29 things to do before I turn 29, redux

You might not remember this list, but it’s been central to my mind for months.

1. Not hang myself with a belt
   Success. I now hang myself with pride.
2. Be happy with where I live and who I live with
   Success. Although this is ending fairly soon. I suspect I’ll briefly move in with my girlfriend before I
3. Some times choose to stay home.
   Fail. I have tried many times, I suppose, but never seem to succeed.
4. Write most of a dissertation.
   Success! I finished it! Whoo! Go Me!
5. Publish something original
   Hm.. This is hard to estimate. I guess.. no, no I haven’t. But I will! Shortly! I have seven projects in the works and most are publishable!
6. Cowrite a paper with someone I respect
   Success. I am cowriting a paper with four people, one of whom I super-duper-de-do respect. Another of which is written. I think the combination of these means I’ve succeeded.
7. Have all of my best friends meet each other
   Success. Probably the ‘all’ is not true, but I’d say all of my best friends have met at least one other best friend and I’m making huge progress on this.
8. Not lose contact with my 10 favorite people
   Hm.. I need to send some emails right now.
9. Have a social life too-full with people that matter
   Success! I love my friends and family.
10. Maintain myself in the ‘fitness‘ category
    Fail. Worst weight ever. But I’m trying! Daily, seriously. Why is it getting harder to stay in shape? Stupid aging.
11. Be able to do the splits (basically, I just want to be able to kick high)
    Hm. I can kick super high, but can’t do the splits.
12. Spin fire again
    Fail. I should go firespinning this week, but I don’t know if I will.
13. Learn what the various verb tenses are in Spanish
    Hm. Why would I care?
14. Get to be competent in another language
    Fail. Grad school really killed a lot of my projects..
15. Visit every continent
    Fail. Three down, four to go.
16. Have visited all 50 states (13 left!)
    Fail. This was a silly goal to begin with.
17. Have visited 15 countries (9 left!)
    Hm. I will in six weeks’ time. Damn!
18. Try stand up comedy
    Fail? This is ambiguous. Maybe I’ll try something over the summer.
19. Upload all of my archives
    Fail. No excuse.
20. Finish 250 microfiction stories
    Fail. This one hurts, sadly. But I did start a mostly unused Twitter account!
21. Finish first draft of my novel
    Fail. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Although I did do a screenplay draft and I designed a card game!
22. Finish my One Sentence project
    Fail. I am bad at keeping up with this kind of stuff.
23. Get something creative published or publish it myself
    Fail. I just got my last chance rejection the other day. Oh well. Next year.
24. Learn to draw/paint a realistic self-portrait
    Fail. I only ever practice once a year for Hourly Comic Day. I didn’t really try on this one.
25. Learn to play the piano
    Fail. I got a few chords then got tired, stopped practicing, and moved on. Sad.
26. Cook for myself/others on a regular basis.
    Fail. But I’ll have to soon. This is what happened when I lived in Australia and – I suspect – Canada will be similar in this respect.
27. Have a car on which I can fully rely
    Success. I love my Mazda3.
28. Donate my body weight in blood OR some bone marrow
    Success. Lots of blood, no bone marrow. But I was almost a match for the bone marrow, so.. I’m happy with this.
29. Live above reproach.
    Fail. As you get older, you live in more fine-grained grey areas. I would not make this resolution again. I’m at least mostly content with what I do most of the time.

You might not remember this list, but it’s been central to my mind for months. Not hang myself with a belt Success. I now hang myself with pride. Be happy with where I live and who I live with Success. Although this is ending fairly soon. I suspect I’ll briefly move in with my girlfriend…