Countdown to 30

I'm turning 30 this week. I don't really wan't to talk about it.

Don't get me wrong - I don't think 30 is old, or that life is passing me by. (Helpful note to any young person who happens to read this: when you turn 25, you are not "getting SO old." However, you do make anyone older than you feel sort of matronly/spinsterly when you complain about how terrified you are to turn 27.) There's nothing I really can't do anymore at 30, except maybe be a high-dollar hooker. And to be honest, I don't know enough about the career path to know whether that particular door has closed or not.

I am in a funk, though. I don't know if it's my birthday, our upcoming move, the holidays, or just my old friend Depression rearing its ugly head, but I can't seem to clear the fog. I've disabled as many birthday auto-reminders as I can so that friends and acquaintances will forget to say anything. I'm just not in a mood to celebrate myself.

It's about time for me to post my list of "30 Things I'm Proud to Have Accomplished," for my 30 Before 30 list. I made a list of accomplishments, but I feel like posting it would be dishonest. It's not time for my greatest hits; I'm still in my sophomore slump.

I don't mean to be a downer. Soon enough, life will be all baby chickens and new beginnings, and I'll barely remember feeling so worried and discouraged.

I'm just not quite there yet.

Goals update

"If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans."

-Woody Allen

Last year, I made a list of 30 things I wanted to accomplish before my 30th birthday.

I've crossed several of my goals off the list so far, and I'm on my way to crossing off several more. However, at some point this year, I realized I was, perchance, a *tad* ambitious in making my list.

Sure, it's probably possible to plan a wedding, travel abroad, start a business, learn a new language, regularly do yoga, train for a half marathon, learn to sew, perform stand up comedy, purge your house of unnecessary items, learn to play a musical instrument, work a second job, be a good friend, sister, wife, daughter, and aunt, take care of your house, dog, houseplants, and self, and do all the other things you enjoy doing, all while (oh yeah!) looking for (and then starting) a new job because you've just been unexpectedly laid off.

It's just not possible for me.

For one thing, I'm not addicted to crystal meth. For another, I'm a very easily distracted person. (Sure, performing stand up once is exciting. You know what's better? Finding out that it's one of the most incredibly fun things you've ever done and deciding to make it a permanent hobby.) Flexibility is one of my core values.

With that in mind, I decided to update the remaining items 30 before 30 list. I decided to give up on some of the goals for now (does "postpone" sound better?). Honestly, I'm already a little sad about turning 30; I don't need to create an additional list of regrets for myself on my birthday.

Here are the items I'm giving up on (for now):

7. launch an Etsy shop I thought about trying to sell little birds/dogs/etc, but I don't know if I'd really be adding unique items to the Etsy universe. I also created some 3D cookie cutters (unicornz! they sit on ur coffee cups!), but again, I wasn't sure they were unique enough to justify opening an Etsy shop.
14. learn to sew I just didn't have time.
22. go to the dentist (twice) This isn't going to happen, unless I go in the next couple of weeks and have to go back immediately to have extra work done. I'm a terrible person. I have no excuse.
25. learn to play 30 songs on the ukulele I found a guitar school that gives ukulele lessons; I may take lessons next year.
26. learn to drive a stick shift Achilles drives a stick shift, but his truck is on its last legs. I don't want to be responsible for dealing the truck its death blow.
27. attend 30 yoga classes I love yoga, but this goal was stressing me out (ahh, irony)
28. complete savings vs. lottery experiment I couldn't keep up with winning lottery tickets long enough to cash them, so I decided the experiment was a failure and ended it early. (Actually... maybe I could mark this one "complete"...)

So that I end on a positive note, here's my list of goals that I've either accomplished since my last update or that I'm still going to work on (even though I might modify them somewhat):

