I started it on one of those slow days that felt so familiar that I had to remind myself that there is going to be more to life. I started compiling this in my notebook over time. I spent a few days pushing myself to be more adventurous by adding things I didn't really know how I was going to work in my life plan. I also edited things out that probably sounded cooler than they were. I am making a new page where I can keep track of these things over time, but I thought it would be fun to flesh it out with a few notes here. I have a feeling that my intentions and priorities will change over time, but I will probably still want to complete these goals in the long run. These notes will probably be more telling later than they are now.
1)
Visit every state
I want to see the united states. I have driven between Missouri and California for practical
purposes and it made me realize just how much the scenery can change after just a single
day and night in a car. I want to see it all, and I want to take my time.
2)
Hike Mt. Whitney and Summit
I want to undertake this massive physical challenge. The photos from this well traveled hike
look beautiful, and I want to see it myself with my own vantage point.
3)
Run a Marathon
4)
See the Grand Canyon
You know, I've passed by the grand canyon so many times in my travels. For some reason by virtue of how the timing always works out, I pass by the grand canyon in the middle of the night when there is really nothing to see. At the time, I keep telling myself that I will do it eventually. I will make a special trip and really get to see it. Then it never happens. This is me making mental space for that trip.
5)
Paint a Self Portrait
I paint, I should paint a self portrait. I never have before because I had so many confusing opinions about my body and about how it should look not to mention how it should be represented. I have these ugly opnions about myself that I try to hide to prevent my poor self confidence from peeking through.Painting a self portrait would make those ugly feelings obvious and transparent. I don't want to remember myself that way.
6)
Start a business
I think I can, but I have to be good at something first, I think.
7)
Write a book
A cookbook, a novel, or a technical novel would all be okay. I want to make a mark on this world and authorship would definately outlive me.
8)
Clime El Capitan
I have been rock climbing for a while now. I am slowly and painfully building all these muscles I didn't think I would ever need. I want to use them to see apart of the world I wouldn't otherwise. I want to climb that sucker.
9)
Climb Mt. Whitney
If I can climb El Capitan, I bet I can climb Mt. Whitney
10)
Learn a second Language
Learning a language is hard. I felt like I didn't have the tools to do it in high school or the time to do it in college. Just because I can't work it into my life plan now, I don't want to give up on this beautiful ambition. I just have to keep it at the back of my mind and maybe it will be my biggest priority.
11)
Visit India
I wanted to do this ever since Baron Bishops 40 Day spiritual Journy. I don't know why I feel the need to say that this was before Eat Pray Love came out.
12)
Hike Machu Picchu
Any lost city will do, really.
13)
Run the Big Sur Marathon
Runners World says this is the most beautiful marathon. I am going to roll for the lottery next month, but if I don't get it, I am going to make myself try again.
14)
Qualify for the Boston Marathon
At what point can I consider myself a runner? I am not the trimmest or the fastest. I just feel like the Boston can legitimize me.
15)
Take an Italian Course in Italy
I started thinking about this last winter when I realized that I wasn't going to go home for Christmas. I had two weeks all for me. The craziest most fun thing I could think of was taking an Italian course in Italy. It would have worked too if they didn't have Christmas break off just like us, but I told myself that someday maybe if I wasn't working for whatever reason, I would be able to do it.
16)
Own a Home
This became important to me in college when I felt like I had zero degrees of freedom. I needed personal space. Even now when I have my own apartment, it just feels temporary to some extent. Someday I will have something that is all mine.
17)
Visit the Hoover Dam
I hear it is a massive feat of engineering. Everytime I have gone to Las Vegas I never ended up near the Dam but someday I will be there just for me and I will go out of the way to see it.
18)
Spend a whole day meditating
Back during my 40 day spiritual journey I could spend up to an hour meditating. I just felt so amazing afterwards. I stopped my practice at one point, but I tell myself that I could always get back into it.
19)
Play a song on the guitar
I manage to pick up the guitar for all of 2 weeks before I set it back down again. I've even taken a class. I am going to see this thing through, at least in this one small metric
20)
See the grunion Run
Three years have gone by since I first heard of the grunion run. Those suckers have always alluded me. I'll get them eventually.
21)
See a Ghost
I think I saw one before, but I am not sure how much of that is me seeing one and how much of it is everyone telling me a saw a ghost. I need something to support my childhood.
22)
Have a
Party to raise money for charity
I love throwing parties. It takes a lot of work and I put a lot of energy into it. I put the energy in because I want my friends to know how much I value them. If I use this skill for more than just my selfish insecurities then it would look less like I am devastatingly lonely.
I love throwing parties. It takes a lot of work and I put a lot of energy into it. I put the energy in because I want my friends to know how much I value them. If I use this skill for more than just my selfish insecurities then it would look less like I am devastatingly lonely.
23)
Visit London
24)
Own a Truck
To haul my stuff!
25)
Visit Area 51
26)
Take the Coaster to LA
What a marvelous day trip this would be. I have often denied myself even this small extravagance.
27)
Write a letter and Mail it
I want to be ambitious and try to maintain a pen pal, but I have to do the baby steps first.
28)
Get a Tattoo
I've been thinking about it for a while, but I never came up with a good idea for one. Its not off the table yet, though.
29)
Watch the 100 Best movies of all time.
Dictated by the AFI most influential movies of all time.
