Paper: 1,000 Origami Crane Challenge (30 down 970 to go)

Wish me luck! I have taken it upon myself the task of folding 1,000 origami cranes. 

Background: 

Iwasaki Mineko in her memoir Geisha, A Life mentions a memory of her and her classmates making a 1,000 origami cranes for an ill teacher and delivering them to him at the hospital. Japanese legends exist, promising a person who folds 1,000 cranes will be granted a wish by the Gods. Other stories suggest that the owner of a set will be promised eternal good luck such as with health or luck instead of a signal wish. I tried looking into this further to find an actual story but the best I could do was find vague references to the legends through wikipedia and various blogs. I am not one to believe of superstitions and legends but i appreciate the stories (fun or with significance) from varying cultural backgrounds.

Ground rules:

- The set must be created within 1 year.

- The set must be created by 1 person alone.

- The set must be kept together by the same person. 

I take that to mean the cranes can be given away and still "work" but they cannot be parceled out. 

They have to stay together with one person.

Freshman year at college.

 Quick throw back: Freshman year I was paired to room with a girl studying abroad from Japan, Haruka. I was painfully shy then and she was always on the go so we did not talk much.  Even though we kept to ourselves during that time, we got along well. One of the gifts she gave me while we roomed together was a beautiful pack of origami paper. On the back of the packet were instructions for making cranes. The text was in Japanese but it was easy enough to figure out from the pictures. Whenever I felt stressed out I would fold origami cranes on my dorm floor. Over and over and over. Eventually I lost the habit up until recently when I decided to start the 1,000 origami cranes project.
But this time it is for fun rather than alieving stress.