If 2009 was mostly the year of dizzying happiness, 2010 has been one of just getting by. When November and December rolled around, it hit me like a bolt that the year was almost over, and I had almost nothing to show for it. My days were filled with activity – meeting new people, changing jobs, settling up our own home and resetting boundaries. But somehow, the end of the year feels only slightly different from where it began it twelve months ago.
Adjusting to a new life takes it’s time, and I’ve been a slow learner through some of the past few months. But they say life happens to you while you are busy making other plans. So last year, I was grateful for unconditonal love, and support from friends and family – both new and old. I’m so lucky to have them. I was grateful for my own patience, uncharacteristic, in waiting for situations to iron themselves out. I was grateful for Geek – for his reserves of patience, calmness, and love. He’s done a marvellous job of putting up with my neuroticism and loving all my quirks like they were the most beautiful things on earth.
So in 2011, I’m going to be a girl in a hurry and hoping I can make up for the last year by actively trying to tick things off my To-Do-Before-30 list. I’ve got roughly three years and a lot of things to do before the next decade slowly creeps up on me. Here it is. I’ll try and update whenever anything is done:
- Travel to 10 countries
- Run a marathon
- Learn Spanish. Again.
- Dress well, whether it’s important or not. (And that does not mean fancy)
- Take more photographs
- Archive and organise all of them
- Send my parents on an exotic holiday
- Get 10 published credits. (to satisfy the closet writer in me)
- Have a healthy baby
- Buy a house and then spend time making it into exactly what I/we want
- Read 50 books a year. 150 books
- Watch 25 documentaries a year. 75 documentaries
- Donate blood
- Work in a bookstore/library
- Write everyday in my journal
- Learn to manage my accounts – figure out stuff about savings, online banking, investments etc.
- Start investing in the stock market
- Take up a sport
- Blog more frequently
- Sign up for belly dancing
- Take three vacations a year
- Visit an asylum
- Learn sign language
- Learn to change a tyre
- Throw a successful surprise party
- Plant a tree a year. 3 trees
- Go bungee jumping
- Sleep under the stars
- Visit every state in India (or my base country for the next four years) at least once.
- Develop the habit of getting out of bed as soon as the alarm rings
- Learn first aid
- Dance *well* in front of an audience
- Learn to mix cocktails
- Visit New York City
- Volunteer at a hospital
- Take a long road trip with girlfriends
- Get my body into optimum health and shape
- Go back to school
- Go kayaking/white water rafting
- Be punctual
- Learn to do Sudoku puzzles
- Learn to say ‘No’ and mean it. Learn to say ‘Yes’ and mean it.
- Learn to make Diwali goodies from Ajji
- Read the entire newspaper everyday
- Win the lottery (or the equivalent by earning lots of money at work) for points 1, 7 and 29.
- Finish things that I start
- Find a job that I ‘love’
- Rock the hell out of an LBD
- Learn pottery.
- Identify 100 things that make me happy
This list is subject to change / grow since i’ve made it rather quickly. I’m sure there are more than 50 things I want to do before I turn 30. So I’ll keep coming back here often, and try and write about it here once it’s done.
So there you go, Universe. I’ve put it out there. I’ve set the ball rolling. Now please do your bit. Thank you.
