With a bit of spare time on my hands over the past week or so I have been working on an idea I have had for some time now. I have pretty-much got things organised as I had hoped, and now I am inviting you to join me to celebrate the end of my two-year journey…
“Ian’s End Of 100goals100weeks Big Goal Achievment Celebration” !!
Date: Sunday 4th July 2010
Location: Statue of Liberty, New York: 11.30am or
Central Park, New York: 3pm
When I first started on my 100 weeks adventure, flying on Sunday 3rd of August 2008 from Perth in Australia to Dubai, to achieve my first goal, I had not worked out what the actual end date of my adventure would be.
It was about eight months later, back in Perth again, after my first seven-month journey, and achieving over thirty of my goals, that I sat down to plan my second trip, and worked out when the 100 weeks would actually come to an end.
I have always seen this whole idea being controlled by the time period, rather than the goals themselves, and have always imagined ending it all at the end of Week # 100, hopefully with 100 goals completed, but satisfied if I have only managed 86, 93 or 97. It is the adventure and the people that have been more important to me. The goals themselves have just acted as a sort of framework to build my adventure around.
To me, it would be nice to achieve them all, but as well as being an optimist, I am also a realist, and accept that some things may be beyond my control, and may hinder the completion of one or more goals. And of course, I can always complete any unfinished goals at any time after the 100 weeks.
So I worked out the end date, 100 weeks to the day from when I first flew out of Perth, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it falls on the Sunday 4th July 2010. Now I am sure that most of you are aware that July 4th is a pretty big day in America, being Independence Day, when the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 is celebrated.
A large part of my first trip was spent in the States, and again on my second trip I spent several months there too. In fact, overall, USA will be the country that I have spent more of my 100 weeks in than any other, including Australia!!
And so it seems only fitting that my journey should end there on this big celebratory day. I have thought long and hard about where I should hold my celebration, and have eventually decided that New York seems like the best place.
Why? Well New York was place where I first arrived in the States back in October 2008, and my first US goal (Goal #9) was achieved here when I went to see the Statue Of Liberty. Lady Liberty has for many years represented, among other things, hope and freedom, and has for many people arriving from other parts of the world been a symbol of a fresh new start.
And that, I think, is what the past few years has been all about for me too. My life took a dramatic and unexpected turn towards the end of 2005, and still looking for answers and closure, a couple of years later I put my whole life up for sale on eBay. That led on to this goal-setting adventure, and I have certainly made a huge change in where my life was heading.
And the end of my 100 weeks is also going to be a new starting point for me. As I write this I have only the vaguest idea of what that new start might be, but do have some ideas and possibilities rattling around in my head.
So what better place to end my journey than in the city where my first American goal was achieved? At that time it wasn’t possible to go right up the statue, and so along with a few others who joined me, I only managed to get to the pedestal. Now however, it is possible once again to go right to the crown, and a few days ago I managed to make a booking to go once again to see the statue, this time on 4th July 2010, and am planning on finally going up to the top.
You are more than welcome to join me in re-achieving my New York goal, in an even better way than last time, but I imagine that bookings for the 4th July will fill fast, so if you do want to come along, you will need to book as soon as possible. I am booked on the 11am ferry from Battery Park, New York, and propose, as last time, to meet anyone who can come along at the flagpole on Liberty Island at 11.30am.
I picked the 11am ferry, as there are 10am and 9 am ferries prior to that, which at the time of my booking were available too, so if you wanted to come and the 11am sells out first, I guess you could get an earlier ferry and wait on the island – see you at the flagpole at 11.30am. There is also the possibility of booking your ticket departing from Liberty State Park on the New Jersey side of the river too, and there are ferries available from there at 8am, 9am, 10am and 11am too.
Tickets, including ferry ride and access to the crown are a bargain $15 – what better way to celebrate Independence Day?
Whether you can make it to the statue or not, a big (hopefully!) celebration will take place afterwards, when I plan an open invite party in Central Park in the afternoon. Meeting place will be as marked on the second map, at 3pm. Please feel free to bring along any friends or family, anything you may care to drink, and perhaps some nibbles too.
I am a bit vague on New York’s policy about drinking alcohol in public places, but I do plan to have a beer or two – might just have to keep it hidden in a brown paper bag in true Central Park style! Hey, but maybe getting arrested on some sort of public nuisance charge would be a fantastic end to the whole adventure, and perhaps the book too – which is goal #100, of course!
I really hope you can make it. See you there.
Details: 11.30am, Sunday 4th July 2010, at the flagpole on Liberty Island, New York:
3.00pm, Sunday 4th July 2010, Central Park, New York
(a short stroll from 72nd Street Subway Station on Central Park West):