1. meet 30 new people DONE! Amazing how a new hobby and a new job will take care of this sort of thing for you.
2. read 30 (non-self help) books Thanks to joining a book club at my new job and a reusable grocery bag full of mystery novels from my mom (whatever... beach reads totally count - I love you, Stephanie Plum!), I think I'll finish this one up this month.
3. watch 30 of the IMDB Top 250 films DONE this summer! Thank you Netflix instant streaming and summertime under-employment! (I will post a list of my favorites at some point if people seem interested.)
6. run a half marathon I may have to give up the "run" on this one, but I think I can still run/walk the half marathon I'm registered for and finish in the required time.
8. try 30 new foods DONE! I finished this a while back. When I actually started tracking new foods I tried, I realized I'm actually a pretty adventurous eater. I'll even try unusual meats (gator, snake, other weird game). I think the confusion about my so-called "picky eating" was a result of my inability to eat habanero peppers. (For the record, I have decided that the rule is that you're picky if you refuse to *try* new foods, not if you try them and don't like them.)
9. save $5000 DONE! When I found out I was going to be laid off at the end of the summer, I went into Big Saver mode and knocked this goal out (and then some).
10. volunteer at least 30 hours of my time I don't think I'm going to make this. Still, I have a couple months, and since this is a worthwhile goal, I want to make as much progress as possible.
11. every 3 months, donate 30 items to Goodwill or Salvation Army Still trucking... An acquaintance who saw my list of goals commented that I must have "a lot of stuff." He was a single guy who had never moved in with another person, been given a bunch of duplicate (non-returnable) wedding gifts, or stayed up too late watching a Hoarders marathon. It's easier to accumulate stuff than he thinks.
12. sell 30 items on Craigslist or Ebay Despite accidentally leaving my Half.com account on "vacation mode" since the wedding, I've sold over 20 items. I'll get there, if I'm aggressive.
16. be able to do 30 military style push-ups I'm going to start to work seriously on this, I think, if only because having a deadline may make this one more fun. But I don't think it's going to happen.
19. go on a road trip DONE! I did this two days before I got laid off. I never got around to posting about it (wonder why), but we took a road trip to Dublin, TX.
20. win a contest of some kind I can't think of any contests I've won this year. I suppose I could say I won the "most likely to be laid off" contest at my last job... Still, this is so open-ended, I can't give up on it yet.
24. learn to make a daisy chain
29. make a list of the top 30 things I'm most happy to have already crossed off my bucket list
30 skip at least one item on this list DONE! In fact, I knocked this one out of the park!

Part the deux

So I performed stand up for the second time last week. I think I did a little better the first time, but I still had fun. At any rate, here's the video of my performance:



I plan to address the whole "Why the heck did you even decide to try this?" issue in an upcoming post. If there's anything else you're curious about, feel free to ask me questions in the comments and I'll try to answer those questions in the same post.

#23 crossed off the list!

I paid off my student loans today (WHEE!) so I figured it was a good time to do a quick 30 Before 30 update:

1. meet 30 new people I think I'm at about 20
   
2. read 30 (non-self help) books I'm at 10. This needs work.
   
3. watch 30 of the IMDB Top 250 films I haven't even looked at this. Whoops.
4. get married DONE!
   
5. travel outside the country DONE! Now I just need to upload the photos...
   
6. run a half marathon I've started training, but this one is pretty iffy at this point.
   
7. launch an Etsy shop I'm still brainstorming.
   
8. try 30 new foods If you count recipes, I'm probably close to done. If you only count ingredients, this one needs some work. I did try gator, though. That should count for at least 20 of the 30, right?
   
9. save $5000 (after IRA and retirement contributions) I'm pretty close, but I don't feel like I can cross this off until my actual birthday in case I get spendy.
   
10. volunteer at least 30 hours of my time I'm at about 2 hours. I really need to focus on this.
    
11. every 3 months, donate 30 items to Goodwill or Salvation Army So far, so good.
    
12. sell 30 items on Craigslist or Ebay I think we've sold about 10-12 items.
    
13. take a language class Does Greek count? I vote yes.
    
14. learn to sew
15. redo floors in living room DONE!
    
16. be able to do 30 military style push-ups
    
17. take a stand-up or improv class and perform in front of an audience DONE! I may do this one again.
    
18. try 30 new recipes If you count green smoothie recipes that I made up based on what I had in my refrigerator, I probably already tried 30 recipes. If you don't count those, I'm probably at around 10 or 15
    
19. go on a road trip
20. win a contest of some kind
    
21. take a dance class DONE!
22. go to the dentist (twice) I really need to work on this...
    
23. pay off student loans DONE!!!
24. learn to make a daisy chain Lyndee (who did our wedding flowers) says she can teach me.
    
25. learn to play 30 songs on the ukulele I'm still hovering at 10 or so.
    
26. learn to drive a stick shift
27. attend 30 yoga classes
28. complete savings vs. lottery experiment
29. make a list of the top 30 things I'm most happy to have already crossed off my bucket list
30. skip at least one item on this list I don't think this one will be a problem.
    

Wednesday Bullet Point Weecap

Dear Internets,

I slept through my alarm clock (I think*) this morning. It's always weird to get that extra hour or two of sleep. On one hand, I feel fantastic - yay sleep! On the other, I feel incredibly guilty for being late to work, life, etc. Anyway, I have been leaving a lot of loose ends on this blog lately, so I figured I'd do a quick recap/update.

*My alarm clock is 20 years old. I also "slept through" it a couple of weekends ago. I'm a little worried it might be about to kick the bucket.

• Wedding dress - I think I finally decided on a dress. While it isn't particularly stunning or unique, it's a cute dress, and I think I'll be happy with it. I think I made the mistake of letting too many people have opinions on my dress, which just ended up being stressful.
• My pen pal asked me if I've ever had a crush on a teacher. Short answer: um, yes. I will explain further in the next few days.
• I quit drinking caffeine as part of my last minute diet/exercise plan before the wedding. I don't think my brain really works anymore without caffeine.
  
