string cheese & triscuits

This is my list of things that I wish to accomplish before I turn 25 (starting at age 21).

1. Graduate from Carnegie Mellon.
   18May08: commencement speakers were Randy Pausch and Al Gore.
2. Get into medical school
3. Kiss someone in the rain.
4. Go on a photoshoot. (09Sep07, by Soumya Simanta)
5. Learn 4 more of Chopin’s études
6. Wear a sundress or skirt in public for no reason.
7. Tour Europe.
   Summer of 2008: Paris, Barcelona, Dijon, Florence, Cinque Terre, Venice, Gimmelwald, Munich, Berlin, Prague, Vienna
8. Learn how to keep my personal and professional life separate.
9. Learn how to live independently
10. Move in with a boyfriend.
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11. Get engaged
12. Read Ender’s Game. (16Nov07)
13. Go skinny-dipping. (13Aug07)
14. Undertake and complete a big sewing project!
    01Jan08: t-shirt quilt from 24 of Adam’s old t-shirts. Handsewn. Painful.
    
15. Learn how to use an SLR
16. See a Broadway show
17. Get my weight to between 120-125, and keep it there.
18. Become more fluent in Mandarin
19. Get over my fear of needles
20. Draw in henna on someone
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21. Adopt a cat and/or dog.
    12Aug08: Adopted a 4 month old kitten – Pickle - from City Kitties.
    23Nov08: Adopted a ~1 year old dog – Dill - from Philly Paws.
22. Update this journal with every new awesome recipe I attempt
23. Read the Divine Comedy w/ Adam
24. Re-learn how to ski
25. Move to a totally new city.
    Fall 2008: Pulling up roots from the Iron City to Philadelphia.
26. Write a book
27. Teach piano to those who want to learn.
    24Oct07: I now teach piano at the Hillman Cancer Center/Posner 7.
28. Learn how to swing dance
29. Go to a baseball game
30. Join a Big Brothers/Big Sisters program (or something like it)
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31. Play on a pogo stick
32. Try to become more minimalistic.
33. Grow a plant that survives (other than a cactus)
34. Get a pen pal in a foreign country
35. Take pictures in a photo booth (the kind at the mall)
36. Go waterskiing
37. Trace my body. (17Aug07)
38. Eat a s’more. (28Jul07 – Bethany Beach bonfire)
39. Run a race or at least some sort of organized run.
    30Sep07: Pittsburgh Great Race – 10k in 57:11.
40. Wear flowers in my hair
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41. Never be in debt (credit-wise)
42. Go on a date that requires dressing up, and don’t complain
43. Hold no grudges
44. Kick Adam’s butt in swimming, or some other sport
45. Watch Monty Python
46. Make someone breakfast in bed.
47. Become more patient with my family
48. Go white-water rafting
49. Go para-sailing
50. Celebrate my birthday, on my birthday.
    01Jul08: Spent the day in line for various museums in Florence, but it was with Adam, and plus I had copious amount of gelato in place of cake. Later I had cake, in Munich. Lots of it.
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51. See a movie at a drive-in theater
52. Be able to bench my own weight
53. Walk on a frozen river
54. Go roller blading
55. See an opera
56. Pay for the next car at a toll booth
57. Learn how to not take things personally
58. Cut my hair short. Really short. (27Sep08)
59. Discover 15 ways to sign/write my name.
60. Go fishing
    12Jan08: at Lake Kerr, w/ Adam
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61. Learn how to waltz (properly)
62. Go camping
    01Sep07: went camping with “Big Lead Pipes” at some crazy 24-hour relay mountain bike ride in Seven Springs, PA.
63. Write Thankful Thursdays regularly.
    categorized here.
64. Go sailing (27Sep09 – with Peter)
65. Go snowboarding
66. Eat at Ikea. (17Aug08 – with Mark)
67. Work on a farm
68. Learn how to drive stick shift (Summer ‘07)
69. Take a roadtrip for 5 or more days
70. Throw a themed party
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71. Celebrate 1 un-birthday
72. Take a cooking class
73. Buy a lottery ticket
74. Learn how to golf
75. Find a beer that I like (28Jul07 – Festina Peche. Later – much much more)
76. Relearn how to crochet, and crochet something useful
77. Make a scientific poster, and present (08Aug07 – w. MIRM)
78. Do something w. mosaics
79. Start learning Spanish
80. Compose a new piece
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81. Read the Bible
82. Read the Koran
83. Kiss someone under the mistletoe
84. Learn how to walk and dance in heels. (I still don’t like it, though.)
85. Research my family tree
86. Win or be won a prize from an amusement park (28July07 – Bloo the crayfish)
87. Become financially independent.
88. Stay with a healthy lifestyle throughout grad & med school
89. Be able to do 50 pushups in a row
90. Have a picnic on a blanket
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91. Stretch at least once every other day.
92. Relearn how to do a handstand
93. Read and analyze a poem, once a month
    The poems I’ve been analyzing are categorized here; I analyze them offline, though.
94. Go to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival
95. Make perfume from flower petals
96. Learn how to row: starboard, port, and sculling
    30Oct07: started taking sweep-rowing classes w/ the Three Rivers Rowing Association (Pittsburgh). Currently rowing starboard, although this may change. Depending on my schedule next semester I may also consider joining CMU’s team.
97. Register as an organ donor
    09Aug07: Renewed my license, registered as an organ donor.
98. Build a snow sculpture taller than I am
99. Read one book a month, purely for pleasure: organized here
    

100. Think to myself that I’m living my dream.

Old: 100 before 21.