Bike mechanic

At DIY there is a "Bike Mechanic" challenge...

I wonder if that would be a good practice for becoming a "real" bike mechanic?

Experience Graduate School

The One-Year, Self-Directed, Alternative Graduate School Experience

Subscribe to the Economist and read every issue religiously.
Cost: $97 + 60 minutes each week.

Memorize the names of every country, world capital, and current president or prime minister in the world.
Cost: $0 + 3-4 hours once.

Buy a Round-the-World plane ticket or use Frequent Flyer Miles to travel to several major world regions, including somewhere in Africa and somewhere in Asia.
Cost: variable, but plan on $4,000.

Read the basic texts of the major world religions: the Torah, the New Testament, the Koran, and the teachings of Buddha. Visit a church, a mosque, a synagogue, and a temple.
Cost: Materials can be obtained free online or in the mail—or for less than $50 + 20 hours.

Subscribe to a language-learning podcast and listen to each 20-minute episode five times a week for the entire year. Attend a local language club once a week to practice.
Cost: $0 + 87 hours.

Loan money to an entrepreneur through Kiva.org and arrange to visit him or her while you’re abroad.
Cost: Likely $0 in the end, since 98% of loans are repaid.

Acquire at least three new skills during your year. Suggestions: photography, skydiving, computer programming, martial arts. The key is not to become an expert in any of them, but to become functionally proficient.
Cost: Variable, but each skill is probably less than three credits of tuition would cost at a university.

Read at least 30 non-fiction books and 20 classic novels.
Cost: approximately $750 (can be reduced or eliminated by using the library).

Join a gym or health club to keep fit during your rigorous independent studies. (Most universities include access to their fitness centers with the purchase of $32,000 in tuition, so you’ll need to pay for this on your own otherwise.)
Cost: $25-75 a month.

Become comfortable with basic presentation and public speaking skills.
Join your local Toastmasters club to get constructive, structured help that is beginner-friendly.
Cost: $25 + 2 hours a week for 10 weeks.

Start a blog, create a basic posting schedule, and stick with it for the entire year.
One tip: don’t try to write every day. Set a weekly or bi-weekly schedule for a while, and if you’re still enjoying it after three months, pick up the pace.
Cost: $0.

Set your home page to http://wikipedia.org/random. Over the next year, every time you open your browser, you’ll see a different, random Wikipedia page. Read it.
Cost: $0.

Learn to write by listening to the Grammar Girl podcast and buying Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.
Cost: $0 for Grammar Girl, $14 for Anne Lamott.

Instead of reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, read The Know It All by A.J. Jacobs, a good summary.
Cost: $15.

TOTAL COST: $10,000 or less

*The total cost of the self-directed, alternative graduate school program does not include housing or food, but neither does the tuition for traditional school programs in the U.S. and Canada. Freedom and independence, however, are included at no extra charge.

The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World
by Chris Guillebeau

make-up artist

I love Michelle Phan. I don't care of her plastic operation, I care about her skills as an makeup artist.

Here's DIY's Makeup Artist challenge

I think Marlena has a very good list: 3 P's on becoming a makeup artist

This list by Mikala Ewald is also very good

26 collections to start for your daughter/son

Let's accept the fact that most parents are very gender oriented.

And let's accept the fact that there are some differences in the genders that are not due to genitals or upbringing. Some.

Anyway, I saw this "25 collections to start for your daughter" and was very interested.
 But the suggestions were a bit... weird.

So, when thinking about what kind of a collection to start for a child, think about these things:

Will e be able to use it even when an adult?
Will it give e benefit in e's future education and job?
Start a collection that isn't gender biased. After all, we cannot be sure of the gender of a baby (don't forget all the transgendered and agendered people of the world), or if the person is girly or boyly.
Will it be worth something if she wants to sell it one day?
Will it be easy to store, display and move?

1. Children's books. I personally love the vintage books, but it would be nice to get new books... and perhaps give them vintage style covers?

2. Teacups. Egg cups. Champagne glasses. Basically anything like this, that can be used mix-matched.

3. Watercolor tins? No.
Dolls? No. Well... perhaps. But not just any dolls.
Stuffies and plushies? Yes. Teddybears.
Antique dolls.
Well-made things the kid will be happy to save even when s/he's 50+.

4. Cameos. They are interesting, even for a boy.

5. Thimbles? No.
Clocks? Er... watches, perhaps. Ok, clocks, but good quality, please!
Cuckoo clocks? Sure... but how many are too many?
So perhaps some of the clock collection could be cuckoo clocks, and some watches, and so on.

