So, lets turn to a subject with which I'm more intimately acquainted: Me. A friend of mine whose blog coattails I've ridden before recently posted a "Bucket List". In the past, I haven't had a list of specific achievements and experiences to which you aspire during your lifetime. When I was sharing this with a new friend, she said that she only had one for travel, preferring to stay in the moment. I'm very much a planner, but I don't like to set myself up for disappointment. I can see the appeal of aspiration (for drive), prioritization, and taking stock of what one hopes to get out of life, but, on the other hand, I don't want to find myself in the circumstance of the many TV sitcom characters whose chuckle must cover the shock at how much their life has drifted from past aims, or how much they've changed from the past self that dared to dream. To try to strike a balance that would work for me - painting the contours of my particular aims, leaving room for the parts of the dream that will be written, and hopefully not foreshadowing the mayhem of overcompensating antics 30 years from now - I've developed the list below. Enjoy.
Career / Scholastic Pursuits
- Become published
- Achieve a substantial professional efficiency gain
- Teach college courses, preferably later in my career
- Make a contribution to the structural form of decentralized political economy
- Take at least one more graduate-level course in Economics
(completes a previous goal) - Return to University to study Philosophy, which I've only studied indirectly
- Improve my French, and learn at least one other foreign language
- Repair my relationship with God, strengthening my faith, and listening more.
- Look back and see spiritual growth.
("Tao called Tao is not Tao;" I cannot yet describe the semblance) - Reach a point where I donate at least 10% to charity
- Meet the love of my life (hopefully, I haven't yet)
- Get married (unless she was an ex-girlfriend)
- Fifteen years later, have a trust that makes no room for questioning motives, a dedication and caring that makes calculation trivial, and an eternally enduring bond
- Be a better friend - merging the adult me with the thoughtfulness of yesteryear and loyalty I value in others
- Restore one, two, or both of the friendships that I most lament losing
- Have a cat reach Age 20 in healthy condition after living a charmed life
- Provide a balance of direction - a starting point, a foundation - and freedom
- Be involved (i.e., help with homework), not just present
- Fund at least one edifying experience
(i.e., private school tuition, summer abroad, etc.) - Help them to have developed by "quarter-life" more discipline, perseverance, and confidence than I currently have.
- Go to Europe
- Visit France
- Visit at least 2 more countries
- Travel across Canada via train.
- See Québec City
- Return to Maine
- Visit 25 states - 30 counting airport stops / in-transit only
- Have a roadster (perhaps an Audi TT, BMW, or a Honda CR-Z)
- Own a Townhouse or an A-Frame
- Achieve some level of financial independence
(say, savings that can last 9 months, and human capital to make that sufficient) - Own a Mont Blanc, or a similar pen that I prefer
- A pair of Gucci or D&G Shoes
- Have at least 3 peace roses that last at least 4 years
- Learn to Fence
- Cook for a month straight
- Get and learn to operate a "siphon" brewing pot
