Making a big to-do out of other people's resolutions

Like the champagne toast, resolutions are part of the New Year's tradition — a time to re-evaluate, set goals and vow to better ourselves.

Besides not keeping most of them, haven't we heard all this before? Lose weight. Quit smoking. And eavesdrop around the finish line of any marathon, and you'll hear versions of, "Only eight more to-dos before I die!"

To find inspiration, we checked with 43things.com, a social-networking service based on Capitol Hill, where 1.3 million people around the world post their to-do lists — some quirky and ironic, some touching and amusing.

• Pull a prank involving 100 lawn gnomes.

• Catalog and organize my library.

• Learn the "Napoleon Dynamite" dance.

• Have an underground lair.

• Dye the undersides of my black hair.

• Put on a banana suit and run around my neighborhood screaming. "Bananas are the new white meat!"

• Watch "Grey's Anatomy."

• Be someone's everything.

• Learn to fight with a knife.

• Get out of bed within 10 minutes of when my alarm clock goes off.

• Obtain basic shaving competence.

• I want to be everything that my dad wanted me to be before he dies.

• Make Firefox my default browser.

• Build a tiki bar.

• Gain weight.

• Discover that law school is NOT my calling and not have to take the LSAT at all!

• Play the Sims 2 online for free.

• Stop playing Sims 2 so much.

• Run photos of people I know through forensic age-progression software.

• Get laser eye surgery.

• Learn to raise just one eyebrow.

• Live harmoniously with my husband.

• Roll on your side down a grassy bank.

• Be on a ship in a storm.

• Take the GRE and be satisfied with my score.

• Watch a scary movie without closing eyes or plugging ears.

Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com