6. insects. :-D
I really think girls should get over their insect phobia and start collecting insects. Perhaps starting with butterflies that are more pretty and cute than creepy six-legged things...
I can't stand them, but that's mostly because I didn't have an insect collection. When I was 7 I was still interested. When I was 17... not so much. Frankly, I get slightly hysterical if I need to deal with six-legged things.
All the other natural collections, like stones or pressed plants are good.

7) snow globes. Love those. But remember that a glass ball filled with water can act as a magnifier and start a fire...

8) Keys? KEYS?!?! What about coins?

9) and stamps. (Or matchboxes or any other such items.)

10. Owls? Ok... if s/he likes them. Otherwise start collecting a specific animal.

11. Purses? No. Hat collection is better.

Actually, a collection of accessories might be a good idea, even for boys. (Like belts, watches, ties, scarves...)

12. Charms for a charm bracelet? Yeah... but... boys don't use such things much.

Hair clips? :-( You should at least wait until you know if your child is of the kind that likes using hair clips!

One could start collection of jewelry. There's enough for both boys and girls, and if you collect quality items or jewelry with a theme, like turquoise jewelry, it can be a non-functional collection.

13. pins and/or brooches

14. Globes. I think all the kids love globes.

15. Buttons, dice, marbles...

Well... the kid probably loves all the different shapes and colors and so on, but... it doesn't really fulfill the criteria, does it? You can give these things to the kid as some extra surprise with the collection piece. But not as The Collection.

A better idea: art
Buy a print by an unknown artist. Start a silhouette collection. A collection of miniature portraits.

16. Cookie cutters? Perhaps.
Spice tins? A set of spice tin, especially painted by you, filled with spices, and then lessons to teach the child to use the spices in cooking and baking... that would be really nice. It doesn't need to be anything advanced and fancy. Simple decoration is usually the best.

17. Holiday ornaments and other holiday things, like towels, pillows etc.

18. Cameras

19. Rocks or shells or other "nature finds" - a cabinet of curiosities

20. Colored glass

21. Succulents

22. "Swatch portraits"? WTF? Excuse my language, but... huh?
I'd rather collect samplers, and use the meaningsful bits of fabric to make quilts. Quilt collection might be an idea, though...
Or any antique crafted items.

From Maurie at Gracious interiors

24. Old tools. Of any trade. Antique tools are beautiful.

25. Games and game pieces.

26. Autographs

For more ideas, visit A Collection A Day 

Also, read this: Stop hoarding, start collecting 

How to collect things

How to Start a Collection

Top 10 Beginner Tips to Smart Collecting!

Traveling...

A lot of Bucket Lists are about traveling, or have at least one travel goal. People want to see a specific place, travel around the world, set foot on every continent or visit every capital or follow a list or another.

Traveling is really easy goal.

All you need to do is
- find out where you want to go
- find out how to get there
- find out how much it costs
- find the money
- take time off and
- go

There are thousands of sites online giving you tips and advice on everything from how to pack your backpack to which stores to visit in Paris.
There's even quite a lot of resources to help you travel cheap.

Here's a couple

Do you need to be rich to travel the world?
No. But there are a couple of qualities that help. If you like people and company, and meeting new people every day, if you don't mind some (or a lot) uncomfort time to time, if you are not picky when it comes to food or where you sleep, if you have the will and health, you can travel very cheap.
And you can learn all that. To like people, to love company, to love meeting new people every day, do not mind uncomfort, to eat anything, sleep anywhere, to will and even to some extend you can control your health, too. It doesn't hurt anyone to be in good physical condition, and the conditions you can't control, won't stop you from traveling.
Most of the time. There are some conditions that have to be considered, like having AIDS. Some countries refuse to let in people who are sick.
Anyhoo

The Ultimate Guide To Traveling When You Have No Money

Travel Without Money

 9 Ways To Travel The World For Free (Or Even Get Paid To Do It!)

How to travel the world for free (seriously)

but... you need to consider the downsides of this too.
10 reasons why traveling for free is BS. There's always pay. SOMEONE must always pay... and it's not fair to force someone pay for your fun, especially when that someone has less than you.

Visit all the European countries

List of European countries
(without Caucasus. According to me, that's Asia, not Europe.
Yes, I know, technically Cyprus is not an European country either, nor Iceland, but ethnographically Caucasus is more like it's Asian neighbors than it's European neighbors - or better said, the European neighbors of Caucasus are more like their Asian neighbors, than their European neighbors... Iceland shares history and people with Scandinavia, Cyprus with Greece and Turkey.
Practically this is the way I learned to define Europe in school, so this is the way I define Europe, for no other reasons.
And this is my list, my blog, you define your Europe the way you want to.)

