52 Projects

Not too long ago, I picked up a book called 52 Projects- Random Acts of Everyday Creativity by Jeffrey Yamaguchi. The book is a listing of fun and creative things you can do to... just have fun.

Considering how uneventful and lost last year was, I decided that this year my goal was to (hopefully) do something once a week that would fill my life with memories. I pulled the book from the bookshelf and went through it trying to identify things that I could do that would be fun, create a memory, and yet take a minimal amount of time to accomplish.

One of the "projects" is actually to make a list of the projects that you want to do, so I've chosen to do that one first. Also, I'm not actually listing these in any particular number, but if you'd like to give the book a try, I will list the number with the project so that you can look up the full details. It would take too long to type all of it out.

Also, there is a website in conjunction with the book if you'd like to research it further yourself. www.52projects.com

My List of Projects I Would Like To Do

Page 163 - Make a list of all the stuff you always have to get done and how long it takes you to do it all. Document your time. Next, write down all the stuff you want to do-- all the things you feel you never have enough time to actually get started on and fully sink yourself into. Once it's all written out, spend some time thinking about how you can strike a better balance between the items on the two lists.

52 - Make a list of the projects that you want to complete. Write it in your journal and maybe post the list on your refrigerator as well. Then, start doing the projects on your list. (Completed 2-16-08)

48 - Make a box with someone special in mind, something that will slide easily under the bed or fit in an underwear drawer. Then, place a single letter in the box, and mail it off to that special someone (even if you share a home). In the letter, make sure to mention that you plan, in the years to come, to fill the box with letters.

47 - Variations on Project 47

*Remember the place you used to go to be alone.
*Remember the spots you used to hang out at during lunch.
*Remember the places you used to park the car and make out.
*Remember all the places where you've had breakdowns- mental or otherwise.
*Remember all the places where, after it got dark, you felt heart-thumping fear.
*Remember all the trees you've climbed up as far as you could climb.

46 - Variations on Project 46

*Take a picture of yourself in the same spot, a place where you can really get a sense of the surroundings, on the official start of each season - winter, spring, summer, and fall.

43 - Make A Cake. A Big One. Write something obscure on the top of it: "How about 1972?" or "He just wouldn't SHUT UP!" or "Texas, here we come!" Then, place the cake in your office's kitchen area or break room. Put paper plates and plastic forks next to it and make sure to cut out a slice so people know that it's okay to eat. Don't let anybody see you bring in the cake. (haha, I love this one!)

42 - Take some chopsticks from your kitchen drawer and, along with $25 cash and a take out Chinese food menu, seal them up in an envelope. Mail off the envelope to one of your currently unemployed friends, your college-aged kid brother or sister, or a person you know is financially strapped at the moment.
Keep it anonymous. Do not hand write the mailing address or enclose a note. Include the take-out menu regardless of the person's geographical location; you want to be sure the person you mail the envelope to gets the right message and orders up some take out.

40 - List the years that you have been alive. Then, in a word, sentence, or short paragraph, write down a significant memory from each year. For years one through four, maybe even years one through eight, you're going to have to sit down with your parents and tap into their memories.

38 - On one of those rainy days when the season is not quite ready to shift into the next, take a picture out the outside the one window that you always go to when you just want to stare outside and feel comforted by the fact that you are on the inside looking out at the whole world. Write down what you see. What's always there? What changes? How long have you known the view? What do you think about when you look outside?

37 - Track down a picture of every place you have ever lived. Not the geographical location, but the physical structure you called home. (Hint: They don't have to be of the outside.)

36 - Stay Up All Night. (The book eludes to trying to fill the night with things that don't happen during the normal course of a day, month, year, but rather along the lines of hanging out with friends, writing and drinking coffee in an all-night diner, etc.)

34 - Photograph your bookshelves. Then, make a list of every book that's on the shelves, putting a check mark next to the books that you've actually read. Next, make a list of all the books that aren't on the shelves that you've read over the years. Some you'll have no problem remembering, others you won't be able to recall. And then make a list of all the books you want to read, but haven't... yet. Update frequently, and keep the lists and photographs tucked away in your favorite book.

32 - The next time you go to a party, leave a note for the host. Say it was a great party. That everyone was having a good time. That you enjoyed yourself spectacularly. And be sure to relate some details, like bits from overheard conversations, the reaction to a certain groove, wild speculations on who might have hooked up, etc. Leave the note on his or her nightstand, right in front of the alarm clock. That way, after all the guests have left, the last thing the host(ess) will see is your note of appreciation.