30)
Join the Peace Corps
Just because I didn't do it right after college doesn't mean that I lost my change to do it before I die.
31)
See Redwood National Park
32)
See the Dead Sea
33)
Visit Chicago
It was so close when I lived in Missouri. I was so oppressed back then that it might have been a million miles away. I am more empowered now and now that it may seem harder to do, I'll still let myself think that I can do it.
34)
See Mardi Gras in New Orleans
35)
Walk on
the Great Wall of China
36)
Use a Sauna
It is so simple but always manages to allude me.
37)
See a Pyramid
38)
Go for a Fast
Adversity shapes us. Elective adversity shapes willpower.
39)
Be apart of a flash mob
40)
Participate in National Novel Writing Month
Its in November!
41)
Be a Movie Extra
42)
Ride a Segway
43)
Tour the White House
44) Visit
Vatican City
45)
Geocach
Geocaching sounds like a lovely little offbeat hike. I need to make sure I do at least one before its not cool any more.
46)
Participate
in a Protest
47)
Do a 5
minute plank
Planks are really a measure of total body fitness.
Planks are really a measure of total body fitness.
48)
Go to
Burning Man
49)
See a
Cirque De Soliel Show
50)
Take a
cooking class
51)
See the
amazon rainforest
52)
Travel to
a new place alone where I do not know anyone
53)
Read the
100 Best novels of all time
I like reading, but usually I skip over the classics section to grab a more impulsive harlequin romance. I tell myself I will enrich my life with real reading some day.
54)
Take a
photography class
Photography is hard.
Photography is hard.
55)
Zipline
in Costa Rica
56)
Visit
Yosemite Valley
57)
Boulder
in Joshua tree.
58)
Go on a
Yoga retreat
After my 40 day spiritual journey I was a first believer in transformative programs. I completed the requirements for the 40 day challenge every morning and every night while still attending to my long standing committments at school and at home. I don't know if I would gain anything more if I was totally immersed in my journey, but I told myself that I would make time for it some day.
After my 40 day spiritual journey I was a first believer in transformative programs. I completed the requirements for the 40 day challenge every morning and every night while still attending to my long standing committments at school and at home. I don't know if I would gain anything more if I was totally immersed in my journey, but I told myself that I would make time for it some day.
59)
Go to
Coachella
60)
Get inebriated in Las Vegas
I can be so uptight that I never let myself go crazy. I want to have a stereotypical experience and step out of my comfort zone a little.
61)
Eat at a
Michelin Star Resturant
There are none in San Diego. Alex and I drove past a few in Sonoma county during our trip to wine country last year. It was just too expensive a luxury at the time. That decision may have been a mistake.
62)
Fly a
plane
I love being in planes! I think the ground is so beautiful from up above. When I went
I love being in planes! I think the ground is so beautiful from up above. When I went
63)
Knit a
blanket
I knitted a small half blanket in high school. It sucked. It just wasn't big enough and it was so asymmetrical that I was embarrassed of it. I shouldn't have thrown it out but I did. I want to make up for that mistake and get it right this time.
64)
Make a
Quilt
I've made small quilts before but really they weren't very good.
I've made small quilts before but really they weren't very good.
65)
Donate
hair to charity
66)
Ski
I see it on TV. Would it be so wrong to think that I could be allowed to do it too? I am not worse than those people on TV.
67)
Photograph a rainbow
68)
Photograph lightning
69)
Have my
tarot fortune read
With my mom being a very accurate fortune teller, its a surprise that I've never done this.
With my mom being a very accurate fortune teller, its a surprise that I've never done this.
70)
Do boudoir
photography
I can be beautiful I think. It would be nice to have some photographic evidence.
71)
Ride in a
gondola
I could couple this one with the italian course in italy aspiration. It could be like the scene from Wings of a Dove ... if only I had two friends.
72)
Fly first
class
73)
Send
Christmas cards
The tipping point by Malcom Gladwell had an interesting part where he spoke to someone he considered a hub. That person mentioned that although most of their connections were loose ones, he still managed to send each and every one a birthday card every year. Although a simple task, I have been unable to follow through for several years now.
74) Go on a motorcycle roadtrip
To me, this aspiration is a test of endurance more than a flight of fancy. Riding a motorcycle at free way speeds for multiple hours is tough. It physically exhausting. This is something I am reserving for a period of my life where I have the time, energy, and moxie to follow through, definitely more than I have now.
75) Walk on my hands
For a two week period when I was 13 I tried to walk on my hands. I frankly didn't have the core strength. I gave up. It has been 12 years. I don't want to give up on my dreams, no matter how small.
76)
Have a
party with more than 100 people in attendance
It would be fabulous.
77)
Stay at a
bed and breakfast
I almost stayed at the Julian bed and breakfast a few years back on a whim. It never happened. I am tired of playing it safe and not having any of my life experiences.
78) Have a formal tea
I used to have this vision of myself having tea with my closest friends every month or so, but this is the sort of ladies who lunch mentality that may not be realistic for the person I am becoming. Well, I don't know. If I was the sort of person to have tea, I probably would be the kind of person to have tea the first time, and that is on my list.
79) Paint in plein air
Usually reserved for Oil painting, I have always wanted to take part in teh grand tradition.
80) Spend 8 hours painting
A whole day? that would be quite decadent.
81) See Catalina island.
I live so close to it but I never went out of my way to visit.