Category: 30×30

30x30, Personal Project

30 x 30: #13 – Re-read The Lord of the Rings

Geoff W

2014 12-09 LotR Cover ShootIt took me a lot longer to write this recap than any of the others because I’ve been so busy living life. One of the things I really wanted my 30×30 list to do was to restart my excitement for life and the little things and it’s done exactly that! At the same time I’m also glad I waited as I got to add the cool picture below to this post!

I added this to my list because let’s face it I needed to re-read it. The last time I read it was in high school just before Peter Jackson’s trilogy was released. I read them quickly and didn’t really take them in (I was still in my “I only read Star Wars novels.” phase. I remember the second book being such a struggle because it felt like it took SO long to read. It did take me a month to read, but looking back there’s no telling what that reason was. This time, however, I flew through all four of them in less than a month and I read books between the them! You can read my reviews of the books:
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30x30, Books, Quotes

Book 319: The Return of the King (LOTR #3) – J.R.R. Tolkien

Geoff W

Tolkien, J.R.R. - LOTR3 - The Return of the KingWith this book, and my previous reading of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, I’m one step closer to finishing my 30×30 list. What better way to start off my response than with Treebeard/Fangorn’s words to Galadriel: “It is sad that we should meet only thus at the ending. For the world is changing: i feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, and I smell it in the air. I do not think we shall meet again.” (290)

It’s so true though! What a sad, beautiful and perfect ending to this epic novel (apparently it’s counted as one in a lot of lists). I mean I knew it was great and I remembered a lot of it, but nowhere near as much as was included in the book. I even read Appendix A which gave the brief history of the race of men and Gimli’s heritage which was excellent to learn more about them. I didn’t go into the other appendices as they were a bit too technical for my liking, but I did seriously consider buying a few more Tolkien Middle-earth books when I saw them at the used bookstores last weekend and I may yet!

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30x30, Personal Project

30 x 30: #18 – Participate in NaNoWriMo

Geoff W

2014 12-01 NaNoWriMo TotalI knew when I made this list that there was no way I would be able to do 50,000 words in a month and boy was I right. However, that’s why I said PARTICIPATE in NaNoWriMo instead of complete! (I’m wicked smaht, right?)

It wasn’t for lack of time after I made it through the 15th, so much as lack of desire to sit in front of a computer and write and even though I came in just under 20,000 words I’m still really proud I got that much done. I was shocked at how easy it was to write the story I chose and am excited to finish it. Looking at the graph, you can see I wrote the what I did in three quick spurts with the final one being where I wrote nearly 12,000 words in one go.

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30x30, Personal Project

30 x 30: #3 – Take a hip-hop dance class/workshop

Geoff W

2014 11-29 The Dance Complex OutsideFourth one this week and I’m down to six on my 30×30 list! I’ll cross off another one on Monday (YAY NaNoWriMo being over) and maybe the bike ride too as the weather is supposed to be decent.

If there was one on my list I thought I might skip out on (aside from the tattoo), it was this one. I did some research and found The Dance Complex which wasn’t too far from where I live and wasn’t too expensive for a drop in class, but MOST importantly they had a Hip Hop Beginner Basic class. I clung to that basic because I was like okay so it’s even easier than Beginner right?

A few weeks ago my friend Caitrin and I tried to go to the class, but they were very strict about no street-shoes in the studios, so we went for breakfast instead. This time I showed up and no one said anything about shoes of any type! Maybe they just assumed I had shoes in my backpack or something, but not a word!

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30x30, Personal Project

30 x 30: #24 – See the Boston Symphony Orchestra again

Geoff W

2014 11-28 BSO Program & PostcardsI’m chipping away, slowly but surely, but really I think this week I’m carving vast swaths into my list! I’ve already visited and gambled at a casino AND visited the rest of the MFA. I’ll hopefully have another post Sunday from a Saturday morning activity and then I’ll have a wrap-up to my NaNoWriMo experience.

For the second item this week I went to see the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) with my friend Patrick, who you’ll hear more from on the next episode of Come Read with Me! I’m not sure why I’ve not gone since the last time I went but shame on me! I got tickets a few weeks ago to see Bartók, Haydn and Mussorgsky featuring Leonidas Kavakos, conductor and violin. It was last-minute and the only performance left before BSO switches over to the Holiday Pops series and I’m beyond priced out of range.

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