I was going to start this as twenty things I wanted to do before I was twenty. Then, realizing that I'm twenty in less than a year, decided that maybe I'd try for a list of things that I'd do before I was thirty. Ideally, I wanted a list of thirty things, but as I thought about it, there is so much that I want to do before then. Here are some of the things that I most want to accomplish or experience in the next eleven years:

1. Go sky diving.
2. Swim with sharks.
3. Spend a summer working in Kenya at a school or orphanage.
4. Adopt a child.
5. Travel to Israel, Jordan, Afghanistan, and Egypt.
6. Go surfing.
7. Memorize 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.'
8. Get down to the ten item wardrobe (or at least the essentials wardrobe).
9. Learn how to make at least one nice dinner.
10. Get off the beaten trail. Literally. A hike would do that perfectly.
11. Stop being scared of public speaking.
12. Make art that protests shark finning.
13. Throw a surprise party for someone I love.
14. Plan someone’s wedding or baby shower.
15. Live in my own house/apartment and decorate it.
16. Learn how to budget everything.
17. Get really, really good at thrift shopping.
18. Write a novel.
19. Build something, like a bookshelf, on my own.
20. Fill a room with books and read them all.
21. Host some sort of Bible study at my own apartment.
22. Keep a bullet journal.
23. Go back to The Louvre (and spend more than two hours there).
24. Love everyone with an open heart (no matter how hard it seems to be).
25. Learn how to do taxes.
26. Return back to my Honours French days and relearn French (but, like, better this time).
27. Learn how to fix my computer when it breaks down.
28. Learn how to change a tire.
29. Design a dress that actually gets physically created.
30. Drive route 66.
31. Be part of the Big Sister/ Big Brother program or something equivalent.
32. Make art that I put in the apartment or house that I own.
33. Keep journals... why not document my life?.
34. Learn how to barbecue.
35. Keep a cactus 'garden' (alive this time).
36. Learn how to drive stick shift.
37. Read the Bible cover to cover.
38. Drink warm lemon water in the morning.
39. Have a movie marathon (like, one where I don’t fall asleep).
40. Have a party where everyone gets dressed up... like a real dinner party.
41. Learn another instrument.
42. Buy a dog (and name it Pericles).
43. More than anything, though, I want to be myself, be happy, and love others.