The 40 x 40 List
It’s time I organize and manage my attention. For me, the best way to do that is to have a list. So I have one. It’s an idea I stole from my wife, who will probably tell me I’m doing it wrong—I say #0 doesn’t count. The idea behind the 40×40 list is simple: I created a list of 40 things I want to do before I turn 40 years old, which is March 30, 2016. That doesn’t seem so far off. This is scary.
Oh, if I die before I’m 40, feel free to retroactively call this a “Bucket List”.
So here it is, mostly complete, categorized, and in no particular order.
General Geekery
- Put 40 items on my 40×40 list
COMPLETE - Re-launch my personal website COMPLETE
- Own a 1931 Ford pickup or a Volkswagen Beetle (old or new?)
- Own a Mac (iPod/iPhone/AppleTV doesn’t count)
- Write an iPhone or XNA game
- Have a chat (face to face) with a “famous person” (Jonathan Coulton or Merlin Mann would be quite awesome. Leo Laporte would also be pretty cool.) CLOSE!
Creativity
- Write & record a singer songwriter concept album IN PROGRESS
- Write & record a stoner rock album
- Get paid to do a show at a bar/coffee shop, etc.
- Self-publish a non-fiction book (joint effort with Heather)
- Self-publish a fiction book (novel/novella)
- Write/draw/ink a comic book
- Draw an online comic series on a fixed schedule (interval and duration)
- Paint something interesting on a large acrylic canvas
- Do something interesting with a stupid domain name
Hobbies
- Learn to skateboard IN PROGRESS
• Drop-in
COMPLETE
• Pump/kick-turn a mini-ramp or bowl
• 50×50 stall
• Pivot on coping
• Ollie flatground at speed
• Ollie up a curb
• Ollie off an incline
• Pop shove-it
• Fakie big spin
• Kickflip - Play strong amateur level chess (I’m not entirely sure what this means.)
- Play shodan level Go (Perhaps as “simple” as 1d on KGS)
- Finish all of the Zelda games I own (Essentially, this is every one after Ocarnia of Time)
Self-Improvement
- Get down to the top end of my ideal weight, 185lbs
- Live greener (This doesn’t have to go as far as off the grid, but that would be quite awesome.)
- Get a masters degree (Philosophy? Astronomy? Physics? Mathematics?)
- Take a writing course
- Take a photography course
- Take a cooking course
- Learn to play the drums
- Learn Japanese (I don’t know that I necessarily have to be fluent, but stringing together a few coherent sentences would be grand.)
- Become solely family employed
- Get out of debt
- Plan inheritance for the family
- Plan college savings for the girls
- Plan our retirement
- Plan my funeral
- Complete “Alphabet Dating” IN PROGRESS
- Take a cruise with Heather
- Ride in a limo with Heather
- Visit Las Vegas with Heather
• Get (re)married by Elvis
in a drive-thru(the drive-thru part was nixed by Heather)
• Ride that roller-coaster (this is not a euphemism) - Visit New York for non-business purposes
- Attend a comic book/video game/tech convention of some sort (MaxFunCon?)
- Attend SXSW
- Visit japan