• Achilles bought us dance lessons as a surprise. We start today. I'm very excited, as this will allow me 1.) not to look quite as foolish at the wedding as I expected to look, and 2.) allow me to cross #21 off my 30 Before 30 list.
• My last comedy class was horrible. I was shaking so much they could actually see me shaking in the back row. I also said "Umm..." 36 times. Don't worry, Internets. I'm still planning to perform and post the video.

I hope your week is flying by, Internets!

Love,
Jane

#17. Also known as: Yikes!

Dear Jane,

Thank you for registering for Comedy Gym. Please bring your printed receipt to your first class.

Thank you,
Informal Classes

****

Holy poodles, Internets. I have registered for a stand up comedy class. A class that will culminate in performances at a local comedy club.

What have I gotten myself into??

-Jane

Dollars and daydreams

Dear Internets,

I realized I was unclear on one of my 30 Before 30 goals:

#28 complete savings vs. lottery experiment.

Like most people, I enjoy imagining what I'd do if I won the lottery. However, like a lot of people, I realize that I'm much better off putting the money I would spend playing the lottery into an interest-bearing savings account. My parents, math teachers, and countless personal finance bloggers have drilled this into my head. The logical side of my brain understands and agrees.

However, while I may understand (and embrace) logic, part of me has always been a dreamer. I *want* to imagine what would happen if I hit it big. My fanciful side insists that $1 isn't much at all to spend on a dream. My frugal side firmly disagrees.

Several years ago, I came up with a little "experiment" (albeit a totally unscientific one) that would allow both sides of my brain to feel comfortable playing the lottery. For a year, I'd buy one lottery ticket a week, and put the equivalent amount into an online savings account. At the end of the year, I'd compare the results. Whatever I had in my savings account could be spent on whatever I'd buy if I won that amount of money playing the lottery. (Although frankly, I'd probably put the money into savings. Darn you, logical brain!) However, until this year, I'd never actually put the plan into action.

So far, the experiment has been fun. That moment before I scratch off the ticket is as full of possibility and anticipation as the first day of school. Better yet, the fact that I rarely win even a dollar is softened a bit by the knowledge that I'm putting a dollar into savings. (I probably would have otherwise spent the $2 on a cherry limeade at Sonic.)

It's a silly thing to do, I guess, but it has been fun.

Semi-current totals (I forgot to buy tickets over the holidays, so I need to catch up):
Savings - $35.16
Lotto - $24

Yours ridiculously,
Jane

30 Before 30

Dear Internets,

I've discovered that the best time to blog is when I'm procrastinating about doing other things. I may have discovered my new secret formula to regular blogging!

I'm turning 30 in about eleven months. Every year for the past few years, I've made a list of 26 things to do before I turn 26, 27 before 27, etc. A week or so after my 29th birthday, I made a list of 30 things I'd like to do in the next year. While my list this year doesn't contain only things that I would consider Important Life Goals or anything (and several are things I've done before) I did decide to push myself a little more with my goals this year.

30 before 30

1. meet 30 new people (I'm kind of an introvert)
   
2. read 30 (non-self help) books
3. watch 30 of the IMDB Top 250 films
4. get married (hopefully this one won't be too hard) :)
   
5. travel outside the country
6. run a half marathon
   
7. launch an Etsy shop
8. try 30 new foods
   
9. save $5000 (after IRA and retirement contributions)
10. volunteer at least 30 hours of my time
11. every 3 months, donate 30 items to Goodwill or Salvation Army
    
12. sell 30 items on Craigslist or Ebay
13. take a language class
14. learn to sew
15. redo floors in living room (I promise this was on my list before the remodel was planned)
    
16. be able to do 30 military style push-ups
17. take a stand-up or improv class and perform in front of an audience
18. try 30 new recipes
19. go on a road trip
20. win a contest of some kind (this is my favorite, because it's so open-ended)
    
21. take a dance class
22. go to the dentist (twice)
23. pay off student loans
    
24. learn to make a daisy chain (Achilles told me there's some sort of dirty meaning to this, but I just want to string flowers together.)(Also, boys are gross.)
    
25. learn to play 30 songs on the ukulele (this was originally one song, but I've already learned about 5, so I decided to increase my goal)
    
26. learn to drive a stick shift
27. attend 30 yoga classes
28. complete savings vs. lottery experiment
29. make a list of the top 30 things I'm most happy to have already crossed off my bucket list
30. skip at least one item on this list

I figure I'll update on these goals in groups (adventurousness, travel, creative, health, financial, inspired by watching too many episodes of Hoarders, etc.) What do you think? I'm I being too aggressive? Not aggressive enough? What are your big goals for the next year?

Love,
Jane