I started the Binocular Messier program in February of 2017.
By November of 2017, I had completed 47 of the 50 required observations. That was the time I started getting obsessed with variables and I dedicated all my observing time to that.
I logged M53 tonight for my 48th observation. I'm going to pick off a couple more easy ones as they come up and finally put this sucker to bed.