Day 136 - 25 strings finished, 1,000 cranes total!

I have been so busy with school and work, that I haven't taken the time to properly update this blog. Instead, I've been posting updates to Twitter (twitter.com/greenhiker).

So here's a brief recap of my progress since my last post:

800 cranes complete on March 30th.
890 cranes complete on May 9th.
950 cranes complete on May 12th.
980 cranes complete on May 13th.
990 cranes complete on May 14th.
1,000 cranes complete on May 16th.

Now that I've folded 1,000 cranes, legend says that I'm entitled to a wish. I've got a wish in mind, though it's a secret. :)

Also, I'm giving my cranes away! Thanks for reading.

Day 74 - 18 strings finished - 720 cranes total

I've had the apartment to myself this weekend and have been putting off studying for tomorrow's final exam, opting to fold 120 cranes instead.

I've put off studying because I feel comfortable with the material, though I should probably go over the various examples and previous quizzes.

That said, I'll make this post short and go study.

Day 67 - 15 strings finished - 600 cranes total

To make my school and work schedule easier, I decided to get my motorcycle running again rather than rely on public transportation. I'd been day dreaming about getting a new motorcycle and when the local Honda dealership made me a reasonable offer to trade-in my old bike, I decided to go for it.

Having reliable transportation will open up my world a little bit and I look forward to visiting the priory I used to practice at.

I'd had a splitting headache most of the day yesterday, so after riding home, I relaxed and folded 40 cranes. I folded another 40 this afternoon.

Now it's time to finish up my homework. My only final is a week from tomorrow.

Day 61 - 13 strings finished - 520 cranes total

I finished the 12th and 13th strings of cranes on Saturday afternoon. I was putting off doing homework and wanted to reach the halfway mark within two months. I did, however, complete my homework on Sunday.

I've taken pictures, but have yet to post them. Soon!

Day 58 - 11 strings finished - 446 cranes total

School has been taking up much of my time, though I've had a little bit of breathing room since I dropped the linear algebra course. I actually folded 40 cranes last Friday and another 40 on Saturday, then split 40 more between Monday and Tuesday. Last night I took it easy and folded SIX cranes.

I turned in my application for the MS Statistics program and also turned in an application for a TA position. The TA position is a long shot, but I've got my fingers crossed.

The summer school schedule came out today. It looks like I'll be taking a grad school prerequisite class from 10:30 a.m. until 11:45 a.m. Monday through Thursday for 8 weeks this summer. I'm not sure how I'll make that work with my job, though I'll figure something out.

Day 51 - 8 strings finished - 320 cranes total

Last Saturday, I was completely overwhelmed by much work I had to do for my advanced linear algebra course. It wasn't the volume so much as the fact that the proofs were becoming frustratingly difficult to complete. I ended up doing absolutely no homework on Saturday and opted instead to watch television and movies while folding cranes.

I knew that I had a statistics midterm coming up and when I checked the class schedule on Saturday evening, I was somewhat mortified to discover that the midterm was on Monday. I decided then that I was going to have to drop the advanced linear algebra course and spend Sunday studying for my stats midterm.

And study I did. I studied all day Sunday and went to bed shortly after midnight and it paid off. I aced my stats midterm with a score of 50/50, though I didn't find out until Wednesday.

When I did my undergraduate degree, I did it for the same reason that I believe most people do. To get a good job. Well, I've had a good job for a few years now and when I went back to school last Fall, I did so with the intention of enjoying my studies. As interesting as the linear algebra material was, I wasn't enjoying myself and didn't have much personal time. So, I dropped the class yesterday afternoon and now have a manageable weekend ahead of me. While I'm out the money I paid for the course, I consider that better than failing and being miserable in the meantime.

Last night I went to Ignite 5 at the Bagdad Theater and had a great time listening to 18 different speakers. Each speaker had five minutes to give their presentation which was accompanied by a total of 20 slides which advanced one by one every 15 seconds. Most of the talks were very entertaining, especially the one titled How to kill four chickens in three years. Less entertaining was the monotone voiced girl speaking about being a bicycle commuting parent. She essentially read crappy pseudo poetry from her slides and part way through her presentation, I excused myself to use the restroom.

