Monday, January 01, 2007

My life list

Birders have "life lists," or lists recording the first sighting of any bird that's "new" to them. Since I am barely a birder, I thought I'd start my own life list of of 26 things I hope to do in this lifetime (since I turn 26 this year and all). I'll add an item a year, or more, or less. Who knows? Maybe you'll even see a few checked off before you get bored.

Life list, in no particular order

  1. Shave my head
  2. Parachute out of a plane
  3. Complete RAMROD
  4. Do STP
  5. Ride the Kettle Valley Trail
  6. Backpack through the Hoh Rainforest. None of this dayhike crap like I always do.
  7. Do at least 50 cumulative miles of the Pacific Crest Trail
  8. Start three day eventing
  9. Write and publish four novels. Good ones. And by “good,” I mean, the NYT doesn’t hate them “good,” not sells like Daniel Steele “good.”
  10. Become a Master Birder (yeah, I know. Bad title.)
  11. Spend 4-6 months traveling through South America
  12. Buy a house in the city. By city, I mean Seattle. Yes, I know this might mean saying goodbye to one of my kidneys. And a lung.
  13. Be able to look back on my career and feel that I made a tangible difference in Northwest conservation.
  14. Never forget to fight for the forgotten parts of society.
  15. Keep tutoring inmates. Try hard to field questions from skeptics without becoming frustrated or complaining that nobody “gets it.”
  16. See (and howl with) honest-to-god wild wolves.
  17. Write at least one essay that would make Barbara Kingsolver or Annie Dillard proud.
  18. Become as close to fluent in Spanish as a gabacha can be.
  19. Take better pictures and someday purchase the equipment I need to be a legitimate photographer. Print the ones that are good enough already and try selling them. Or at least framing them for the house.
  20. Keep up the tango lessons until I can walk backwards with the best of them.
  21. Love CB openly, honestly, and unfailingly for the rest of my days.
  22. Stay vegetarian.
  23. Begin investing in real estate before 30 to build a secure future.
  24. Find a reason to laugh every day.
  25. Commit to practicing yoga well enough and long enough to actually maintain a healthy back.
  26. Understand that I’ll never feel like I’m doing enough, accomplishing enough, or living up to my own expectations. Find a way to be okay with that.

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