55 Comments
Apr 25, 2023Liked by Rob Walker

I’m eternally in the midst of the Pulitzer Project, in which I read the Pulitzer winner in fiction for each year of my life. There have been some real clunkers, but without this project, I may never have read Lonesome Dove or John Updike’s Rabbit series, for example. It’s a fun way to mix up my normal reading habits when I’m in a lull and to get some rich historical context from stories that were written decades ago.

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Apr 25, 2023Liked by Rob Walker

I live in the San Francisco area. There's a few I've done.

A. Walked all the stairs around the city. There's quite a few since the city is built on hills. Some with beautiful tile work.

B. Visited all the public rooftop or vertical wall gardens. There's a few of them scattered.

C. In the process of visiting every park within SF city limits with a friend. We are about 80% done. It involves not just showing up but hiking trails or walking the paths around them.

D. Have visited every rooftop bar. With the pandemic they've become a popular item with more opening. I'm caught up but will probably be working on this for a while.

E. Hiked every waterfall trail in all the counties of the greater SF area.

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Apr 25, 2023Liked by Rob Walker

I am in the process of listening to every single Ennio Morricone album in iTunes. He was one of the most prolific film score composers of all time (I think 400 films). I came for The Mission and stayed for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, but it's the stuff in between that keeps me in the groove.

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Apr 25, 2023Liked by Rob Walker

The one successful “every single [x] “ quest I did was to see every campy sci-fi movie referenced in the opening theme song of The Rocky Horror Picture Show”!

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Apr 24, 2023Liked by Rob Walker

I cannot bypass a visit to a new library and an informal tour in the town I’m visiting is required. Westport, CT’s library was as well stocked as Ye Ole Blockbuster store. Greenwich , CT (very wealthy town) had a hugely disappointing library with boring displays so there went my theory that the wealthier the town, the “better” their library. I’ve since met others who visit libraries as a quest and was surprised to find it is “a thing”!

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For a while, my Every Single X was that I went outside without an umbrella or rainjacket for at least a moment every time I noticed it was raining. I think this helped me get through the pandemic lockdown and improved my relationship with rain, the weather, and time.

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Apr 25, 2023Liked by Rob Walker

I visited every Scottish youth hostel (YHA) one glorious summer at the turn of the century. I wrote an article in their magazine about it.

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Apr 25, 2023·edited Apr 25, 2023Liked by Rob Walker

I LOVE this idea. I have a few Every Single X projects:

Every single Oscar winner for Best Picture.

Every State Park and Historic Site in Georgia (My home state)

A game in every MLB ballpark (this one is pretty popular)

Read all of John Steinbeck's books.

See every bird in this guidebook I have on the birds of Georgia. There is a list in the back with little boxes to check and I really want to check them all.

I am always looking for new ones.

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Apr 25, 2023Liked by Rob Walker

Some friends of mine have decided to visit the highest point in every US state.

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My wife and I are on a mission to take our dog to every state part that allows dogs and track it on an Instagram account we made for it.

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Hi Rob, great post as usual and I'm hooked on the idea of a quest. Thank you for sharing!

I often do these kinds of things informally, as part of a photography project, but you've got me thinking about formalising one somehow.

My first thought is this: I live on the beautiful Isle of Wight in the South of England. I've been here 3.5 years and as I love beaches as a space to breathe, swim and moodle, I'm going to set my quest as "visit every beach on the Isle of Wight".

No time limit / deadline as yet - I'll keep it open ended!

I'm sure some smaller ones will develop as I learn more about this fantastic island!

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Apr 25, 2023Liked by Rob Walker

One of my books is called Wildlife of Greater Brisbane, published by Queensland Museum. Now that I live in Brisbane, I'm aiming to meet up with as many of the critters in it as I can. Today I saw a young Eastern Water Skink p266.

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My mission is to live a totally random life and enjoy what comes up for me. I live my life on a one off basis. I admire those who go for multiples.

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Nrilliant post - love the seeds in the cracks story, Rob.

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Apr 25, 2023Liked by Rob Walker

I am going to visit every Spanish Mission in the Western USA. Because, you know, colonialism is cool. I'm being glib. I do have an honest passion for Houses of the Holy architecture, plus I have a compulsive/obsessive personality. I started this endeavor this, and so far I can cross off both Mission San Xavier del Bac and Tumacácori near Tucson, which I visited in March (I was over the moon for Tucson). Next is Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego, and Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in Oceanside; leaving in three weeks.

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A few years ago a listened to every Frank Zappa record released during his lifetime (which I think is more than 50).

My new quest is to read all of the Extraordinary Voyages novels by Jules Verne. I’m currently on my 7th out of 62!

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