I've only got a few statistics homework problems to do and a full weekend with which to do them. I'm tempted to go hiking on Sunday, though it depends on the weather.

I got my federal tax return today, though nearly all of it will go to the University to repay the financial aid I received for the linear algebra course.

Day 40 - 6 strings finished - 240 cranes total

School has been extremely busy and so I haven't made the time to post an update.

But that hasn't stopped me from folding cranes. I folded 40 cranes the weekend before last and then another 30 last Tuesday evening. I folded an additional 10 cranes on Saturday morning, completing the 6th string.

The volume of cranes hanging is impressive, especially since I am about 25% complete.

Day 25 - 4th string finished - 160 cranes total

I had a headache on Friday evening and didn't feel inclined to do homework.

Instead, I watched videos and folded 40 cranes, finishing shortly after midnight. I threaded them and hung them on Saturday morning before starting in on homework.

Speaking of which, I'm currently working on my Masters in Math. I'm taking six graduate level credits while working 30 hours per week, which doesn't leave time for much else. I look forward to folding cranes as it means I'm taking the time to relax.

Day 18 - 2nd & 3rd string finished - 120 cranes total

I actually folded 24 cranes last weekend, but didn't take the time to create a post.

And instead of devoting the entire day yesterday to homework, I watched movies and folded cranes. After finishing 16 and threading a second string of 40, I decided that I'd fold another 40 so that I'd have 3 strings completed altogether. By the time I was done, I'd folded a total of 64 cranes over a period of 5-6 hours and was definitely tired of folding for the day.

The bright side is, the 3 strings of cranes look nice hanging in the corner of my bedroom.

By the time I'm finished with 1000 cranes, I'll have another 22 strings, which will be quite voluminous. But there's room for them, so it's not a problem.

Day 4 - First string finished - 40 cranes total

I finished folding an additional 8 cranes last night to complete the first set of 40, then I strung them and hung them up.

The string has the same color gradient as the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. There are a few shades of each color, 20 shades total, which makes the rainbow gradient smoother. There are 2 cranes for each shade.

Over the past weekend, I folded cranes while listening to old episodes of the British sitcom 'Allo 'Allo! and I estimate that each crane takes about 5 minutes to fold, though I've not been timing myself.

I'm going to be working on homework today to get a head start on the term, which means that I won't be folding nearly as many cranes as I have over the past couple days.

Day 3 - Starting over - 32 cranes total

Yesterday I was happy to find that there are kits made specifically for those interested in folding 1000 cranes. Luckily, a local art shop had one of the kits available for just under $15.

The kit came complete with 1,020 3" squares of origami paper in 20 different bright colors, as well as string and beads for hanging together the cranes. The kit is designed to produce 25 strings of 40 cranes in a rainbow gradient. The extra 20 sheets, presumably, are to allow for mistakes.

Despite having already made 12 paper cranes from blank scrap paper, I decided to set them aside and start over with the brightly colored paper from the kit. I folded 16 cranes yesterday and another 16 today. I plan on folding another 8 tomorrow which will allow me to string the first group of 40 cranes.

3" cranes are rather small and, according to the kit instructions, a single string of cranes is supposed to be 3 feet long. As each string is created, the bulk of the overall group will increase, though it shouldn't take up too much room.

My crane folding pace will slow to the projected 3 crane per day rate after classes begin on Monday.

Day 1 - Happy New Year! - 12 cranes total

There is an ancient Japanese legend that says that a crane will grant the wish of anyone who folds 1000 origami cranes.

This blog is an account of my attempt to fold 1000 cranes during the year 2009. If I average 3 cranes per day, I'll easily reach my goal. While I don't have a particular wish in mind, perhaps I'll figure it out along the way.

Today, using two blank pages from an old computer book, I cut out 12 3" square sheets of paper and folded 12 cranes. They're fairly small and the most challenging part was making precise folds with my large fingers. While the first couple were a little tricky, I soon had the hang of it and the last few were rather easy to make. Some are definitely nicer than others.

I'll be looking into a better quality of paper and possibly colored paper.