Nr 9 - Go back to Waiheke island

Another token picture. Mum and I visited Waiheke for a day during our trip to both the South and the North Islands of NZ in April 2008. We visited friends of friends who have recently set up a life-style wineyard on the island.

Nr 12 - Go wine tastin

In an effort to increase my count of 'completed items' on the 101 list, here is another photo (I'm too lazy to write lengthy descriptions).
When T and I went to San Fran in 2008, H took us for a day of wine tasting in Sonoma County. Among the smoke from the thousands of wild fires in the surrounding area, we enjoyed good wine (from several different vineyards) and good food, such as olives, cheese and bread (all locally produced as well).
I discovered that it is possible to appreciate a 'good' red, but only in comparison to a bad one. My bias toward whites was not shaken what so ever, but at least now I know I'll not be lost if five glasses of red are placed in front of me! Suck it up (and just driiiiink!)


By the way: thanks T and H for an awesome day!

Nr 31 - Do the TESOL course

Here is picture proof that I completed this relatively 'large' item. Three weekends of learning about Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and getting to know some other eager teachers.
Now it is all about braving the scary world (and the intimidating children, teens, or business people who want to partake in my beginner teaching skills).

Nr. 31 - do the TESOL course

I've completed it and have signed up for the specialization module on teaching Business English. I will write about the weekend course as soon as I get home and get the pictures from one of my classmates!

No 47 - Favourite 25 songs 1/3

Here I am, with an evening full of possible adventures, but nothing to do. Why not complete the first list of my 25 favourite songs. I will do this two more times to complete the item.

The process of elimination went as follows:

Step 1. Systematically (I.e. alphabetically) go through whole itunes library. Note that my precious Ipod died a few months ago (R.I.P) and as a result some of my most loved music, essentially all my NZ stuff, is now gone. Therefore, this 25 list is not necessarily a completely accurate representation of my favourite 25 songs.

Step 2. Discover that previous step resulted in a 'top 118 songs' list.

Step 3. Rate songs from the 'top 118' list according to itunes star ratings. Now discover that 30 songs fit the 5 star rating.

Step 4. Bump five items down to 4 star rating to make the 'top of the loser songs'.



The (first) top 25 (with top 10 performers in bold)

Beth Orton - Absinthe (will I ever get sick of this song?!?)
Ane Brun (feat. Teitur) - Rubber & Soul (a duet with two of my most loved artists)
Sarah Isaksson & Rebecka Törnqvist - Pearl of the Quarter (newly discovered jem of a cover)
Teitur - Umbrellas in the rain (I love most of his stuff, this is the current winner)
Emiliana Torrini - Serenade (just like my favourite word: mellifluous)
Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine (motivational songs 101)
Tiger Lou - Oh Horatio (I'm a sucker for stories about people meeting on trains...)
Sophie Zelmani - Going home (my heart melts 1.20 minutes into the song)
John Mayer - Stop this train (representative of all hours lost to JM's lyrics and melodies)
Kings of Convenience - Missread (likewise, KOC hold a special place in my heart)
Amos Lee - Black river
Jewel - Enter from the east
Feist - I feel it all
Coldplay - Trouble
Carla Bruni - Raphaël
Frou Frou - Let go
Keren Ann- For you and I
Laleh - Invisible (Acoustic version)
Madeleine Peyroux - Between the bars
Tingsek - World of its own
RJD2 - Ghostwriter
The roots - The seed
Beth Orton - Central reservation (the Then again version) (only artist to feature the top 25 twice...)
Nina Simone - Tell me more and more and then some
Yann Tiersen - La valse d'Amelie (piano version)


and the top of the losers (I.e. numbers 26 to 30) are:

The Doors - Riders on the storm
John Butler Trio - Company sin
Travis - Last train (surprisingly so far down the list, because overall the albums are consistently fantastic)
Hurlements d'Léo - L'Addiction
Julie Delpy - A waltz for a night

Nr 76 - Learn to use Photoshop properly

A selection of my first attempts, before and after. Early stages, but here goes. Format of the post is also a bit messed up, but oh well..

Playing with simple things like saturation and highlights/shadows, to bring out the dramatic sky.

Again, saturation and highlights/shadows, but also messing with filters.

Nr 56 - Turn my cellphone off for 48 hours

I did this in Samoa.

Sure, not having any reception means it was quite useless to have it on... but still. It was off for a whole lot longer than 48 hours to make up for it.

Consider it done!