150 Things To Do Before You Turn Thirty

Blatant Repost - Had to do it :) Lisa (8 more months to go!)

150 Things To Do Before You Turn Thirty

Posted on 2/12/2009 by robotgeek

I got this from my friend Sudheendra’s site.

I have seen this tag on so many blogs and why not, it’s a wonderful tag! The name is ’150 Things To Do Before You Turn Thirty’. The rules are,
1. The things you have already done – make them bold.
2. Italics is for things that you are dying to do!

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive (will do next time I am in vegas!)
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope (and a pretty big one too!)
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight (i won’t be doing this again, i hate wasting food)
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster (I was laughing. maybe i was delirious!)
35. Hit a home run (do sixers count?)
36. Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking (i always dance like this)
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer (I have 4 or 5!)
40. Visited all 50 states (My count is up to 15)
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe (want to!)
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing (will do in about 6 months!)
49. Taken a midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs (i am going to also say that I am obsessive about my mp3′s)
57. Pretended to be a superhero (and broke a tooth at it)
58. Sung karaoke (i am a karaoke whore!)
59. Lounged around in bed all day (favorite thing to do)
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theatre (go bring popcorn!)
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business (but i want to!)
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced (see #72)
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest (i was a small kid!)
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on a television news program as an “expert”
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror (but I have been part of the audience)
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favourite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking with the windows open
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart (probably)
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a TV game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for 30 hours in a 48 hour period
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. States
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Hello Saturday, Hello October

It's a Florence and the Machine, Room Temperature Coffee, Post-Yoga-Pre-Shower Late Saturday Morning. It is The Exact Moment when one may naively think the weekend may last forever, a moment when unread books and magazines and articles and newspapers can all be tackled with vigor over the next 36 hours because there are no distractions, no lingering to-dos, nothing but a vast unlimited expanse of time and possibility. Would love to bottle this up, this most favorite Moment of the week.  

Good Bye To All That

Wind and thunderstorms have hit Cincinnati on this last Thursday evening in September. It is the first time I've written whilst back on Midwest soil. I'm jamming out to The White Stripes, reading Vogue's October issue (cover features Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe), and eating previously frozen leftover sloppy joe mix (ah, the life of glamour).

I am making no grand announcement that I am back to writing, as I don't trust myself to keep up with it regularly (how's that for managing expectations?). Truthfully I was about ready to call it a night, but then I looked up and the clock on my oven read 7:32 pm.  Woof. 

So here I am world, or, eh, all approximately 17 of you who have taken a look at this in the past, a past when life consisted of fabulous restaurants and artisinal cockatils and all things hip and current and alive!

I'm reminded of Joan Didion's essay "Good Bye to All That."  Joan was 28 when she left New York as well (albeit in 1967). You can read the essay here http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~zkurmus/html/didion.html. It's too beautiful and brave in its whole to pluck out just a quote or two. Gosh, I'd love to meet her. Ironically, she (according to Wikipedia, at least) lives on 71st st. Sigh... 

Instead of pity partying, I live vicariously through urban friends Facebook posts, including this one posted 6 minutes ago by my 22 year-old cousin Gina who lives in Boston and started her first grown up job this June. She writes, "Mandarin. Martinis. Marvelous.," and posts a corresponding sepia-tinted instagram photo with three statuesque, staged martinis. Young and cute in wonderful in the true full-of-wonder sense of the word. 

Max Fish

The famous bar next door to my apartment was featured in the New Yorker last week. Here's a clip with the owner.

Miike Snow

Yes, the two "ii's" are intentional.  Aimee and I went to Terminal 5 on Thursday to see this Swedish dance pop trio (I think it's a trio, should fact check) perform live. The only kinda/sorta issue with this type of thing is the average age of the crowd. Two examples of conversations I overheard:

"Sarah, don't worry, you're gonna definitity get into NYU"
"Dude, my dad came home one day after school, burst into my bedroom unannounced and was like, 'Travis, are you doing meth?'"

Oh fun!

A Typical Saturday Night in Brooklyn....

Sorcha and Jamin were in town Saturday, and I joined them at a friend's in Brooklyn for a seemingly innocent chicken dinner. After dinner, the guys just couldn't help but dance. :)

French Vogue Editor Carine Roitfeld

Vogue Paris just celebrated its 90th Anniversary with a "Eyes Wide Shut" themed party most aptly described as OFF DA HOOK! I was interested in learning more about French Vogue's editor for the past 7 years, Carine Roitfeld, and found this CNN video. Super!

MIA

Eeek - sorry I have been MIA on the blog! I'm having way too much fun on late night conference calls with China (dripping dripping dripping with sarcasm).  Since we've last connected (!), I spent a few days at my dad's with Grace, had a wonderful visit with Gina and Brendan, hung out with Carlee's sister Whitney and her mom, and celebrated Erika's birthday at Brooklyn Bowl (I bowled a 79!).  Brooklyn Brewery pints, burgers, cupcakes, a live band, a likely median age of 24... lots of skinny girls and cigarettes and boys with beards and Elvis Costello glasses... loving it.  Hmm, what else, a faux-Passover seder, a sticky-floored St. Patrick's day at "The Perfect Pint," really really good challenging conversations with folks at Trinity Grace, and passing out at 8pm on nights in between, feeling a little (okay a lot) out of control with no method to the madness.  But that's okay for now... :)  I think. Right?! 

Needing Spring.

When I was 18, I wrote a poem called Needing Spring that I shared with Carlee and probably no one else.  Nine years later, I'm experiencing a similar sentiment.  My apartment needs a good-scrubbing.  So do my finances.  And my closet, let's not even go there.

I would also like to download a few songs like:
I Want to Love You Madly
Lookin Out My Back Door

On the finance front, Suze Orman is here giving sound financial advice:
http://www.oprah.com/money/Suze-Ormans-Spring-Cleaning-Overhaul-Your-Files-And-Finances/1.  My biggest problem is that I don't remember any of the usernames and passwords and pins to any of this crap. Fidelity? Chase? Yeep!

I also signed up for a free account with Mint.com that does pie charts of your spending habits. Um, let's just say I have a brunch and sushi addiction. I'm glad vodka shows up as "Miscellaneous." Less guilt.

I made my mom stay on the phone with me for two hours while I filled three bags full of "Unacceptable Clothing for My Fabulous New York Life." I plan to schlep it to the Housing Works thriftshop on Crosby St.

As a reward, I would like to invest in a pretty spring plaid top.  The one pictured here is $118 which makes me cringe - I don't think I could ever do it.  But I want to. Yes, I do.

Feeling better already!

Saturdays Surf NYC

A surf shop and coffee shop on Crosby St between Grand & Broome. Undoubtedly one of the hippest blocks in New York.  How neat! They have a garden in the back. Add it to the list of places I will take you. xoxoxo.

PS - It's 42 Degrees and sunny today! I need to get thee outside and explore.