30 - Make your own anthology. Spread all your books on the floor and start making a list of your favorite stories, your favorite passages from novels, your favorite poems. Then, load everything up in a backpack, go to a copy machine, and make copies. After the copying is complete, make a cover and bind the book. Title it "Anthology: Volume I"

29 - Get a regular sized envelope. Address it to someone special. Then, stuff it with as many things as you can: a letter, photographs, torn out magazine articles or newspaper clippings, photocopies of poems, a short story or passages from a novel, recipes, artwork... anything that can be folded up and put in the envelope. Make sure to stuff it so full that you need to use tape to keep it sealed. This envelope should have serious heft. Once it's sealed, get the proper postage put on it and mail it off. (I think this would work great for kids, with a little variation on what goes in it!)

27 - Take a picture of a kid you know well: your niece, nephew, younger sister or brother. Then, make a postcard out of the picture and mail it to the kid.

26 - Variations on 26

*List and describe all the jobs you've ever mentioned when someone has asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Remember that even after you are grown up people have still asked you that question. At the end of the list, write down your current job. How does it fit in?

25 - Wake Up. Call in sick. Use the day to do that thing you've been meaning to do. Saturdays are for laundry, errands, get-togethers, shows, all-day events, day trips, going out. Sundays are for waking up late, going to brunch or church or both, mowing/sweeping/vacuuming, matinees, picnics in the park, afternoon beers, watching the game, long-distance phone calls, going to the grocery store, big dinners. And, of course, weekdays are usually for work. Sick days are yours to take, yours to make. Use them wisely.

23 - Document the life of the party. Take a picture of the main room before anyone arrives, another when the party is in full swing, and then another after everyone has left. Frame the three photographs in sequence.

22 - Write in the margins of your books. Underline your favorite passages. Then, make sure to donate the books, or sell them to a used bookstore, to put them back into circulation.

20 - Write some letters. Then, go to the library and place the letters in some books, preferably ones you think aren't checked out very often. Or place them in books at a used bookstore, preferably books that might not be purchased for a long time. The letters can be about anything, to anyone, but keep them anonymous... untraceable. First names only, or no names at all. The people who find the letters get to imagine the lives outside of the words on paper.

19 - Write down the stories of the most memorable nights of your life. (Hint: there are the easy ones, yes, but think along obscure lines- ie. high school)

17 - Wake up at 5am. Usually it's about catching a plane. But do it just to take advantage of the quiet, early morning hours. Take a walk. Go for a run. Read the paper, leisurely. Work on your novel. Read a novel. Write a note to a friend. Write a long, long entry in your journal. Make a huge breakfast. Just sit there, drink coffee, and watch the sun come up. (Writing this, I got the clearest picture of early mornings at Grandma and Grandpa's house, where the sun shines through the patio doors early in the morning and lights up the gleaming wood of the dining room table. It's always so peaceful and happy standing in the kitchen looking at the sunlight as it rises.)

Page 66 - Map out your ideal road trip.

13 - Variations on 13.

Write a very short story about a person having good luck after finding a penny on the street. Make copies of the story and stuff the copies into small envelopes. Tape a penny to the envelopes. Then, walk around and drop the envelopes onto the ground in random places with heavy foot traffic.

Page 64 - Write a letter to your sixty-four-year-old self.

6 - You never know when it might all end. That thing about just walking across the street and getting hit by a bus - it could happen. (Author related a story about a friend of his that found a letter her mom had written to be opened upon her death.) A letter like that, it's one of those things that's hard just to think about, let alone actually write up and then seal in an envelope. Making a will is easy. But a letter, to be delivered in the event of your death, to the most important person in your life? Still, if you sit down, with a pen in hand and paper in front of you, you can do it. So get your affairs in order.

5 - Make some art, maybe a photograph or a painting or a drawing. Put the art in a nice frame, one that isn't brand new. Then, hang your framed art in a place you aren't supposed to, but where people will assume it is supposed to be, like the lobby of your apartment building, in the hallway at your office, on the smallest wall in a motel room, in the quiet library corner, outside the downstair's restroom at a restaurant or bar, the back room of a club, or in the bathroom of a museum.

3 - Get your camera. Get on the train. Take the train to the end of the line. Take photos.

That concludes my list. I am looking forward to doing some of these a bit more than others, but each of them looks fun in their own special way-- except maybe the "If I die" letter, but that seems somewhat necessary.

And don't worry... I'll blog about them once I've done them. That's actually sort of the point.