26 Things to do While 26

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My dear friend Carrie does this thing every year on her birthday: Things to do while she's a certain age, with 1 thing for every year she is old. That sounded confusing, but I mean she comes up with "25 Things to do While 25," "26 Things to do While 26," etc. (Yeah, that makes much more sense.) Anyway, she's inspired me. So I've come up with my own, even though I'm about a month late. They aren't terribly lofty goals, and many are fairly easy. In fact, a lot of these are things that I've been "meaning to do" over the last few years, and have just never gotten around to. If I put them on a list, I'll HAVE to do them. =)

1. Reach this important goal that doesn't get to be shared with everyone. (Sorry.)

2. Attend a Parson Red Heads show.

3. Read 25 new books.

4. Hike Inspiration Point at Jenny Lake.

5. Learn to cook 5 new things.

6. Finish the current volume of my journal.

7. Go through the temple for 5 family names.

8. Learn to ride a motorcycle bigger than 110 cc’s.

9. Finish writing the first draft (at least) of the “Kirby Novel.”

10. Anonymously pay for a stranger's meal.

11. Get a 3.4 GPA each semester.

12. Give someone a copy of the Book of Mormon.

13. Sleep under the stars.

14. Travel to someplace I've NEVER been before.

15. Go sledding. (This sounds so easy, but I say I'm going to go every year, and have YET to actually go.)

16. Bake a pumpkin pie.

17. Complete the scrapbook for the trip to Germany my family made in high school.

18. Finish the New York City travel diary.

19. Learn Hindi basics...be able to say your standard beginner conversational phrases. ("Hello, how are you?" "Where is the train station?" "It will rain today." You know.)

20. Read 5 Shakespeare plays I haven't read before.

21. Go horseback riding.

22. Sew a skirt for myself.

23. Build an online acting resume.

24. Ride the carousel at Porter Park.

25. Run a mile in under 15 minutes. (I know this sounds pathetic. It is. But running has never been my strongest...thing. It's possible that I have sports-induced asthma, but I'm probably just really really really out of shape. I could put the goal "Get in shape," but I know it's not specific enough for me. The mile in under 15 minutes goal is specific enough and measurable enough for me to accomplish it. Even though I'll still probably get tested for asthma...)

26. Make a painting...a real, on-a-canvas painting, with paint. I've done plenty of artwork in my life, including lots of set painting, but I've never tried just a straight up PAINTING. I'm gonna do acrylics, since I'm most familiar with them, and because I already have a TON. And I'm thinking from a "gridded image"...I'm sure there's an official artistic term for this, but I sure don't know what it is. I'm in the process of brainstorming exactly what to paint. I'm not a huge fan of still lifes, but human figures/faces are a little beyond my training and ability at the moment. I keep coming back to images from the Hubble telescope. CONS: Light. That's hard. Painting luminosity. PROS: Wiggle-room for creativity/mistakes. If I don't paint a face correctly, you'll know it. But if I don't paint a star system correctly, I'll say it's a fantasy world. =)

What are you going to do in this year of your life?