The list

Birthday Graphics

The big 3-0. The end of my 20s, time for a freak out. Actually maybe I'm not as freaked out as some people are. I'm not so hung up on attaining the accessories of adulthood like a house, husband and/or child. But there are a few things I've always intended to accomplish or experience, and yet I never get around to them. Why not do those things *right now*?

So here's my list -- 30 things (a fitting number) I intend to do and blog about in the months leading up to my birthday in May 2012.

A few notes on the list: I didn't want to get so ambitious it's unrealistic (I don't think I can climb a mountain, visit Italy, run a marathon and read War and Peace in the nine months before the big day), but I think I included enough meaty goals to keep me busy for the duration. I tried to keep a mix of serious and not so serious. Yes, I think drinking a beverage can be a goal.

I've avoided resolutions as much as I can -- of course I'd love to become a better person in the upcoming months, but it might be difficult to write a blog post about that. I also have to leave work-related goals out, since I like having a job and I want to keep it that way. Also, some goals have been left open-ended to give myself some flexibility.

Well, here they are, in no particular order:

1. Start a new blog
2. Go on a hike
3. Submit a proposal to a magazine
4. Learn Spanish
5. Drink an Irish car bomb
6. Plan a 30th birthday party
7. Go on vacation to a place I've never been
8. Decide on a life philosophy
9. Ride on a roller coaster
10. Volunteer for an ongoing project
11. Reread Walden
12. Reread On the Road
13. Buy three new albums by up-and-coming bands
14. Create a Twitter account
15. Learn how to make enchiladas
16. Get a massage
17. Enter a 5K
18. Go on a diet for a month
19. Make a chocolate souffle
20. Finish reading the Old Testament
21. Go to a concert
22. Visit a farm
23. Watch 10 movies I haven't seen from Roger Ebert's Great Movies list
24. Read five books I wouldn't ordinarily read
25. Subscribe to The New Yorker
26. Start a book club
27. Find a date NOT via an online dating service
28. Decide on an idea for my book
29. Listen to five albums I don't have on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
30. Find peace with God

And so the adventure begins...