recently, yvett mentioned coming up with a list of “things to do before turning 30,” and this got me thinking….
i’m not freaked out by the prospect turning 30 — it is over 30 months away. but you could say there are things that might make me feel better, things that might make me feel more accomplished on paper, some living that can’t all be saved for later. being truly ready to leave my 20s behind is otherwise just a state of mind.
this post is to let you know that i’m working on this list, but the contents are largely private at this time. i will tell you that there are no cliche items like going skydiving or trying pot or girly ones like “having a major change my relationship status.” the former (two) items i’ve simply grown out of and the latter item will happen in its own time.
i think that as i accomplish the personal/private ones or – more likely – when it is a month away from my 30th birthday, i’ll write about them. is it weird to tell you i have this list but keep part of it private?
perhaps i can simply say that for each item on the list there lies background to why it is there or how i would assess its accomplishment. some of it is more than i can divulge right now.
i can reveal three so far as i have alluded to them in other posts —
- dancing in a parade – for three years, i danced (as part of a troupe) in front of hundreds (400?) of admiring strangers bedazzled from the first strains of the music until the last note because our talent, music, choreography, looks, and costuming were ten times better than the other troupes performing at the n.s. multicultural festival. i want to take it to the next level and be like that troupe in the chinatown parade that little girls point to and aspire to be. thousands of people saw the chinatown parade and over a hundred thousand attended the pride parade. while i will explore chinese dancing as a first option, to attain this goal i might have to try another route… like belly dancing or hip-hop.
- take a tour of asia – i was tempted to add as a separate item “go to europe” on the list but i won’t since executing this plan is enough for my plate in addition to other items on the list. we stopped summering in hong kong when i was 11 years old which means it’s a been gut-wrenching 16 years since i’ve been back and incidentally also 16 years since i’ve been off this continent. =S that’s a lifetime ago. i don’t know if that alone is explanation enough. i feel wretchedly bashful when i truthfully say i’ve been there before and while i have deep memories from spending 18 months in total there, i feel i might as well have been an oblivious toddler when i went, so long ago it was and so much more aware a grown person is compared to a pre-adolescent. i could read books and blogs, look at photos, watch documentaries, and fill in the blanks with my own memories. or i could just go. so far as i can tell i’ll never be as mobile as i am now so why not?
- get my own domain name. get away from blogger-looking blogs. find a place to host my pages. maybe even design my own page – the horrors! obviously this isn’t a priority and it’s one of those things that is rapidly accomplishable should that birthday near and it’s still not yet done! (as such, i can already tell that completing this task will not make me feel entirely accomplished, but it’d be nice to get done.)
- complete a full marathon – as one who took up running four years ago (i think – i can only remember it in terms of one year before i met CJ), i have participated in 8 half-marathons – the perfect distance – and the next “logical step” is to do a full. for some reason, the blasted and odd distance of 42.2 km is the pinnacle of running careers so i’ve got to do it, before i’m 30. (i mentally added this goal to my list but didn’t realize i had never written it down – added june 8’06.)
write my novel – November 2006 came around and reminded me of the yearly, massive North American endeavour that is NaNoWriMo. It prompted me to declare that 2007 would be the year that I would be a participant. Write what, pray tell? Probably a memoir of sorts liberally sprinkled with fiction to fill in the gaps in my memory. (Added November 1, 2006.)
On this day..
- Lil' Jetsetter - 2006
- The world today - 2006