#31by32

First of all, this new fangled posting system for Tumblr is so fancy and awesome! Love the minimal UI. Bravo, Tumblr. 

I’m generally not a fan of my own birthday, but the last few years they’ve been a great excuse for a grand escape to the desert with fellow Aries climber buddy narindaism​. This year, I also happened to see a post from awesome local creative and conference organizer, Meghan Arnold. Her tradition includes setting up a list of goals for herself, birthday to birthday, called the (new current age) by the (future self age) list. What I liked about it, besides the catchy name and fact that I love lists, was that from her check-ins and previous year recaps, I got the sense these were all plausibly attainable goals but also nice-to-have-but-don’t-kill-yourself-over goals. Bucket lists often seem so Out There as to be highly unlikely. These seem like maybe a good step on the way to them, though. Measurable and concrete.

So without further rambling, I present my hopefully-kind-of-attainable list for the year. 31 things I’d like to accomplish before I hit 32. Aaand, go.

1. Learn to play Enter Sandman on drums.  Okay I lied. This one seems ridiculous given that I have no drum kit and really sucked at drums while I did. But, I’ll keep it here because this song reminds me of grade school and a friend shared this cover with me the day I started working on the list. 30/31 won’t be so bad, right?

2. Sport climb outside three times. I’m a boulderer. Ropes seem complex and unnecessary at times, but I’d like to give it more of a shot. Sport climbing is basically like bouldering but taller anyway, right??

3. Climb a 3+ pitch route. Similarly, I do greatly admire trad climbers in that you can reach inconceivable heights doing multipitches. Hoping to give it another shot this year.

4. 131 outdoor V-points. This one is more so to encourage me to climb outdoors more often, even if I can’t do a big weekend/weeklong trip somewhere. Maybe I can appreciate my local rocks a bit more. Bonus, I’m already nine points in for this: finished The Prow (v2), Bday Variation (v2), and Fly Boy Arete (v5) on my birthday weekend.

5. Pay off Hawaiian credit card. I’ve gotten so close to paying off this card so many times, but I’m addicted to earning miles despite my best Simple-card-goalsetting efforts. 

6. Travel to five cities I’ve never been to.  I’m addicted to travel, but it’s usually to regular haunts: HNL and NYC, Bishop, Red Rocks. Let’s try to mix it up this year. Easy points include a trip to Nicaragua coming up next month. 

7. Spend at least 31 days sleeping in nature. A bonus to this climbing addiction has been a new love for the outdoors. I’d like to spend more time backpacking and camping in general this year. One day down so far, in Bishop.

8. Learn to recognize a new constellation.  There’s nothing like making up constellations while lazing about under a desert night sky, like the Baby Giraffe fighting an Octopus. It’d be cool to learn some actual ones though, and to recognize where it is at different points of the year.

9. Design and print personal business cards.  Seriously? Never done this? I thought about putting “design and code my portfolio” but I knew that would never happen. This might be 1% more plausible...

10. Volunteer web-time or design-time to a non-profit or org. The obligations of "real life” are funny. Gone are the days when I could up and leave for a rally or protest on a whim. Seeing rallies online make me feel both nostalgic and also like I’m not contributing enough, so I’d like to take some time to donate a skill to an org that might need it.

11. Learn to cook something new and out of my comfort zone. ...my comfort zone being, melted cheese in various formats.

12. Kayak in five new spots. Bonus if they’re outside the Bay Area. Kayaking is a newer hobby of mine thanks to my partner Gabe, but it’s another sport that can take you to beautiful places. Let’s see where it leads this year.

13. Read 10 books.  Being in the Counsyl book club might help, but I should prob pick up the pace a bit. Also adding the “Choose Must” book by Elle Luna to this #todo list. Currently reading: A Man Called Ove

14. Complete the 100 day project. Related to the above is the do something for 100 days and document it proj. It began in early April and as of today, I think I’m four or five days behind. I chose to record video chats because: I can’t stand seeing myself on video, and, I don’t like hearing myself talk, and, I cringe when posting personal content anywhere (writing this whole post has been equally cringe-worthy). I may have started a Tumblr for this, but I may not post it anywhere...

