On Safari with Oldupai George

So, back in early September I posted a list of 10 things I wanted to do in the “next 6 months or so”. Mark asked me three weeks later for an update, and now (3 months into it) seems like a good time to do that. Progress is rather sparse.

Here’s the list with updates:

1. Get business ventures on track (vague, but I know what I mean) Update: see a very-near-future post regarding my plans for next year. For now, I’m not looking for anything to add.
   
2. Take some photography classes (specifically, I’m thinking about a National Geographic workshop) Update: Still in the queue, but likely not to happen in the next 3 months.
   
3. Transcribe the Magic Box (a classical guitar piece by John Williams based on a traditional African tune. The whole album rocks, actually… several of the guitar pieces in the Uganda video are from this) Update: I’ve pulled this out of the folder and have made some progress. Hopefully it’ll be done in the agreed upon timeframe.
   
4. Build a BlackJack simulation and training program Update: First rev was completed and no more progress is expected. It’s a losing proposition that would probably cost me money as I took my money and hubris to Vegas.
   
5. Update my blog app (I want to add book and music lists and maybe find a way to post Rhapsody playlists) Update: Not done yet but definitely will happen in the planned timeframe. I’m thinking of moving to TypePad and dumping the idea of building/maintaining/hosting my own site. Stay tuned.
   
6. Voice lessons - I’ve always wanted to be able to sing Update: Hooray! I’ve done this - tomorrow is my last lesson since a) I’m pretty much out of motivation to continue and b) my voice teacher is moving back to LA
   
7. Climb Kilimanjaro (next time I’m in Africa (and I’m hoping that’s in the next six months) I definitely need to do this) Update: Likely to happen next time I’m in Africa, but the actual climb isn’t likely in the next three months
   
8. Learn to swim Update: Not so much
   
9. Language acquisition (currently working on Swahili but I also want to build on my limited Brazilian Portugeuse and less limited Spanish in the near future) Update: Swahili dwindled and I’ve moved on to French - making good progress there
   
10. Check out and possibly start learning capoeira Update: checked it out and decided that I should focus on just going to the gym and getting back in reasonable shape first.