Weighing In

In honor of hitting over 3,000 views on my blog I decided that it's time for a long overdue update of the 21 by 21 list. Let's be real; I didn't accomplish all the goals. But the ones that I did were lots of fun, are accompanied by stories of success, failures, and adventures, and have definitely made the past 6 months more exciting than I thought.  I'm grateful that I had an excuse to try at least some of the things on my list and a platform to write about them.  The experience is long from over, it's just beginning.  But in order to progress, I've gotta recap the few goals accomplished, or at least attempted to accomplish without much success:

Top Views by Country (and browsers) from May-November

Donate blood
Ah yes, the day that I almost fainted. Twice. One of them when I was on the subway. But now I have a blood-donor card and I'm signed up to give again at the Columbia Blood Drive this week!  Thanks again to JCoop for coming with me!

Register to vote

Ever think you did something and then call to confirm and realize it never happened? See I thought I had registered to vote, in fact I was pretty sure that I had registered at least twice. So when my absentee ballot never came in the mail and I called Natick Town Hall to figure out what was up it turend out I was never registered. Much to my dismay, I filled out the forms again and am ready to vote in my first ever Presidential election! Also, I'm convinced that everything would have gone smoothly if it hadn't been on my 21x21 list, but the blog has its way of making things more interesting....

Open a credit card account
Speaking of interesting, if you try to open a credit card account and you have no money, don't tell them you have no money. Because that's what I did and I got denied a credit card. So still no credit card account but I have some friends who have assured me they will walk me through the process next time around.

Go to the West Bank
After getting on two different trips to the West Bank (Encounter and JStreet, the latter who won't stop emailing me) I couldn't go on either because the former changed their dates and I was in class and the later canceled their trip. Then my passport got stolen (good times, ammirite) and so I never made it out there. But hey, there's always the next time I'm in Israel (yes Mom, I'm going back to Israel after I graduate....)

Do a split

Yeah, that never worked out. But A for effort?

Get 100 followers on my blog
Six months later I have 10 followers which is a nice start. But again, I have over 3,000 views so that's something!

Learn to cartwheel

Picture take by Jonathan after the only time I've ever cartwheeled

Since the 3rd grade I've been trying to learn to cartwheel and let me tell you, it's not going to happen. Whether it's Deborah trying to teach me in my backyard or Keren and Ari on the beach in Tel Aviv, I cannot get my hands to support my entire body while trying to push myself to spin upside down.  The only time I've cartwheeled ever was off my bed on my 18th birthday freshman year when I was reaching for my phone which was far out of my reach.  I have friends who swear to the fact that it was a cartwheel.  And I had bruises from the landing for over a month.  

Go to Petra, Jordan

YES! Success! My partner in crime this summer, Julia, and myself buckled down and made it to Petra. And it was an incredible experience!  One that I have assured her I will write about some day from the 8 hours total getting from Jerusalem to Eilat to thinking that we weren't going to get on our trip to Petra, the craziness of the hostel we stayed at, the border crossing into Jordan, Petra itself, Julia's almost fainting and refusal to buy $4 Poweraide and the trip back... it was all a whirlwind of a fantastic 48 hours that I'm so happy I did and with such a perfect travel companion.

Lose 10.5 pounds (10.5x2=21!)
Done and done.  And what a great feeling that is because the first post (if you aren't an avid reader and are just chiming in for the first time) was Counting Calories.  Perhaps the only thing on the list that needed constant work (I guess the split could have fallen under this category too, but you win some you lose some) I'm super excited and proud of this one.

To be sure, there is much more to do.  Maybe I'll make a 25 by 25 and plan it a lot better.  Maybe not.  From now on, I'm done with lists on the side of the home screen and keeping them on my whiteboard in my dorm room.  The blog is going to morph into what some of my initial intentions were with it- thoughts and observations about Generation Y as seen through a Jewish, Feminist, Israel-loving, Volunteering, College Senior.

If it's not for you, you don't have to follow.  But if you're interested in what, in my eyes, is making our generation think, act, and change, then stick around for what should be an exciting ride!