15. Finish a problem under the arch at Dogpatch Boulders. Whoops another climbing goal. The arch at DP is freaky tall, but it’s something I know I’m capable of. I think I’ve maybe only topped one thing out there, but to strengthen my mental climbing game, I should try this again.

16. Talk to 15 different friends for 31 minutes. There were a number of goals from Meghan’s lists that I really admired, and this is one of them. I know a lot of great people, and many of them I wish I were more deeply in touch with, even if it’s just for a quick (well, 31+ minute) chat. This can be phone, video, whatevs. If you wanna volunteer for this one, you know how to find me!

17. Write 31 pieces of snail mail. I love snail mail. Something about sloppy handwriting and doodles and postage stamps is incredible. I send postcards to my nieces whenever possible, but more recently @themelissard has really made my day with some great letters and cards. I’d love to pay it forward, let me know also if you want a letter! 

18. Catch up with 15 different friends in person. Whoops! Wait, how was this one different from the above? Oh I think for this I meant, there are a bunch of people I’m frequently in situations like, “Oh let’s catch up over dinner!” or “Oh I’m in Oakland a lot these days, let’s catch up!” I guess more so than a 31 minute chat would cover. I’ll have to think this one through a bit more.

19. Visit a Creative Mornings chapter abroad.  I’m not sure where I’ll be this year, yet, but hopefully I’ll cross the paths of another Creative Mornings city! I guess there’s always Vegas, too!

20. Build something with wood.  What I really have in mind is lawn furniture for our yard like these, but that may be too ambitious. I actually just want an excuse to use power tools.

21. Climb Jedi Mind Tricks. Another climbing goal. This has been a mental fuck situation for awhile, since last year where I fell one or two moves from the top, twice. Jedi Mind Tricks is a tall clean slab in the middle of nowhere. And by tall I mean, 20′? This one haunts me.

22. Design a custom Organic crash pad.  I’ve actually never bought a new crash pad, and given how much I boulder outdoors it’s probably time. I’ve made a few drafts for this but nothing I love yet. Working on a feesh of some sort...

23. Donate at least $500 to non-profits or orgs. Someone told me that donating often doesn’t do anything or that non-profits are shady and the money doesn’t actually go to the cause. I’m refusing to believe that’s true for everyone, and although I can’t afford to donate a ton I’d still like to do some small good.

24. Clean up and print 31 photos. Fact: photography and digital photography were the two design classes I did worst at (i.e. nearly failed) in college. I’ve been enamored with the process forever, though, especially seeing Lilly Rosenthal working on a few climbing photos at her home in Boulder. 

25. Publish five videos on Vimeo. Similarly, I have tons of video footage on my external hard drive that I’ve been meaning to process and post, including an engagement video for Terry and Julia. I need to get my act together on this one and just post. Perfect is the enemy of good.

26. Figure out a non-climbing exercise I can do. I hate exercise that feels like exercise, but I would like to be in better shape (mostly to climb harder, and not feel winded on approaches). Corepower was awesome but I’m not sure I can hang. Maybe yoga..? Dead lifts and squats?

27. Speak in public at a meetup or panel. I lucked out and was able to do this for Talent Loves Us last month and... it wasn’t so bad! I’ve spoken and facilitated at things before in Davis but largely around queer subject matter. It was a bit more intimidating speaking about professional topics, but I think it went pretty well and I’d love to give it another go.

28. Sketch 10 ideas for a tattoo. I don’t know how many times I’ve said I wanted a tattoo. Maybe I’ll never get another one, but it definitely won’t happen if I don’t start sketching ideas.

29. Make 12 mixtapes for friends.  Despite my generally not-great taste in music, I really used to enjoy making mixtapes for people. Last fall I was re-inspired by Bernice from CM/Sydney with her Mixtape to New York City! Let me know if you want of these, too, friends!

30. Do 31 pull-ups / push-ups in a sesh. “In a row” seems highly unlikely, especially for pull-ups. I’ll accept “within a short amount of time.” Current baseline is three or four solid pull-ups at a time, and maybe eight sloppy knee push-ups.

31. Make a list of 31 moments this year that I’m grateful for.  I think this was another from Meghan, but I think I should take more time to reflect on a lot of the amazing people I meet and places I go because they definitely affect me in a positive way. These will probably also live here.