Bucket List 2024

Remember the bucket list?

I love how the list changes over time. I think that the only thing that has been on the original bucket list that I've actually done is to sing the national anthem at a baseball game, and I have to say that that no longer feels fashionable. But I did it. And a lot of other things that were never part of the list

13. Perform in a pantomime horse costume

One more item departed the list this year: perform in a pantomime horse costume. This was going to be the year. But being jolly really took some effort, and I work at a place that is so high-functioning in "doing bits" that I realized it would not be as fun as first imagined. But I got so much fun thinking about it. 

8. Volunteer in the Bishop Museum archives

This hasn't happened yet, and I'm not working on it. But I keep it on the list because I think that some sort of thing *like* this will come my way and feel satisfying to do. I still transcribe the Freedman's Bureau records from time to time.

5. Meet distant family in Ireland

I gave up on this, but I feel it's still pertinent to the list. This year I tracked down a genetic relative who has similar research goals. It is possible that my great grandmother and her great great grandmother were siblings. Both died of insanity.

Also, I've really enjoyed being part of a local Irish genealogy group. I feel hopeful that some day this goal of going to met rellies will come to pass.

7. Be a balloon wrangler in the Thanksgiving Day Parade

If an opportunity comes up in the future, I will ask.

NEW TO THE LIST

Participate in an archaeological dig. 

I Did The Things

Yesterday was a river of activity. 

Tiger Brown and I went to the city in a rainstorm. We were buffeted by the wind, and at time I could not see in front of me. Went to the holiday meeting of the Irish genealogy club, where I may have committed myself to doing research on the Orange Men in our state. Developing.

Then I went to kill time at the blood donation center, but flunked iron, as I often do. This is why I stopped giving blood. You psych yourself up for the donation and then they tell you that your iron is too low. On the way out a lady told me that if you heat your hands first, it makes your finger iron register higher (or somesuch).

This all meant I had 4 hours to kill until my next appointment. I visited two cemeteries. The first one is known to be the posher one of the two, and I looooove how they carve the name of the place into the lawn. I drove around the monuments for a bit:

and had to make myself stop because I sort of knew I was in the wrong spot. I took a deep breath, pulled over, and tried to figure out how to get to the area where my friend's ancestors are buried. 

That took a bit, but my nav told me I had arrived. Then I realized that there were hundreds of grave markers in that area and I couldn't figure out what the direction markers mean.

The direction markers look like this. The cemetery nav said I was at my destination, which was plot 101, fifth row, but the marker looked like this:

and more often than not there were four numbers, two on each side of the line, lined up vertically. Never figured out what that meant, and light was growing dim. I walked around for a bit and then asked a groundskeeper if he could look at the listing on the website and help me find the plot. He said something akin to "No se", and we pretended to understand each other. I thanked him and went back to my car. It was freezing and the wind was blowing like stink. My nose was running and I didn't have a tissue. I was super frustrated but I did not cry and I knew I'd figure it out. There were actually walking directions, it turns out, and I made the blue dot and the red droplet line up and found my target. Whew!

Got back in the car and drove over to the less-stellar cemetery where my granny and grandaddy are laid to rest. Wow. It used to be nice, but now it has a marquee wishing you happy holidays, and light up reindeer on the lawn *and* my rellies' resting place has been remodeled. It used to be pretty:

But instead of the window and lawn that used to be there, they busted through that side of the building and added another wing. My folks used to be in what was a quiet destination but now their location is a dank passageway to that new area. I've been thinking of tucking my mom in with her parents when she dies, but now I think it's not fancy enough for her tastes.

When the man called out "Hello?" and asked me to move along, I did. And I realized I still had an hour and a half until dinner. I drove to the Club and parked (1/2 hour). Did my nails in the car (15 min). Finally it was time for Christmas Dinner at the Club.

Simple Things Are Hard

If only the "directions" for the small desk organizer I ordered had said "screw the parts together as you go" I would have finished this project in well under an hour. Between getting things turned around, as I do, and everything falling apart as soon as I moved from one part to the next -- there were many deep sighs and lots of muttering. After about half an hour I had a pile of parts that had once been attached to each other. They weren't even organized any longer (in the photo I've organized them as in the directions).

I kept telling myself that this was a test in patience.

And then I started using low-stick tape on the sections I'd assembled, and when that didn't hold, I started screwing together the parts I knew for sure went together -- basically the drawer -- as a reward for the persistent. And then I had a lightbulb / wtf moment where I decided to just screw parts together and hope I got them right.

That worked. 

Facebook Knows Me

It offers me the following ad:

    

I thought it was a personal degaussing device, but it's for not having to hold hands with your kid but still being quasi responsible on Black Friday.

Or something.