Life in a Suitcase: Review: Into the Beautiful North

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Review: Into the Beautiful North

Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book gave me the weirdest sense of deja vu, but I really hadn't read it before. It's an awesome story about a girl on a quest, and one that examines Mexican/American relations. Well worth reading.

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Carpe Diem

1. Finish this frickin' list. In 1001 days, write a new one. (1/2)

Reading
2. Read 101 books. (124/101) (40/101)
3. Read 50 children's books. (57/50) (32/25)(0/25)
4. Finish reading War and Peace.
5. ~~Spend 30 days reading out of the house for at least one hour. (36/30)~~
6. Fail! Maintain the book ban (no books without trade-in credit) with 5 slips. (15/5) (5/5)(0/5)
7. ~~Go to a book club meeting.~~
8. Read all the magazines in my place.
9. Read Man Booker Prize and Pulizter Prize winning book from the year of my birth. (1/2)

Writing
10. Write a haiku.
11. Finish up all draft blog posts.
12. ~~Complete a month of posts each year (NaBloPoMo or other month.) (7/3)~~
13. Learn to write my name in 5 scripts. (0/5)
14. Send 60 handwritten letters or postcards. (24/60)
15. ~~Complete Postcrossings.~~
16. Send Christmas cards. (1/2)
17. Send flowers at random.

Smarts
18. Do something to put knowledge in, rather than spouting it out.
19. ~~Be able to label a map of Africa.~~
20. Be able to name 20 foreign leaders and their countries. (0/20)
21. Memorize a poem.
22. Stop saying THAT word (the one Martha doesn't like.)

It's All Fun and Games
23. ~~Win at any of the quiz nights.~~
24. ~~Participate in a scavenger hunt.~~
25. Play croquet or bocce.
26. ~~Learn to play a new game (Backgammon, Bridge, etc.)~~
27. ~~Play 5 board games. (5/5)~~
28. ~~Learn how to do Suduku. And how to spell it.~~
29. Complete a jigsaw puzzle.
30. Watch Gone With the Wind.
31. Only use candlelight for one full evening.

Being Creative
32. ~~Do something creative - paint a picture, throw a pot, etc.~~
33. Take pictures at one of those weird photo places in Hongdae.
34. ~~Take a photo every day for a month. (31/31)~~
35. ~~Take the good camera out once a month. (30/30)~~
36. Complete 26 Things.
37. Send a postcard to Postsecret.

Because You're Never Too Old
38. Color an entire coloring book.
39. Climb a tree.
40. Play with PlayDoh.
41. Rewatch the Princess Bride and reread A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. (0/2)
42. Do a cartwheel in the sun.
43. Make a snowman.

Yum!
44. Go on a picnic.
45. ~~Try making lasagna in a toaster oven.~~
46. Try 10 new foods. (7/10)
47. Make pancakes with my nieces twice. (0/2)
48. Bake a cake from scratch.
49. Make a curry dish from scratch.
50. Learn to make good cream sauce.
51. ~~Try a new kind of alcohol.~~
52. And a new kind of tea.
53. ~~Eat chicken wings in a bar for the first time.~~
54. Make and decorate cupcakes.
55. Make banana bread and once again make my poor mother mail me the recipe.
56. Have a banana split party.
57. Eat at 25 new restaurants. (29/25) (4/25)
58. ~~Make that chocolate/whip cream dessert from when I was a kid.~~
59. ~~Make popcorn on the stove.~~

The World is an Interesting Place, So Get Out in It
60. Visit a new continent (South America, Australia, Antarctica, ~~Africa~~.)
61. Visit 5 countries I've never been to. (2/5)
62. ~~Dip my toes into two oceans/seas. (2/2)~~
63. Visit 5 UNESCO Heritage Sites. (2/5)
64. ~~Visit a country from the Axis of Evil.~~
65. Go canoeing or kayaking again.
66. Participate in a winter sport that is not sledding.
67. Go zorbing/hot air ballooning/skydive or something along those lines.
68. Go to a ~~sporting event~~, a ~~play~~/opera/ballet,<>a museum, and ~~an art gallery.~~ (4/4)
69. ~~Take an odd form of trasportation (dog sledding, etc.)~~
70. Control one vehicle.
71. Encounter an interesting animal in its natural habitat.
72. Sleep in a tent.
73. Watch the sun ~~set~~ and rise. (1/2)

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood
74. Take a series of pictures of the neighbourhood I live in.
75. Finally go to the National Museum, which I pass every day, and Seoul Tower, which I can see from my window. (0/2)
76. Take the subway to or from work once a week. (44/38) (42/42)
77. Walk into Itaewon to get coffee at least 15 times. (8/15)
78. ~~Buy a round for the bar.~~
79. ~~Let Shawn talk me into Hashing once.~~
80. Explore 12 new places in Seoul - one for each month. (3/12)

Because My Body is My Temple
81. Get a tattoo or a piercing.
82. ~~Go to the dentist.~~
83. ~~Buy a frickin' toothbrush.~~
84. ~~Finish all my multivitamins.~~
85. Be a vegetarian for a month.
86. Be a vegan for a week.
87. ~~Buy new glasses.~~
88. ~~And sunglasses.~~
89. ~~Buy a bathing suit.~~
90. ~~Go to bed by midnight thirty times. (30/30)~~
91. Start and stick to an exercise routine.
92. ~~Buy purple underwear.~~

Because It Needs to Be Done
93. Pay off half my credit card.
94. Then pay off the rest.
95. Make one day a month internet and TV free. (37/30)(0/18)
96. Clean up iTunes.
97. ~~Buy a new iPod.~~
98. ~~Buy another external harddrive~~ and have old harddrive fixed.
99. Find a charity I believe in and ~~donate~~/~~join a protest for a cause I believe in.~~
100. ~~Get my damn hair straightened already.~~ ~~cut!~~
101. ~~Wash Martha's dishes.~~

Life in a Suitcase

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Review: Into the Beautiful North

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