This time last year I drafted a list of the 30 things I want to accomplish in the third decade of my life. I actually did better than I thought I would:
Item no. 1: Be healthy (including but not exclusively loosing weight, working out, eating better, etc). I’ve joined a gym get up at 5:45 to workout at least 5 times a week. Granted, I’m no adonis (or whatever the female equivalent is), but I’m getting there. I’m not always the biggest fan of what I see in the mirror, in fact, most of the time I’m not, but at least I’m trying to do something about it.
Item no. 2: Learn an to play an instrument, preferably the cello. Two weeks after my birthday, happened to pick up a catalogue for the Cambridge Center for Adult Education and inside was a listing for an adult beginners cello class, reading music not required! A year later I still can’t read music, but I can do what I loosely call “play” the first position. That right I can play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. . . and I play it hard.
Item no. 3: Read at least on book a month, ideally 2, but let’s be realistic. In the year 2013 I read 43 book, which averages out to 1/1.3 weeks. Not bad. So far in 2014, I’ve read 13.
Item no. 6: Earn my Ph.D. On July 8th, I will begin earning my Doctorate and in Law and Policy. You can call me Dr. Lessly in 2017.
Item no. 7: See my nephew (and any other of my sisters’ children that have yet to be) at least twice a year in person. This may get harder now that I’m going back to school, but this is a non-negotiable.
Item no. 8: See all 50 states. 40 down, 10 to go. 41, 9 to go.
Item no. 12. Speak French, fluently. I’ve changed this to Mandarin Chinese, thanks to Rosetts Stone. But I still like the idea of French, too.
Item no. 15. Go to cooking school. I’ve taken a knife class and am taking a Thai cooking class next month. I know, it’s not the same, but baby steps. Am I right?
Item no. 19. See every movie in the Criterion Collection. There are 639 movies in the collection. I’ve seen 85 and am calling it good.
One year down, nine more to go.
I Wear Red Glasses 