Albania
Andorra
Austria
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Kosovo
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malta
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
The Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
San Marino
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Vatican City (Holy See)

I want to spend a week in each country and
visit the Unesco World Heritage sites, at least one of them.
I also want to visit a museum about the country's history and an art museum with native artists.
I want to eat at least one dish special to the country, and something that I haven't eaten.

How to reach your goals?

It really is that simple. Easy? Not at all.

So - let's have a dream journal, or The List Journal.

Write a page in your Dream Binder for every dream you have, how ever big or small, how ever reasonable and rational, how ever possible.

Then you need to break down every dream into steps.

To do that, you need to define your dream.

"I want to be able to do the splits".
Good. But if you word it like that, all you'll have if your dream comes true, is that you WANT to be able to do the splits. You'll be WANTING forever.
"I can do the splits" is better.
"I do the splits every morning" is even better.
Form the sentence in a way that is active, without "want" or "wish".
Write the dream down as if you are describing the future you doing it.

Then you need to write down what you need to get from the current reality to that reality.

When it comes to splits, all you need to do is stretch. There are plenty of people out there who have already written down into steps how to become able to make the splits.
(Maybe there are already plans made for all your dreams. Good. But it would be better if you actually thought about it yourself... Because YOU know what you can do RIGHT NOW, YOU know what you must change, YOU know how much time and when you have to change those things, YOU know your potential and your resources.)

Keep your mind open for new ideas, and keep an eye on others who are working with the same goal.
Remember to write down all the ideas, good, bad and evil, in your Dream Binder. Those ideas might give birth to other, more realistic ideas, and for other goals.

After you have broken the dream down into manageable, realistic steps, steps that you can actually take, right now, with what you have and what you are, you need to schedule the steps. Put a date on the dream.

You might need to review the plan and the steps and the time schedule and make it more realistic for YOU. We are all individuals and unique, so what's good for the goose, might not work for the gander. Just remember that we all can't take the same road, but we all can get to the goal one way or another.

When you have a plan, start doing. Take at least 15 minutes every day to work on the plan, towards the goal, what ever it is. And when I say "15 minutes", I mean 15 minutes. Put on a timer, and start working, and don't stop before the timer peeps. What you can do in 15 minutes is a good form for one step.

Also, share your dreams. Don't mind if there are people who laugh at you, try to find the people who are dreaming of the same thing, and get together to help each other.

The next thing is to implement a system of consequences.

Reward yourself with something that really matters a lot to you. You could, for example, give yourself a token for every 15 minutes you take to work toward your plan. When you have 100 tokens, buy yourself a gift.

Punish yourself with something that really matters a lot to you. You could, for example, pay with a token for every daily 15 minutes you did NOT work, or not watch television until you have worked the 15 minutes.

These are "Muffins and Mocha"s weight loss token jars.
The weight loss community has a lot of ideas about how to reach your goals,

and you can adjust them to fit your purposes.

You could for example earn your travel money by studying languages and 

rewarding you with a dollar for every 15 minutes spent in studying the new language.

Let's say you need 500 dollars for the tickets.

You'd need to do 500 15 minutes passes in studying.

In the end that counts as 125 hours of study,

and if you study 5 hours a week, it will take you 25 weeks.

A school term.
You might not have learned the language perfectly,

but you will have learned enough to get you communicating during the trip. 

To do that, you would need 500 tokens in the "start" jar,

and when you have studied your 15 minutes, take out a token and put a dollar in the "goal" jar.

If you don't have a dollar, put the token in the "goal" jar,

and promise yourself to replace it with a dollar as soon as possible.

Keep that promise!

If you don't, you will be stealing from yourself!

You will be cheating yourself from the reward, and making it harder to reach the goal.

Frankly, if you don't have any extra money, go and earn that dollar. 

Sell something.

Do someone a job to get a couple of dollars.

Also, when ever you get some extra dollars, save them in the "start" jar to wait.

If paying the dollar is not a problem, put the extra dollars in the "goal" jar.

Also, get someone to whom you'll report weekly about your progress. Be accountable.

Now, if you are reading this blog, and want to do this, you can report to me. Just comment in the blog.

You can also have a blog to record your journey in. It's very much appreciated, as a lot of people are trying to make the same kind of dreams come true, and your journey will inspire them :-)