.  The skirt I am ambitiously planning to design myself, without the benefit of a pre-printed pattern.  We’ll see how this goes – it’s a first attempt.  Fabric shopping will commence next week.

 

 

Mission 3: Read

 

My name is CheesePirate.  I am a librarian.  I am addicted to television.  When I first moved, the couple I moved in with did not have cable.  I read 12 books in a month.  Then the cable guy showed up.  In the last 5 months, I’ve read 2 books.  That includes an audiobook.  This will not do.  I’ve been making noise for years about how I should not have cable.  It is out of my control for the moment, but the mission is to take TV time down to an hour or two a day, and spend time reading, knitting and getting out of the damn apartment from time to time.

 

 

Mission 4: Get down in down dog

 

Yoga is something I’ve practiced at home off and on for a number of years.  It’s not something I’ve been especially rigorous about or dedicated to, but I’ve also had atrocious posture for my entire life, and as I get older, it’s starting to have some really negative effects on my body.  So back to yoga, with some new dedication and an aim toward improving. 

The yardstick for this mission: to drop my heels down to the mat in downward dog.  Right now, they hover about three inches above it (that’s a guesstimate from the posture as I can see it with my head hanging upside down – so I could be off by an inch or so).  So they’ve got a long way to go.

 

Some of these missions will be written about extensively.  Others perhaps not at all after this (I mean, who knows if my heels will ever reach the ground?  It would make anyone reading suicidally bored to see “Heels are still not touching the ground” every time they meander to the CheeseBlog).  And I might invent a few more to add.  Or I might abandon my current projects in favor of drinking beer and playing shuffleboard.