Sumptin’ new

Has anyone ever heard of people (especially bloggers) doing “30 before 30″s? A list of 30 goals to achieve before they turn 30? In a fit of inspiration, I decided to do the same thing. I thought about doing a 30 before 30, but since I’m not even 20, it would be too easy. And I normally do things the hard way, whether I know it or not. I like challenges.

Anyway, so I decided on a 20 before 20 list. That gives me a little over four years. I remember in one class, we were assigned to compose a “100 things to do before I die” list, and that was dreadful. Once I got to 25,  my flow of ideas ran dry. I started using little cop-outs like “Fall in love!” and “Sky-dive” and even “meet someone named Julian because that’s a name I like”. But, this list is fo’ real; I’m not using cop-outs, I’m using things that I will try my hardest to accomplish before 20 years old. And if that doesn’t happen, then I will accomplish them at some point!

I know you all will be absolutely gripping your chairs in suspense to know how this all plays out, so I shall do a bit of documenting here on this blog. Whenever something new is accomplished or started, I’ll tell you about it! See, this is a win-win for me: I get a project AND material to blab about on my blog when I don’t have any new ideas!

So, this list was a teensy bit hard to compose since I acknowledged that a lot of these ideas I will probably be doing or trying on my own (because I’m just old enough to be responsible, but just young enough still depend on adults) and I didn’t want to put fluff on there like I did on my “100 things” list. I want stuff I know I can find a way to achieve and stuff I know I will still want to do a year from now. And I want stuff that will be a challenge for me personally. I don’t want no crap list.

My list of twenty goals fell naturally into four categories: Learning, Creating, Personal Doings, and Self Improvement. They aren’t exactly evenly distributed, but for all my fantastic readers to see, this is what I want to do before I turn twenty:

LEARNING

1. Learn (meaning: become proficient in) another language besides German. I’m thinking Portuguese or maybe Greek, but that may take longer than four years to learn… It’s whatever opportunity strikes first.
2. Learn (again, see above) to play the trumpet. Well, I might as well. I’ve dabbled in every other family of instruments – woodwinds, strings,…whatever piano counts as…not brass though – and I was listening to this song that has a little interlude of trumpet at the end and I was like Dang! That sounds cool! I’d love to play trumpet-BAM! Inspiration. And I have big, swimmer’s lungs. I can do this!!
   
3. Taste/work with my dream chocolate: gourmet Swiss dark chocolate. Hey, what’s the harm in being a chocolatier on the side?
4. Learn 96 new songs on any instrument. That’s around 2 per month if it were exactly four years, but it’s a little longer, so I’ve got extra time! I just have to come up with 96 songs I’d like to spend two-ish weeks with. So far, I have….two?
   
5. Get a driver’s license. Okay, so maybe this one is a cop-out, but I want to drive! So, shoot me. Jeez.

CREATING

1. Write enough songs to fill at least an EP, if not an LP.
2. FINALLY FINISH at least one of my novel-ideas.
3. Have my blog achieve some sort of fame. I love this blog! I will be happy with my current 13 subscribers and other people who check in once in a while for as long as I keep this blog, but a Freshly Pressed would be nice…

PERSONAL DOINGS

1. Pick up the piano again. I am still quite miffed at myself for ditching this ever useful instrument. I mean, if I didn’t, I probably wouldn’t have picked up the guitar, but maybe if my stupid keyboard hadn’t died I’d be able to give it a go again. Not taking lessons again, but I’ll fool around with it. I dream of a real upright piano (grands are too big), though, not a keyboard. Ah, I need to start a job.
2. Buy a new electric guitar and eventually a good acoustic. I got my eyes peeled and my money saved. Plus, how useful is an acoustic guitar? VERY. No need for an amp or whatever AND it makes your fingers ten times stronger than on an electric guitar!
3. Meet someone I look up to (that I don’t already know personally). Hopefully Mick Jagger will just happen to be roaming the rural streets in my neighborhood, or Justin Vernon will attend a jazz band performance or something. Anything’s possible, right?
4. Make 3 new good friends. More would be nice, but you can learn something from anyone, and if they decide to hang around and they’re cool, that’s excellent! I do love my friends now, though, so if y’all be reading this, y’all be MAH HEROES.
5. Read 300 books. This may sound like a lofty goal, but it’s not really, especially since I like reading. (I can always crank out most of them in the summer and stuff). If I use the time of only four years, it’s: 75 books a year or about six books a month. Since I have a bit of extra time before the four-year countdown begins, it’ll be a little less. If I come even close to 300, I’ll be elated, so I can’t fail!!
6. Grow strawberries or peaches. They are my favorite fruits and since everything tastes better homegrown, I will love them even more!! Plus, how fantastic would it be to walk outside and pick a peach RIGHT OFF THE TREE?! Very fantastic.
7. Be a better singer. It helps with musicianship and I think my family would enjoy my company a bit more then…
8. Celebrate Peace One Day every year. Already on it.
9. Travel. This one is important to me. If I can’t get to Germany by then, I hope I will have at least had some adventures in places I’ve never been before.

SELF IMPROVEMENT

1. Learn something valuable from at least 5 different teachers. They don’t have to be licensed teachers – as I said, you can learn something from anyone…whether it’s how not to do things, or how to better do things, it’s knowledge.
2. Get more confident. That’ll help everything I do.
3. Do some spontaneous stuff. This may seem like a cop-out since it’s not too specific, but just doing a few things out of one’s comfort zone boosts morale. It’s like that saying, “you’ll never know until you try.”

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So, I guess I’ll embark on my journey today. I’ll make a new page and a new category for this project so you can check in whenever you’re a-wondrin’.

What do you guys think of my list? Am I missing anything? How do you think I should present songs I write or learn – record them and post them here? A youtube account?