Tuesday, August 14, 2007

30 ain't so bad, right???

I have two weeks left of my twenties. My twenties, people. I'm fine with turning 30 but I'm just so shocked that it's happening. I don't know what happened to the last few years of my life.

I busted out an old journal that had a list of 10 things I wanted to do before I was 30. I wrote this the week of my 20th birthday. The list had rules - no item could be about relationships, love or money. Rochelle, do you remember this? I think we wrote it after a night with Nate and Beers.

Here is the list:
1. Run a marathon
2. Publish a fine novella
3. Scuba the Great Barrier Reef
4. Work for National Geographic
5. Publish in Travel and Leisure
6. See a rain forest
7. Skydive
8. Learn to speak another language. Bonjour!
9. Join the Peace Corps
10. See the seven wonders of the natural world and the remaining of the ancient world.

I was ambitious, huh? I've accomplished 1, 6 & 7. Not so good. Granted I wrote that list while I was still a journalism major and thought that my first job out of college would be for National Geographic. Then I dropped that and became an English Major. Smart, smart move! Because that degree has really helped out my need to travel.

Rather than write another list that will probably dissapoint me when I'm 40, I'm just going to be better at things I care about and do more of what I love.

Par example...

I want to be a better environmentalist. We had some friends over for dinner last week and I said to my gal pal who is a brilliant writer for USA Today, "I'm smarter because I'm friends with you." To which her husband responded, "I feel like an environmentalist because I'm friends with you." This embarrassed me because I'm not as good as I could be. I have a rain barrel, but it sits in my garage, obviously not collecting rain. We have a compost bin that was supposed to be under the sink but attracted too many fruit flies, so I moved it to the garage. We try to remember to bring our cloth bags to the grocery store, but often forget them hanging in the garage. I think the moral of this story, kids, is that I need to tear down my garage in order to start practicing what I preach.

I want to go to grad school. I've been saying this since the day I graduated from the fine establishment known as Colorado State University. My desires for a degree have varied greatly. There was the "always pulling at my heart strings" Masters in English. The practical MBA. The Masters in Non-Profit Management. The Masters in Higher Education. I'm back to the MBA, but it's a long shot that I'll get through the GMAT, do well, and then be admitted to my school of choice. We'll see...

I want to hike more. This includes but is not limited to: every fourteener in Colorado; The Himalayas; Mount Hood; Mount Rainer; VFR's dream Hawaii hike. You name the mountain, I probably want to hike it. The aforementioned environmentalist friend would be really disappointed if I did not include skiing in this, so I will. I would like to ski every mountain in the United States. Well, every decent one. Boyne is not included in that list.


I want to travel more. I can't complain about lack of travel this year, but VFR and I feel as if we have only scratched the surface. There are so many trips: India, Eurorail through the EU, Australia and NZ, Chile with the Carty's, Hawaii..honestly, the list goes on.

The list could go on and on, but why torment the future Ericka.

Turning 30 will come and go like any other day but I'm hoping it slows down just a bit, so I can enjoy it more.