Friday, July 25, 2014

You are never too old...

...to set a new goal or to dream a new dream.

Well folks, it's that time again.  Another birthday has passed, and like always, I reflected back on my life and all that I've done with my short time on this planet.  And like many previous years, I've once again made it my goal to do something extraordinary this year.  While I love to start projects and challenges, my track record hasn't been stellar (Project 24NaNoFAILMo).

However, I've had one blog challenge success so far, and have had better luck with my projects over on tumblr.  So with those wins in mind, I've decided to embark on a new journey to celebrate the last year of my 20s.  This year I will do (at least) 30 New Things Before I Turn 30.  While the task at hand doesn't seem that daunting given that I have a year to complete it, I want my 30 new things to be a bit more challenging and, for a lack of a better word, more epic than my previous adventures.  I've accepted the fact that more epic probably means more expensive, but you know what the kids are saying these days - YOLO!

The following is a tentative list of adventures that I came up with as well as ideas from friends and family.  The list is not set in stone and I know that I will probably add things along the way, but for right now, it's a nice guideline.

Here's to new adventures!  Cheers!


Things to do before I’m 30 (July 6, 2014 - July 5, 2015)


Blue = Completed adventures
Red = Highly unlikely adventures
Green = Stretch adventures
Black = Probable adventures

  1. Watch the sunrise from the top of Mission Peak (Completed July 19, 2014)
  2. Run a 10K (Star Wars race)
  3. Make pasta from scratch
  4. Test drive/rent an exotic car (or convertible?)
  5. Taking a flying lesson
  6. Dark dining
  7. Ride in a helicopter
  8. Ride a jet ski
  9. Ride on an ATV on sand dunes
  10. Go hang-gliding
  11. Go to a drive-in movie
  12. Learn to play the guitar
  13. Learn to SCUBA dive (open water certification)
  14. Eat balut
  15. Get LASIK
  16. Niagara falls in a barrel
  17. Quit my job and look for a job in a field I know nothing about (and quit in style)
  18. Go sandboarding
  19. Ziplining (near Santa Cruz)
  20. Rope swinging
  21. Hot springing
  22. Take a truly memorable, crazy, exotic vacation like Africa, camp in the Yukon, hike the Grand Canyon, bungee jump in New Zealand, scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef.
  23. Learn golf, tennis, fly fishing, surfing, dancing
  24. Learn how to drive a manual transmission
  25. Get a full barber shave
  26. Brew your own beer
  27. Skip Barber racing school (must know manual transmission)
  28. Bid on something at a live auction
  29. Learn how to make the perfect steak
  30. Find my signature cocktail
  31. Bartending school
  32. Volunteer for Big Brother/Big Sister and take the kid to some place exciting and memorable like an NFL game
  33. Wash people’s feet.
  34. Hang out with the outcast of society and show them love and compassion, not pity.
  35. Bring a video camera and interview strangers on a crowded street.
  36. Go on all the roller coaster rides at a theme park (Great America, Six Flags in Valencia)
  37. Go to a World Series Game (hopefully the A’s)
  38. Complete NaNoWriMo (!?!)
  39. Do a month of ?? (yoga, hot yoga, eating vegetarian, eating paleo)
  40. Hike Half Dome
  41. Go to a Convention (SDCC, PAX)
  42. Buy a new car
  43. Fold one thousand paper cranes
  44. Swim with sharks and/or dolphins
  45. Learn to surf/ride the perfect wave
  46. Visit all 50 states
  47. Visit all the continents
  48. Find the perfect beach
  49. Pick up a total stranger that catches my eye
  50. Enter an eating contest
  51. Have something published or produced or shown (photo, writing, film, art)
  52. Design a garden or structure, create it
  53. Invent something useful, invent something useless but cool
  54. Speak/perform in front of hundreds of people
  55. Learn the Thriller dance
  56. Go to a fortune teller
  57. Write a letter to myself and read it a year later

No comments: