A long, long time ago in a galaxy far away...

Happy Friday, folks. The following videos are for your entertainment. (They are all from Improv Everywhere)

How about a little recapitulation?

So, it's November 8. That means I have 43 days to complete as many tasks as I can. I will be up front and tell you that I have decided to concede on some of the items, mainly the memorization-focused ones. But for now, I figured I'd recap the list and the tasks I have and have not completed.
Items I have completed are in bold.

1. Go on a picnic.
2. Eat a rutabaga.- I fried it. It was yummy.
3. Sing at a karaoke bar.- I'm dreading this task the most.
4. Take a morning yoga class that meets before 10 AM for a month.- I haven't found one of these classes yet. I could take a 7:15 am stretching class...
5. Read an entire book without skipping any pages in one week. (Must be over 150 pages).- I've tried and failed twice.
6. Meet a celebrity.- Twice! (Sonny Shroyer and Gavin DeGraw)
7. Go horseback riding (when cleared by doctor).- Probably not a good idea just yet.
8. Memorize 99 Luftballoons (in German).
9. Introduce myself to a random stranger.
10. Go 1 month without eating any fast food.
11. Audition for something.
12. Create a work of art.
13. Smile at a stranger.
14. Memorize how to say "hello" in ten languages (not including English, Spanish, French, or Pig-Latin).
15. Watch The Wizard of Oz to the Pink Floyd's" Dark Side of the Moon" album.
16. Teach someone how to do something.
17. Learn how to play a new game.
18. Go on a road trip.
19. Do something completely spontaneous that no one would ever expect me to do.
20. Secretly make someone's day brighter.
21. Go on a good date.
22. Eat an entire grape tomato.
23. Memorize the entire Animaniacs Country Song.
24. Write a letter to a person in the military.
25. Go two weeks without buying anything other than necessities.
26. Have a jam session.
27. Learn how to play chords on the piano.- I haven't written about this, because it's in progress. I can now play a C minor chord, as well as most of the basic chords.
28. Visit someone in a nursing home.
29. Show someone appreciation by more than just saying "thank you."
30. Make a loaf of Challah bread.
31. Volunteer.
32. Win.
33. Lose.
34. Tie.
35. Tell someone the truth even though it is very difficult.
36. Babysit.
37. Master the Moonlight Sonata. All of it. Up to speed.- I've tried and tried. I have about 2/3 of it down...
38. Perform (not including karaoke).
39. Make myself look stupid on purpose.
40. Go somewhere secluded and yell at the top of my lungs.
41. Learn how to belly dance
42. Go to a rock concert.- This December. Trans-Siberian Orchestra. FIFTH ROW!
43. Learn how to whistle.
44. Go to a lecture on something other than psychology, dance, or the arts and stay awake for the whole thing.
45. Go to bed before 10pm four nights in a row.
46. Ride in a grocery cart.
47. Learn how to play backgammon.
48. Eat escargot.
49. Eat a piece of sushi previously thought of as revolting.
50. Learn how to yodel.- In progress
51. Beat a video game.
52. Touch all the bordering (ocean-based) bodies of water in America within 6 months of each other.- In progress

Whistle While You Work- Task #43

I played the flute for a long time, but could never whistle. Ironic, isn't it? I did a tiny bit of research to see what the general consensus of the Google community was in regards to whistling being of the genetic skill set. Apparently, it is not genetic. So, I have no excuse but to try to learn. I have actually been practicing off and on for a few weeks. But today, I searched "how to whistle" and the following sites were two that were actually somewhat helpful:

1) http://www.natwilson.com/stuff/whistle.html
I love that in the instructions, the writer tells you to wash your hands first. Classy.
But I tried the first kind and gagged repeadtedly, so I tried the second kind of whistle and had a bit more sound and a lot less gagging.

2) http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1986654
This is through the BBC. So, it automatically gets 1,000 extra cool points.

And just for entertainment value, this video is a) British and b) uses the techniques described on the first website listed above.
I still cannot whistle like a pro or even an amateur, but I can now finally get what ever-so-slightly resembles a tone. I'll keep practicing.
So, there! Task #43 is done!

Yelling is good for the soul. Just be careful where you yell.

As promised, I will now finally reveal how I completed Task #40: Go somewhere secluded and yell at the top of my lungs. But first, the backstory.

I do not yell or scream. It is almost virtually impossible for me to do either. When I ride rollercoasters, I laugh. If I'm mad, I raise my voice, but I don't yell or scream. If I'm scared, I gasp or hyperventilate. I don't yell "Marry me" to celebrities (although I might ask them politely). I just don't yell. I think some bad experiences with cheerleading scarred me for life.

I also tend to be bottled up when it comes to intense emotions. I find that I'm often afraid to let them out. Catharsis is a scary process. So, this task was actually one of the few that I was dreading the most, believe it or not.

Okay, now for the story.

Finding a secluded place, even in the middle of nowhere, is more difficult that I originally thought. My operational definition of "secluded" just meant it had to be away from the main town and I could not be able to see any buildings or people. I decided to go northwest-ish from town and came across roads like Snake Nation and Chug-a-lug. (Yes. I'm completely serious.) After getting myself lost and into what I later found out to be a dangerous area (that's another story...), I finally found a dirt road that seemed to lead nowhere. There were some houses near the entrance, but just a little further down, I could see only road (which was only wide enough for one mid-sized vehicle) and fields and forests.





So... I got out of my car, yelled as loud as I could make myself, which was probably about 75% volume, because, as I mentioned previously, this was rough country and I was afraid of getting shot. Seriously. So, I didn't want to disturb the residents. I actually yelled about 2 or 3 times, because once I got back into my car, I felt that I could yell louder so I did.
Oh, did I mention this was the day after my birthday? I decided if there was a perfect day for a cathartic experience, the first day of a new year of life would be it.

Anyway, I did it and it was a challenge, but I felt better afterward.

Does anybody else have difficulty yelling? Or am I just strange?